Antarctic Cruise and South Shetland Islands

Antarctica is an immense continental wilderness still virtually unexplored and unknown, a fabulous and pristine wildlife haven set in an awe inspiring scenery of mountains, snow and sculptured and twisted ice.

You can cruise from November through to March to explore vast colonies of penguins, to observe some of the great whales, to watch hundreds of seals resting lazily on ice floes, and to simply marvel at the extraordinary variety of shapes, sizes and sheer range of colours of thousands of floating icebergs. The vistas are magnificent, with towering glaciers and dramatic cliffs that drop almost vertically into the sea.

The oceans of the Antarctic are home to countless marine mammals including breaching humpbacks, fin, sei, minke and killer whales. Dolphins species including Hourglass, Peale’s and Commersons’s, all of which you will have a chance to view with a bit of luck.

On land there are leopard seals, weddell, crabeater, southern elephant and Antarctic fur seals, colonies of penguins including gentoo, chin strap and adelie penguins. The skies are the home of albatross, giant petrels and terns to name a few.

We only advocate using the best boats. They are small boats by Antarctic cruise standards, taking a maximum of only 52 passengers, very personal in their approach allowing you to feel party of the ‘polar’ family, with a highly professional crew, who pioneered Antarctic cruising over ten years ago, and with real expertise in these parts of the world, and last but not least operate under strict environmental and safety standards.

Antarctica experts

To appreciate this extraordinary continent one needs the finest naturalists and ecologists to guide you and give lectures and insight into the wildlife and geography of this continent, on land and sea. To this end every cruise has a number of experts to guide you on land and to communicate to you at sea. They include well known experts including scientists like Robert Headland, natural history presenters, nature writers, together with a host of skills and experience covers history, ornithology, geography, geology, oceanography, marine biology and glaciology. All are enthusiastic communicators with a wealth of experience in their subject matters and will add greatly to your enjoyment and understanding of this last continent.

Note: Price includes Buenos Aires bed and breakfast accommodation, transfers, city tour, Ushuaia twin share accommodation, cruise with full board and berths, lectures and guide services, excursions, and a high visibility waterproof parka.