Trip
Information
Dates:
December 9 - 19, 2010
Optional
Argentina Pre-tour December 5 - 9, 2010 (4 days)
Leaders: Onboard resource staff
Our Vessel: M/V Polar Star
Price: Berths
start at $5,585 USD; click for more details
Tour
starts and ends in Ushuaia
Highlights
• Breathtaking vistas of icy waterways, glaciers, icebergs
and rugged mountains
•
Exhilarating and incomparable experience of being amidst
penguin colonies and tame wildlife; a photographer’s
dream!
•
Fabulous wildlife – penguins, albatrosses, petrels,
whales, seals, dolphins, and much more
•
Fascinating and awe-inspiring human history
Featured Birds and Mammals
• Adelie Penguin
•
Chinstrap Penguin
•
Magellanic Penguin
•
Gentoo Penguin
•
Wandering Albatross
•
Southern Royal Albatross
•
Snowy Sheathbill
•
Snow Petrel
•
Blue Petrel
•
Magellanic Diving-petrel
•
Weddell Seal
•
Southern Elephant Seal
•
Humpback Whale
•
Leopard Seal
Trip Summary
• 9 nights onboard the Polar Star, one night in Ushuaia
prior to embarkation
•
Cabins and suites at different rates
•
All meals included
•
Varied international menu
•
Maximum 100 passengers
•
Stunningly beautiful, awe-inspiring scenery
•
Exact route and activities variable according to ice and
weather conditions
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 Truly
a cruise of a lifetime, our Antarctic Classic Voyage combines the South
Shetland Islands and the Antarctic Peninsula. This is home to impressive
wildlife and dramatic landscapes. Our days onboard begin in Ushuaia;
from there we travel through the sheltered waters of the Beagle Channel
and into the Drake Passage, an area famous for seabird diversity, from
petrels and prions to diving-petrels and albatrosses, including the
superb Wandering Albatross. Whales concentrate here, drawn by the abundance
of krill at the convergence of cold waters from Antarctica and warmer
waters from the Pacific and Atlantic. During the voyage, we enjoy presentations
about seabirds, geology, marine mammals, and the epics of Antarctic
exploration. Weather and ice permitting, we make zodiac landings on
the South Shetland Islands including Elephant Island and Deception
Island, Paradise Bay, and along the incomparably photogenic Lemaire
Channel, including visits to research stations. Scenery is breathtaking,
ice formations are fantastic, and wildlife astonishing. There are colonies
of Adelie, Chinstrap and Gentoo Penguins, both Brown and South Polar
Skuas, handsome Blue-eyed Shags, and Crabeater, Leopard and Elephant
Seals loafing on ice-flows or along the shorelines.
See detailed itinerary
below.
Click
here to see our
five-day pre-tour extension to Buenos Aires and surroundings
Previous
Antarctica bird and mammal tour checklists:
February
2005 Antarctica Voyage (pdf)
Click
here to download a registration form for the Antarctic tour. |
Itinerary
We return to the great
Southern Ocean as the hemisphere blossoms from spring into summer.
Each year, when the ice melts and breaks
up, new and varied landscapes of sculpted ice and snow are formed. Our
departures are just a few weeks into the Antarctic season and we experience
it ahead of most travellers – the landscape is fresher, whiter
and bears fewer signs of human passage. This is Antarctica at her most
photogenic. During this season we witness the nesting behaviour of various
penguin species and may even observe the hatching of the Adélie
chicks. Weddell seals haul out on the fast ice and Crabeater and Leopard
seals can be seen on the remains of the winter sea ice. It is also the
prime season for birdlife and their courting behaviour. On our 11-day
Classic Antarctica, we set foot on The Great White Continent and sail
through its picturesque bays and ice-carved passages. We are up close
and personal with penguins as we spend time in rookeries observing and
photographing these delightful and entertaining animals. We witness spectacular
tabular icebergs of impossible scale as they fl oat by in shades of iridescent
lavender and blue. It is no exaggeration to say that these programs are
no ordinary adventures; people who visit these places describe it as
not only a voyage of discovery but also a spiritual experience.
Day 1 – Arrival in Ushuaia
We start on our Antarctic Voyage trip this afternoon by flying to Ushuaia,
the world’s southernmost city at the very tip of South America
and the capital of Tierra del Fuego. Located on the shore of the Beagle
Channel and surrounded by the Martial Mountains, it affords the simultaneous
enjoyment of sea, mountains and forests. After settling into our hotel,
we have time to walk along the shores of the legendary Beagle Channel
on the Ushuaia waterfront. Both Kelp and Dolphin Gulls and South American
Terns are in the harbour, possibly being harassed by Chilean Skuas. Kelp
Geese may be foraging along the shoreline, and perhaps a flock of White-rumped
Sandpipers will be busily feeding on the exposed beach, with a Rufous-chested
Dotterel among them, and Crested Ducks and Flightless Steamer-Ducks in
the shallows. The superb Imperial Shag and Rock Shag are quite common
in the harbour, and Dark-bellied Cinclodes dart around the rocks and
boats along the waterfront. Night in Ushuaia.
Day 2 - Ushuaia and the Beagle Channel
In the morning, there is an optional excursion to picturesque Tierra
del Fuego National Park, a land of stunted Nothofagus beech forests and
rocky coastlines searching for such specialties as Great Grebe, Andean
Condor, Black-breasted Buzzard-Eagle, Thorn-tailed Rayadito, Austral
Parakeet - the world's southernmost parrot, and the very local White-throated
Caracara. In the afternoon, we board the M/V Polar Star, our home for
the next 11 days, and set sail through historic waterway for Antarctica.
We set off on our voyage down the Beagle Channel, so named after the
ship that carried Charles Darwin on his groundbreaking voyage. We have
our first introduction to seabirds – Black-browed Albatross, shearwaters,
diving-petrels, and our first introduction to penguins – Magellanic
Penguin.
Days 3 to 4 – Drake Passage
We continue our adventure across the 400 mile crossing of the Drake Passage,
named after the sixteenth century English explorer Sir Francis Drake.
This part of the southern ocean is known for the Antarctic Convergence,
a meeting of cold polar water flowing north and warmer equatorial water
moving in the opposite direction. This mixing creates nutrient rich upwellings
that attract a diverse array of seabirds including several species of
albatrosses – Light-mantled Sooty, Gray-headed, Northern and Southern
Royal, and Wandering. Petrels will be in abundance, and we have a chance
at White-chinned and Blue among the numerous Cape Petrels, and Slender-billed
Prions will likely be following the ship. Along the way, we become acquainted
with the ship, its lounge, dining hall, library and lecture hall where
guides, crew and lecturers gather. We also begin the lecture and information
sessions to learn about the human and natural history of Antarctica.
Days 5 to 8 - Antarctic Peninsula and South Shetland Islands
We spend the next several days exploring the Antarctic Peninsula and
the South Shetland Islands, an area of breathtaking scenery of icy waterways,
glaciers, icebergs and rugged mountains. A photographer’s delight,
we visit immense penguin rookeries and beaches populated by Fur seals
and massive Elephant seals. A highlight will be a cruise into the vast,
sunken caldera at Deception Island, where we can explore an abandoned
whaling station and perhaps take a quick dip in the waters at Pendulum
Cove, before soaking in a natural geothermal “hot tub.” At
Paradise Bay, sprinkled with spectacular icebergs, we observe Gentoo
and Chinstrap penguins. A cruise through the narrow Errera Channel, with
impressive glaciers rising high on either side, will lead us to an archipelago
of icy islands harbouring penguin rookeries, and myriad seabirds. Th
e South Shetlands have the highest concentration of scientific bases
in the region, and study the great diversity of species here. Adélie,
Gentoo, Chinstrap and Macaroni penguins all breed here. We have the chance
to see Fur seals, wallowing Elephant seals and Weddell, Crabeater and
predatory Leopard seals. Killer, Humpback, Fin, Minke, and Sei whales
are routinely found in the water around the islands. Many seabirds nest
or feed here, including migratory Arctic Terns and beautiful, all-white
Snow Petrels. The islands flourish with moss beds, lichen covered rocks,
Antarctica’s two species of vascular plants, and stunning scenery.
On the Peninsula we can expect to see a wide variety of birdlife – penguin
rookeries, Kelp Gulls, Cape Petrels, Snowy Sheathbills and Antarctic
Terns. Daily shore excursions, Zodiac cruises and hikes allow us to experience
the magic of awe-inspiring scenery of snow, ice, water and mountains,
we’ll be on the lookout for seals and whales. South Shetlands are
just over 120 km north of the Antarctic continent; they are spectacular
volcanic islands with steaming black sands and strewn with the physical
remains of the whaling era. Consisting of 11 major islands and several
minor ones, totalling 3,687 km2 of land area, the South Shetlands were
a focal point for sealers and explorers in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
The islands, discovered by the British mariner William Smith in 1819,
are claimed by Britain, Argentina, and Chile. Our visit to the South
Shetlands will include Elephant Island and Deception Island. Elephant
Island is known as the overwintering place of Shackleton’s men.
After the loss of their ship Endurance, the twenty-eight brave souls
found refuge on the bleak shores and were stranded for 135 days in 1916.
Our expected landing site, Point Wild, is named after Shackleton’s
second in command, Frank Wild, who supervised the twenty-one men stranded
on the island while Shackleton and five others embarked on an epic rescue
mission in a small open rowboat.
About 10,000 years ago, a violent volcanic eruption hollowed roughly
30 km3 of molten rock from Deception Island, creating the Port Foster
caldera. Over 50% of the island is covered by permanent glaciers. We
expect sparse but exceptional flora, including at least
eighteen species of moss or lichen not been recorded elsewhere in the
Antarctic, two of which are endemic to the continent. The world’s
largest colony of Chinstrap penguins is located at Baily Head, on the
southwest coast, where an estimated 100,000 pairs nest. Nine species
of seabirds also breed on the island. The remains of the whaling station
here are the most complete example of whaling history in the Antarctic.
The Antarctic Peninsula is a 1,300 km extension of Antarctica reaching
toward the tip of South America. Ice-covered and mountainous, visitors
are awed by the size of Antarctica’s endless landscape and the
accessible wildlife. The towering peaks are considered an extension of
the mighty Andean range that traverses the west coast of South America.
Global warming is changing the face of Antarctica and the handful of
research stations that dot the Peninsula are producing data that substantiates
claims of irreversible climate change. We plan to visit the British historic
site of Port Lockroy. Weather and ice and time permitting, we make shore
landings at Deception Island, Paradise Bay on the Antarctic Peninsula,
and other locations as conditions allow. We navigate the astounding Lemaire
Channel and cross the Antarctic Polar Circle - few travelers have ventured
this far south. On our return northwards we visit Petermann Island. Birding
will be exceptional – colonies of Gentoo and Chinstrap Penguins,
with perhaps a few Macaroni Penguins nesting in the colonies; Snowy Sheathbills,
Southern Giant-petrels and Brown Skuas looking for quick meals around
the colonies; Black-bellied and Wilson’s Storm-petrels and Antarctic
Terns crossing the wake of the boat; Adelie Penguins, South Polar Skua
and Antarctic Shag at Petermann Island; and prizes such as Snow Petrel,
Soft-plumaged Petrel, Southern Fulmar and Antarctic Petrel along the
stunning Gerlache Strait. We also concentrate on marine mammals which
can abound in these rich waters – Sperm and Humpback Whales, Crabeater,
Weddell and Leopard Seals, and Hourglass, Commerson’s and Peale’s
Dolphins.
Days 9 and 10 – Drake Passage
We begin our northward journey back to our home port of Ushuaia across
the Drake Passage. No two crossing are alike, and maybe we will find
prions, petrels and albatrosses that we did not encounter on our first
crossing.
Day 11 – Beagle Channel and Ushuaia
We enter the Beagle Channel once more, perhaps finding Magellanic
Diving-petrels or a shearwater not seen earlier, and then on to Ushuaia
for disembarkation
and final goodbyes.
What To Expect
A cruise to Antarctica requires a fairly good level of fitness and
health. Most activities assume a relatively low level of exertion.
Climbing into and out of zodiacs for excursions to land requires a
moderate level of ability, although staff and crew members will be
at hand to assist. Ashore, walks of moderate distances occur over rocky,
uneven terrain and sometimes ice and snow on the Antarctic Peninsula
and South Shetlands. All zodiac landings depend upon sea and landing
conditions, and landing spots vary from year to year. If one spot is
inaccessible one year, the ship goes to another similar spot.
Sea conditions across the Drake Passage can be rough with high swells,
causing our vessel to pitch and roll. The Beagle Channel should be
fairly calm.
Food is good and plentiful and accommodations are very comfortable.
Daily maid service is provided. All passengers have full access to
facilities onboard regardless of room price.
Temperatures generally range from 5º - 15º C (45º –55º F) in
the sub-Antarctic region, and 0º - 5º C (30º – 40º F) on the
Antarctic Peninsula. Sunshine and low humidity creates a temperate
atmosphere. Be prepared for cold conditions on the deck of the moving
ship when watching birds and marine mammals. Good hiking boots are
adequate on deck, although there are times when running shoes will
suffice. Warm hats and gloves are necessary on deck. Parkas or another
warm jacket are highly recommended. On shore and especially on the
zodiacs, water resistant pants and waterproof footwear are required
(rubber boots are provided onboard).
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