Antarctica: Discovery and Learning Voyage

This cruise delivers you to wondrous landscapes found in one of the harshest environments on Earth.


Antarctic Peninsula
© Agustin Ullmann

Duration: 11 days
Starts: Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego
Ends: Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego
Language: English Speaking Voyage

Ask about optional activities available for different dates.


Included
Optional


PLEASE NOTE: All itineraries are for guidance only. Programs may vary depending on ice, weather, and wildlife conditions. Landings are subject to site availabilities, permissions, and environmental concerns per IAATO regulations. Official sailing plans and landing slots are scheduled with IAATO prior to the start of the season, but the expedition leader determines the final plan. Flexibility is paramount for expedition cruises. The average cruising speed of our vessel is 10.5 knots.

This cruise delivers you to wondrous landscapes found in one of the harshest environments on Earth. Meet the great stars of the Antarctic, the penguins, found in the thousands in a variety of curious species.

Itinerary

© Agustin Ullmann
© Agustin Ullmann
© Agustin Ullmann

Day 1: End of the world, start of a journey
Your voyage begins where the world drops off. Ushuaia, Argentina, reputed to be the southernmost city on the planet, is located on the far southern tip of South America. Starting in the afternoon, you embark from this small resort town on Tierra del Fuego, nicknamed “The End of the World,” and sail the mountain-fringed Beagle Channel for the remainder of the evening.

Day 2 – 3: Path of the polar explorers
Over the next two days on the Drake Passage, you enjoy some of the same experiences encountered by the great polar explorers who first charted these regions: cool salt breezes, rolling seas, maybe even a fin whale spouting up sea spray. After passing the Antarctic Convergence – Antarctica’s natural boundary, formed when north-flowing cold waters collide with warmer sub-Antarctic seas – you are in the circum-Antarctic upwelling zone. Not only does the marine life change, the avian life changes too. Wandering albatrosses, grey-headed albatrosses, black-browed albatrosses, light-mantled sooty albatrosses, cape pigeons, southern fulmars, Wilson’s storm petrels, blue petrels, and Antarctic petrels are a few of the birds you might see.

Day 4 – 7: Entering Antarctica

Gray stone peaks sketched with snow, towers of broken blue-white ice, and dramatically different wildlife below and above. You first pass the snow-capped Melchior Islands and Schollaert Channel, sailing between Brabant and Anvers Islands.

Sites you may visit include:
Danco Island – Activities here may focus on the gentoo penguins nesting on the island, in addition to the Weddell and crabeater seals that can be found nearby.

Neko Harbour – An epic landscape of mammoth glaciers and endless wind-carved snow, Neko Harbour offers opportunities for a Zodiac cruise and landing that afford the closest views of the surrounding alpine peaks.

Paradise Bay – You may be able to take a Zodiac cruise in these sprawling, ice-flecked waters, where there’s a good chance you’ll encounter humpback and minke whales.

Pléneau & Petermann Islands – If the ice allows it, you could sail through the Lemaire Channel in search of Adélie penguins and blue-eyed shags. There is also a possibility you’ll encounter humpback and minke whales here, as well as leopard seals.

Port Lockroy – After sailing through the Neumayer Channel, you may get a chance to visit the former British research station – now a museum and post office – of Port Lockroy on Goudier Island. You may also be able to partake in activities around Jougla Point, meeting gentoo penguins and blue-eyed shags. There are great opportunities also for kayaking and camping here, and when conditions are right, you can even snowshoe around the shore.

Wilhelmina Bay & Guvernøren – This is a great place to spot humpback whales. You also may embark on a Zodiac cruise ending at the ghostly wreck of the Guvernøren, a whaling vessel that caught fire here in 1915. Around the Melchior Islands, amid a frozen landscape peopled with icebergs, you may encounter even more whales, leopard seals, and crabeater seals.

Conditions on the Drake Passage determine the exact time of departure.

Day 8: Scenes of South Shetland
The volcanic islands of the South Shetlands are windswept and often cloaked in mist, but they do offer subtle pleasures: There’s a wide variety of flora (mosses, lichens, flowering grasses) and no small amount of fauna (gentoo penguins, chinstrap penguins, southern giant petrels).

In Deception Island, the ship plunges through Neptune’s Bellows and into the flooded caldera. Here you find an abandoned whaling station, and thousands of cape petrels – along with kelp gulls, brown and south polar skuas, and Antarctic terns. A good hike is a possibility in this fascinating and desolate volcanic landscape.

As an alternative, you may be able to engage in activities near Half Moon Island. Here chinstrap penguins and Weddell seals often haul out onto the beach near Cámara Base, an Argentine scientific research station. Conditions on the Drake Passage determine the exact time of departure.

Day 9-10: Familiar seas, familiar friends
Your return voyage is far from lonely. While crossing the Drake, you’re again greeted by the vast array of seabirds remembered from the passage south. But they seem a little more familiar to you now, and you to them.

Day 11: There and back again
Every adventure, no matter how grand, must eventually come to an end. It’s now time to disembark in Ushuaia, but with memories that will accompany you wherever your next adventure lies.

Itinerary

Day 1: End of the world, start of a journey
Your voyage begins where the world drops off. Ushuaia, Argentina, reputed to be the southernmost city on the planet, is located on the far southern tip of South America. Starting in the afternoon, you embark from this small resort town on Tierra del Fuego, nicknamed “The End of the World,” and sail the mountain-fringed Beagle Channel for the remainder of the evening.

Day 2 – 3: Path of the polar explorers
Over the next two days on the Drake Passage, you enjoy some of the same experiences encountered by the great polar explorers who first charted these regions: cool salt breezes, rolling seas, maybe even a fin whale spouting up sea spray. After passing the Antarctic Convergence – Antarctica’s natural boundary, formed when north-flowing cold waters collide with warmer sub-Antarctic seas – you are in the circum-Antarctic upwelling zone. Not only does the marine life change, the avian life changes too. Wandering albatrosses, grey-headed albatrosses, black-browed albatrosses, light-mantled sooty albatrosses, cape pigeons, southern fulmars, Wilson’s storm petrels, blue petrels, and Antarctic petrels are a few of the birds you might see.

Day 4 – 7: Entering Antarctica

Gray stone peaks sketched with snow, towers of broken blue-white ice, and dramatically different wildlife below and above. You first pass the snow-capped Melchior Islands and Schollaert Channel, sailing between Brabant and Anvers Islands.

Sites you may visit include:
Danco Island – Activities here may focus on the gentoo penguins nesting on the island, in addition to the Weddell and crabeater seals that can be found nearby.

Neko Harbour – An epic landscape of mammoth glaciers and endless wind-carved snow, Neko Harbour offers opportunities for a Zodiac cruise and landing that afford the closest views of the surrounding alpine peaks.

Paradise Bay – You may be able to take a Zodiac cruise in these sprawling, ice-flecked waters, where there’s a good chance you’ll encounter humpback and minke whales.

Pléneau & Petermann Islands – If the ice allows it, you could sail through the Lemaire Channel in search of Adélie penguins and blue-eyed shags. There is also a possibility you’ll encounter humpback and minke whales here, as well as leopard seals.

Port Lockroy – After sailing through the Neumayer Channel, you may get a chance to visit the former British research station – now a museum and post office – of Port Lockroy on Goudier Island. You may also be able to partake in activities around Jougla Point, meeting gentoo penguins and blue-eyed shags. There are great opportunities also for kayaking and camping here, and when conditions are right, you can even snowshoe around the shore.

Wilhelmina Bay & Guvernøren – This is a great place to spot humpback whales. You also may embark on a Zodiac cruise ending at the ghostly wreck of the Guvernøren, a whaling vessel that caught fire here in 1915. Around the Melchior Islands, amid a frozen landscape peopled with icebergs, you may encounter even more whales, leopard seals, and crabeater seals.

Conditions on the Drake Passage determine the exact time of departure.

Day 8: Scenes of South Shetland
The volcanic islands of the South Shetlands are windswept and often cloaked in mist, but they do offer subtle pleasures: There’s a wide variety of flora (mosses, lichens, flowering grasses) and no small amount of fauna (gentoo penguins, chinstrap penguins, southern giant petrels).

In Deception Island, the ship plunges through Neptune’s Bellows and into the flooded caldera. Here you find an abandoned whaling station, and thousands of cape petrels – along with kelp gulls, brown and south polar skuas, and Antarctic terns. A good hike is a possibility in this fascinating and desolate volcanic landscape.

As an alternative, you may be able to engage in activities near Half Moon Island. Here chinstrap penguins and Weddell seals often haul out onto the beach near Cámara Base, an Argentine scientific research station. Conditions on the Drake Passage determine the exact time of departure.

Day 9-10: Familiar seas, familiar friends
Your return voyage is far from lonely. While crossing the Drake, you’re again greeted by the vast array of seabirds remembered from the passage south. But they seem a little more familiar to you now, and you to them.

Day 11: There and back again
Every adventure, no matter how grand, must eventually come to an end. It’s now time to disembark in Ushuaia, but with memories that will accompany you wherever your next adventure lies.


© Agustin Ullmann
© Agustin Ullmann
© Agustin Ullmann


INCLUSIONS

Voyage aboard the indicated vessel as indicated in the itinerary
All meals throughout the voyage aboard the ship including snacks, coffee and tea.
All shore excursions and activities throughout the voyage by Zodiac.
Program of lectures by noted naturalists and leadership by experienced expedition staff.
Free use of rubber boots and snowshoes.
Luggage transfer from pick-up point to the vessel on the day of embarkation, in Ushuaia.
Pre-scheduled group transfer from the vessel to the airport in Ushuaia (directly after disembarkation).
All miscellaneous service taxes and port charges throughout the programme.
Comprehensive pre-departure material.

EXCLUSIONS

Any airfare, whether on scheduled or charter flights
Pre- and post- land arrangements.
Passport and visa expenses.
Government arrival and departure taxes.
Meals ashore.
Baggage, cancellation and personal insurance (which is strongly recommended).
Excess baggage charges and all items of a personal nature such as laundry, bar, beverage charges and telecommunication charges.
The customary gratuity at the end of the voyages for stewards and other service personnel aboard (guidelines will be provided).


Dates & Rates


Ship: Ortelius | Date: 30 Nov 2024 - 10 Dec 2024 (2626)
Quad Porthole
$7,900
Triple Porthole
$9,700
Twin Porthole
$9,700
Twin Window
$10,100
Twin Deluxe
$10,750
Superior
$11,550
Ship: Plancius | Date: 06 Jan 2025 - 16 Jan 2025 (2301)
Quadruple Porthole
$8,650
$6,050
Triple Porthole
$10,700
$7,500
Twin Porthole
$10,700
$7,500
Twin Window
$11,150
$7,800
Twin Deluxe
$11,800
$8,250
Superior
$12,650
$8,850
Ship: Hondius | Date: 22 Jan 2025 - 01 Feb 2025 (2324)
Quadruple Porthole
$8,650
Triple Porthole
$9,700
Twin Porthole
$10,700
Twin Window
$11,150
Twin Deluxe
$11,800
Superior
$12,650
Junior Suite
$13,450
Grand Suite
$15,400
Ship: Ortelius | Date: 22 Jan 2025 - 01 Feb 2025 (2627)
Quad Porthole
$8,650
Triple Porthole
$10,700
Twin Porthole
$10,700
Twin Window
$11,150
Twin Deluxe
$11,800
Superior
$12,650
Ship: Ortelius | Date: 01 Feb 2025 - 11 Feb 2025 (2315)
Quad Porthole
$8,650
Triple Porthole
$10,700
Twin Porthole
$10,700
Twin Window
$11,150
Twin Deluxe
$11,800
Superior
$12,650
Ship: Plancius | Date: 03 Feb 2025 - 13 Feb 2025 (3306)
Quadruple Porthole
$8,650
Triple Porthole
$10,700
Twin Porthole
$70,700
Twin Window
$11,150
Twin Deluxe
$11,800
Superior
$12,650
Ship: Hondius | Date: 17 Nov 2025 - 27 Nov 2025 (2927)
Quadruple Porthole
$7,750
Triple Porthole
$8,800
Twin Porthole
$9,550
Twin Window
$10,050
Twin Deluxe
$10,850
Superior
$11,600
Junior Suite
$12,250
Grand Suite
$13,900
Ship: Ortelius | Date: 01 Dec 2025 - 11 Dec 2025 (2920)
Quad Porthole
$8,050
Triple Porthole
$9,800
Twin Porthole
$9,800
Twin Window
$10,250
Twin Deluxe
$11,100
Superior
$11,850
Ship: Hondius | Date: 08 Jan 2026 - 18 Jan 2026 (2928)
Quadruple Porthole
$9,250
Triple Porthole
$10,350
Twin Porthole
$11,400
Twin Window
$11,850
Twin Deluxe
$12,800
Superior
$13,750
Junior Suite
$14,600
Grand Suite
$16,750
Ship: Plancius | Date: 09 Jan 2026 - 19 Jan 2026 (3051)
Quadruple Porthole
$9,250
Triple Porthole
$11,400
Twin Porthole
$11,400
Twin Window
$11,850
Twin Deluxe
$12,800
Superior
$13,750
Ship: Hondius | Date: 18 Jan 2026 - 28 Jan 2026 (2929)
Quadruple Porthole
$9,250
Triple Porthole
$10,350
Twin Porthole
$11,400
Twin Window
$11,850
Twin Deluxe
$12,800
Superior
$13,750
Junior Suite
$14,600
Grand Suite
$16,750
Ship: Plancius | Date: 06 Feb 2026 - 16 Feb 2026 (2914)
Quadruple Porthole
$9,250
Triple Porthole
$11,400
Twin Porthole
$11,400
Twin Window
$11,850
Twin Deluxe
$12,800
Superior
$13,750

* The prices are per person in US Dollars, unless expressly specified in a different currency. In that case, payment will be in US dollars at the exchange rate of the day.
** All prices will be re-confirmed by email at the time of booking.
NOTE: Embracing the unexpected is part of the legacy—and excitement—of expedition travel. When traveling in extremely remote regions, your expedition staff must allow the sea, the ice and the weather to guide route and itinerary details. This itinerary is a tentative outline of what you’ll experience on this voyage; please be aware that no specific itinerary can be guaranteed.

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