Antarctica Adventure Cruise

Small Ship Cruise, Zodiac Excursions, Hiking and Wildlife Viewing Adventure to the Last Frontier

Experience the last utterly untamed place on earth as we cruise to the "White Continent". Explore giant penguin and seabird colonies, the greatest concentration of sea mammals in the world, and a vast, stark landscape of monstrous icebergs, snow covered mountains and endless glaciers.

The following describes the Antarctic Peninsula departures. Weddell Sea and Polar Circle itineraries vary slightly and are one day longer--see the detailed itineraries below.

Days 1-3 Tierra Del Fuego - Beagle Channel - Drake Passage. Embark from Ushuaia in Tierra del Fuego, cruise through the Beagle Channel and then across the Drake Passage to the South Shetland Islands and the Antarctica Peninsula. During our journey we cross the Antarctic Convergence and start meeting the birds of the Antarctic--albatrosses, pigeons, fulmars and petrels--and encounter our first awesome icebergs.

Days 4-5 South Shetlands. We may visit Aitcho, Penguin, Half Moon or Livingston Islands with their thriving penguin and sea bird colonies and the chance of spotting southern fur and elephant seals. At Deception Island we may land at Baily Head with its 10,000 chinstrap penguins and take the exciting ridge hike to Whaler's Bay. Inside Deception Island's harbor (a giant collapsed volcanic caldera) thousands of cape pigeons, gulls, skuas, terns and petrels make their home. We may even take a dip in the island's natural "hot tub", the best and only place to swim in the Antarctic!

Days 6-8 Antarctic Peninsula. We continue south to the Antarctic Peninsula and head for Neko Harbor and Paradise Bay where our zodiacs cruise among gleaming icebergs and deep cut fjords with great opportunities to spot Weddell and crabeater seals and humpback, fin and even blue whales. Further south we enter spectacular Lemaire Channel, one of Antarctica's most photogenic landscapes (nicknamed "Kodak Gap"), with sheer cliffs that fall straight to the sea. At the south end of the channel we visit Petermann Island with its adelie penguins and blue-eyed shags. We then turn north to Neumayer Channel where glaciers pour into the sea and cruise across Gerlache Strait to the Melchior Islands with more exciting zodiac cruises for seals and whales.

Days 9-11 Drake Passage - Ushuaia. The final three days are spent re-crossing the Drake Passage for our return to Ushuaia on the final morning.