Antarctic Peninsula
Description
Pricing
Itinerary
Sub Trips
Hotels
The Antarctic Peninsula offers you the most dramatic scenery and biggest variety of wildlife in Antarctica. In the southern summer large ice-free areas provide breeding grounds for very large numbers of seabirds and seals. From King George Island and Penguin Island we will sail down to the beautiful Paradise Bay, where you can go ashore on the Antarctic mainland. The narrow and spectacular Lemaire Channel is surrounded by mountains and glaciers and a popular passage for several species of whales journeying up and down the sheltered Antarctic Peninsula waterways. In the Antarctic Peninsula Minke Whales, the smallest of the rorqual whales and ferocious-looking Leopard Seals are common.
The coastal regions are populated by sea birds such as Petrels, Albatrosses, Skuas and Penguins as well as marine mammals like the Crabeater Seal, Leopard Seal, Ross Seal, Weddell Seal, Fin Whale and Right Whale, Sea Lions. In the Antarctic Peninsula tens of thousands of Adelie Penguins nest on Paulet Island. Large numbers of whales seek shelter in the protected waterways of Lemaire Channel. The Antarctic sea regions contain the greatest quantities of animal protein on Earth.
Additional information on this trip:
-
Days of Week the Trip can Start:
Saturday
Day 1
In the afternoon, we embark in Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, the southernmost city in the world located in the shadow of the Andes and right at the Beagle Channel shore. We’ll sail through this scenic waterway during the afternoon.
Day 2
During these two days we sail across the Drake Passage. When we cross the Antarctic Convergence, we arrive in the circum-Antarctic up welling zone. In this area we may see 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. Near the South Shetland Islands, we glimpse at the first icebergs. If the winds are favorable we might do our first landing in Antarctic waters in the evening of the third day at Aitcho Island or Penguin Island at the South Shetlands. These volcanic islands are windswept and often shrouded in mist and fog, but do offer subtle pleasures. There is a nice variety of flora (mosses, lichens and flowering grasses) and fauna, such as Gentoo penguins, chinstrap penguins and southern giant petrels.
Day 3
Continuance of Day 2
Day 4
A typical itinerary in the South Shetlands and Antarctic Peninsula could be as follows. This is a sample only, the final itinerary will be determined by the Expedition Leader on board. We may start our first day in Antarctica with a landing at either Half Moon Island or Hannah Point, where we will find a nice variety of Gentoo penguins, Chinstraps and southern giant petrels, as well as Elephant seals hauling out on the beach. Later we will try to land at Baily Head on the outer rim of Deception Island with a colony of ten thousands of Chinstrap Penguins, and we will attempt to make the exciting hike to Whalers Bay. Deception Island is a huge volcano of which the crater opens into the sea, creating a natural harbour for the ship. Here we find hot springs, an abandoned whaling station, thousands of Cape Pigeons and many Dominican Gulls, Brown and South Polar Skuas and Antarctic Terns. Wilson’s Storm Petrels and Black- bellied Storm Petrels nest in the ruins of the whaling station in Whalers Bay. On our way further South we will sail to Cuverville Island, a small precipitous island, nestled between the mountains of the Antarctic Peninsula and Danco Island. It contains a large colony of Gentoo Penguins and breeding pairs of Brown Skuas. In Neko Harbour we will have the opportunity to set foot on the Antarctic Continent in a magnificent landscape of huge glaciers. When sailing to Paradise Bay, with its myriad icebergs and deep cut fjords, we will have the opportunity for zodiac cruising between the icebergs in the inner parts of the fjords. In this area we have good chances to see Humpback Whales and Minke Whales. We sail through the spectacular Lemaire Channel to Pleneau and Petermann Island where we can find Adelie Penguins and Blue- eyed Shags. In this area there are good chances to encounter Humpback Whales, Minke Whales and Fin Whales. A visit to one of the scientific stations in Antarctica will give you an insight about the life of modern Antarcticans working on the White Continent. Sailing north through Neumayer Channel we arrive at the Melchior Islands with a very beautiful landscape and again possibilities for zodiac cruising among the icebergs, where we may encounter Leopard Seals, Crabeater Seals and whales.
Day 5
Continuance of Day 4
Day 6
Continuance of Day 4
Day 7
Continuance of Day 4
Day 8
In the Drake Passage we have again a chance of seeing many seabirds and to take advantage of the knowledge of our lecture team.
Day 9
Continuance of Day 9
Day 10
We arrive in the morning in Ushuaia and disembark.
10 days , from £6851
| Occupancy Type |
Twin with porthole |
Twin with window |
Twin deluxe |
Superior |
| Double | £6851 | £7168 | £7564 | £8435 |
| Single | £11646 | £12185 | £12858 | £14339 |
Prices shown above are per person, in Sterling (Ł).
Argentina
