Antarctica remains the last vast wilderness on earth. A continent encircled by pack ice, huge tabular icebergs and covered with an ice sheet miles deep. A beautiful mysterious place, enticing explorers, adventurers and dreamers over the decades. Remote, inhospitable and without permanent inhabitants. It is the windiest and highest continent, which is capped by an ice sheet over 4 km thick in places. Antarctica is 58 times larger than the United Kingdom, and surrounded in winter by a vast girdle of sea ice larger in area than the continent itself.
Antarctica's key role in global processes is now recognised. The ice sheet holds 90% of the world's fresh water, which, if melted, would raise sea level by 65 m. The ice sheet drives the Southern Hemisphere weather patterns and modulates world climate.

For many, perhaps, the most appealing aspect of Antarctica is its wildlife. Although there are only a few native species, those that have adapted to the harsh environment thrive in large numbers. Seals, whales and Penguin populations are counted in the tens of thousands in some rookeries. One of the characteristics of the south polar region is that its birds and mammals (such as seals and whales) depend on the sea. In the end, the penguins evolved to a swimming way of living and because they had no land-predators to fear, they lost their ability to fly.

Antarctica is so vast that only a small portion of it can be explored during a two week period. The Antarctic Peninsula, that part of the continent that points toward the tip of South America, is so long that it spans 12 degrees of latitude, approximately 1200 km or 800 miles.

Humans never inhabited Antarctica and exploration of the continent is relatively recent. New discoveries continue to be made. In 2007, for example, our vessels, while exploring the Antarctic Peninsula, sailed uncharted waters.

Antarctica is devoid of power lines, billboards, and highways. There are no designer coffee shops or cellular networks. When the engines are turned off, the only sounds you hear are natural - wildlife, water and the occasional boom of icebergs calving. If you listen closely, you can hear your heart beating with excitement!

Most visitors to Antarctica arrive by ship, from the closest port, Ushuaia, in the province of Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. Longer expeditions depart (or disembark in) from New Zealand, Australia, and Stanley in the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas).

Most of our expeditions start in Ushuaia, the gateway for most of the ships sailing to the Antarctic Peninsula. Ushuaia is the Southern most city of Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. You fly to Ushuaia from Buenos Aires, several flights per day. The flight time takes approx. 3 - 4 hours.

We strongly advise you to arrive one day before departure to arrive in Ushuaia. This will help you to acclamatize to time difference and relax after your long flight from Buenos Aires and allow for luggage delay to arrive in time before the ship sails.

Getting to Antarctica is as much a part of the experience as exploring it. The body of water that separates Antarctica from South America is the Drake Passage. The Drake acts like a funnel, concentrating the energy produced by the winds and currents of the Southern Ocean. The result can be rough water, some of the roughest in the world. Yet some crossings are relatively quiet, providing extraordinary opportunities for birding and whale watching. The unpredictability of the Drake Passage is intoxicating. A crossing is the perfect introduction to expedition-style travel, where unpredictability is the only thing you can truly count on.

Ushuaia is the Southernmost city in the world located in the shadow of the Andes, right at the Beagle Channel shore, one of world’s most stunning locations. Expect wonderful views of the Beagle Channel, and the peaks of the Five Brothers from the airplane on its descent. The airport in Ushuaia is small. Taxicabs are easy to find for the transfer to your hotel. Your hotel is not far from the airport and the taxi fare is reasonable.

The area of Ushuaia has a great variety of possibilities to enjoy a few days of exploration. Special excursions, trekking, horse riding, sport fishing, mountain bike, journeys through unexplored sites. Ushuaia is a duty free area and nice for shopping. The Museum of the End of the World or the Maritime Museum (and ancient jail) are also worth a visit. Enjoy the ride of the little tourist train to Tierra del Fuego National Park.

We can can also organize a pre-cruise dive package for those who like to dive in the Beagle Channel and around Ushuaia before boarding the ship.

As one of the gateways to the South Pole Ushuaia has an exciting and buzzling atmosphere and is worth a visit before you take off for your Antarctica adventure.

Antarctic wildlife is at its most active during the southern summer, November - March. The beauty and solitude of Antarctic seas and mountains conceals the frantic activity of the shoreline colonies of birds and mammals.
Summer arrives first in the South Shetland Islands and spreads south along the Antarctic Peninsula. As the Antarctic year progresses, from spring to autumn, the Antarctic Peninsula and Islands change in appearance and character, each season offering a different range of spectacular sights and possibilities to the visitor.

After the winter darkness, spring fever hits Antarctic and the sun causes an explosive growth of phytoplankton in areas of mineral upwelling. The phytoplankton provides food to the astronomic swarms of zooplankton, including krill. Krill forms the base of the food chain for squid, fish and ultimately for seabirds, seals and whales, which flock in to fatten themselves and to produce their young.

·Crabeater Seals are born in November
·Elephant Seals guard their harems aggressively until December
·The first big whales come down to Antarctica to feed, among them Humpback, Minke and Southern Right Whale.
·Amazing displays of the penguins’ courtship ritual, including nest building, sky pointing and stone stealing.
·Penguin, petrel and cormorant eggs are laid in December.
·Penguin chicks start to hatch at the end of December in the South Shetland Islands.
·Wintering scientists at the research stations welcome the first visitors of the season.
·Longest days in December create longer daylight hours – photographs can be taken at midnight !
·Last winters sea-ice offers sometimes spectacular sailing among the floes with Crabeater Seals everywhere on the ice.

In Antarctica’s warmest months wildlife activities are in full swing. Most penguin chicks hatch in January, earliest in the South Shetland Islands and later more to the south at the Peninsula. The frantic activity continues in the colonies in February as the young get older and bolder and are gathering in crèches.

·Fur Seal and Leopard Seal are visible.
·Penguin colonies at their busiest, fetching krill and feeding chicks.
·In February receding ice allows exploration further south along the Antarctic Peninsula.
·Concentration of Fur Seals increases.
·Whale watching is very good in February.

Nightly Darkness returns as the sun sinks farther below the southern horizon, but temperatures are still above zero, though we may experience a touch of Antarctic winter with night frosts, creating beautiful patterns of thin sea ice on the surface. The snow cover is at its minimum allowing for easy and extensive walks in the South Shetland Islands.

·Penguin chicks are in their adolescent state now and quite curious about visitors.
·The adult penguins moult and the young go to sea.
·Concentration of Leopard Seals increases hunting for chicks.
·Receding ice allows exploration farthest south along the Antarctic Peninsula.
·Spectacular green and pink algae blooms on snow-slopes and ice cliffs.
·Whale watching is very good.
·Chances to see Aurora Australis.

In Falkland Islands and South Georgia spring and summer arrive earlier than in the South Shetlands & the Antarctic Peninsula and consequently the breeding activities of sea-birds and sea mammals start earlier there. South Georgia is home to several birds with a cycle longer than one year, so eggs and young in King Penguin colonies can always be found from November to March. November is full spring in South Georgia, comparable with December in the South Shetlands, but without sea-ice.