Itinerary

Day 1: Departure from the city of Ushuaia
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Embarkation in the afternoon and meet your expedition staff and lecturers. After getting settled in your cabin, we will sail along the famous Beagle Channel through the Mackinlay Pass.

Days 2-3: Crossing the Drake Passage
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Named after the renowned explorer Sir Francis Drake who sailed these waters in 1578, the Drake Passage is the setting for the Antarctic Convergence, a natural biological barrier where cold polar waters plunge beneath warmer northern waters. This generates a large amount of nutrients, which sustain the biodiversity of this region. The Drake Passage also marks the northern limit of many Antarctic seabirds. While we sail through the passage, our staff will be out with you on deck to help in the identification of an amazing variety of seabirds, including the albatrosses following the USHUAIA. The onboard "open bridge" policy will allow you to accompany our officers on the bridge and learn some aspects concerning navigation, spot whales, or simply enjoy the view. A full program of lectures will be awaiting you. The first icebergs and snow-capped mountains indicate that we have reached the South Shetland Islands, an archipelago of 20 islands and islets discovered in 1819 by Captain William Smith with his brig Williams. With favorable conditions in the Drake Passage, our lecturers and naturalists will accompany you on a landing as you experience your first encounter with penguins and fur seals on Day 3.

Days 4-6: Exploring the Weddell Sea
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Massive tabular icebergs await us here. In certain years, the Erebus and Terror Gulfs and the Weddell Sea are completely filled with ice, making for exciting navigation. Get up early and come out on deck! It might be 3:30 in the morning, but you will surely have never seen sunrises like this. The huge tabular icebergs from the Larsen, Ronne, and Filchner ice shelves, combined with one-year and multi-year sea ice, produce a floating, rolling landscape of rugged ice. You are likely to see snow petrels flying over the icebergs, often accompanied by cape petrels. Usually, to reach the eastern side of the Antarctic Peninsula, you cross the Antarctic Sound, 48 km (30 miles) long and 11-19 km (7-12 miles) wide, oriented northwest-southeast. Hope Bay and the Argentine base Esperanza are located on the western side of the Sound. Brown Bluff, a promontory on the Tabarin Peninsula, is located south of Hope Bay. We plan to visit both sites if conditions permit. The Weddell Sea represents the center of the peninsular population of Adélie penguins. Devil Island, Paulet Island, and the previously mentioned sites will give us sufficient proof. The number of penguins is deeply moving. Sometimes juvenile emperor penguins have been seen on the icebergs, but this is by no means common in the area. This region is also full of vibrant stories from exploration history. The strangest of these stories involves the Swedish Antarctic Expedition of 1901-03 under the command of geologist Otto Nordenskjöld. Four sites remind us of this expedition: Hope Bay, Paulet Island, Snow Hill Island, and Cape Well-met on Vega Island. Our expedition staff will be delighted to share this exciting story with you. Nordenskjöld's expedition was the first to spend the winter on the Peninsula. Their ship the Antarctic, under the command of the famous Norwegian whaling captain Carl Anton Larsen, became trapped in the ice and sank, but the men survived in different places and even managed to carry out significant scientific research in the area.

Days 7-9: Discovering the Antarctic Peninsula and the South Shetland Islands
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As you learn about the remarkable history of the Antarctic Peninsula, you will be thrilled in a way comparable to the early explorers. You will have ample time to explore its incredible landscape, a pristine wilderness of snow, ice, mountains, and waterways, and the incredible and wide variety of wildlife. In addition to penguins and seabirds, you can also see up close crabeater, Weddell, and leopard seals, as well as humpback, Minke, and killer whales. We hope to navigate some of the most beautiful channels, always depending on ice conditions: the Gerlache Strait, Neumayer Channel, and Lemaire Channel are narrow passages between towering rocks and spectacular glaciers. Sites for excursions may also include: Paradise Bay, literally the best-named place in the world, with its majestic glaciers and mountains; Cuverville Island, which hosts the largest gentoo penguin colony on the Peninsula, surrounded by glaciers and towering castellated icebergs; and a British museum and post office at Port Lockroy. We plan to explore the South Shetland Islands. This group of volcanic islands is teeming with wildlife. Vast penguin colonies, beaches ruled by Antarctic fur seals and southern elephant seals make every day here unforgettable. We will attempt to navigate the narrow passage into the flooded caldera of Deception Island, which is truly amazing, as is visiting Half Moon Island, home to chinstrap penguins against the backdrop of a breathtaking landscape.

Days 10-11: Crossing the Drake Passage
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We will leave the Antarctic Peninsula and head north, crossing the Drake Passage. Join our lecturers and naturalists on deck in the search for new species of seabirds and whales, and enjoy some of the final lectures. Take time to relax and reflect on the fascinating adventures of the last few days on the way back to Ushuaia.

Day 12: Arrival at the city of Ushuaia
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We arrive in Ushuaia early in the morning, where you will disembark after breakfast.

© S. Arrebola

© S. Arrebola

© S. Arrebola