Weddell Sea Quest

After having arrived independently to Ushuaia, the southernmost town in Argentina, you will embark your ship in the afternoon. Settle in to your cabin and meet your expedition team and lecture staff as we set sail through the scenic Beagle Channel on our way to Antarctica.

These 2 days will be filled with excitement as we make our way to Antarctica through the famous Drake Passage. As we sail we recommend spending some time on deck with your expedition leaders who will help you to identify the amazing variety of seabirds, including many albatrosses, which follow in our wake, along with whales attracted to the nutrient rich seas below us. Your programme of informative and entertaining lectures and presentations will begin, covering everything from navigation and polar exploration to the wildlife and geology of the areas you are about to encounter.

As we cross the Antarctic Convergence we will near the South Shetland Islands and experience the first of many iceberg sightings. The snow-capped mountains of the South Shetlands will greet us as we attempt our first landing on the afternoon of day 3, where you can go ashore with your lectures and naturalists to experience your first encounters with the penguins and seals of the islands.

We are now in the heart of Antarctica, a land where words cannot do justice to its majestic scenery and awe-inspiring majesty. In true expedition style our route here will be flexible and dependent on weather and ice conditions. Your captain and crew will decide each day on the best course to take to gain the very best views and wildlife encounters. We will spend our days exploring by Zodiac and on foot along the Weddell Sea area, the Peninsula, and the South Shetland Islands, racking up unforgettable experiences and memories. The abundance of wildlife we expect to encounter includes various species of penguins, Weddell, crabeater and leopard seals as well as Minke, killer (orca) and humpback whales.

Our first adventure will involve sailing into the Weddell Sea area where huge tabular icebergs loam and an abundance of penguins roam. As we sail through this ice-clogged area we will witness some of the finest scenery on the expedition, with an undulating panorama of rugged ice landscapes and sunsets like you have never seen before.

Our likely passage will take us to the east side of the Peninsula into the Antarctic Sound to explore areas such as Hope Bay where we hope to make land either at the Argentine Station Esperanza or Brown Bluff. The Weddell Sea area is the epicentre of Antarctica’s Adelie Penguin population and we are very likely to witness a huge number of penguins on our journey. All-white Snow Petrels are also likely to be coursing over the floes, often joined by Pintado Petrels. If we are very lucky we may also catch a glimpse of an Emperor Penguin on the ice floes. As well as Hope Bay we also intend to visit Devil Island and Paulet Island to see more bustling Adélie Penguin colonies and perhaps a Blue-eyed Cormorant colony.

The Weddell Sea area is an exceptionally important area in terms of historic Antarctic exploration and your knowledgeable expedition team will delight in offering facts and stories on the trials of explorers such as Carl Anton Larsen, Otto Nordenskjöld and Sir Ernest Shackleton.

After an exploration of the Weddell Sea area we will sail westwards towards the Peninsula itself. We will have ample time to explore along the Peninsula to discover its pristine landscape of snow, ice and mountains and an enchanting array of wildlife. Sailing through the exceptionally scenic Gerlache Strait and Neumayer Channel, we hope to make at least two continental landings each day, exploring areas such as the aptly named Paradise Bay, Cuverville Island, home of the biggest Gentoo Penguin colony in the Peninsula surrounded by glaciers and castellated icebergs, and the British Museum and Post office at Port Lockroy.

We will also visit the South Shetland Islands, a group of ice-tinged islands that are a haven for wildlife with vast penguin rookeries and beaches ruled by Antarctic fur seals and Southern elephant seals. Sailing through the breathtaking Neptune’s Bellow’s into the flooded caldera of Deception Island is an unforgettable experience, as is visiting the crescent shaped Half Moon Island, home to Chinstrap Penguins in breathtaking surroundings. If time and conditions allow we may also have the chance to visit the enigmatic Elephant Island, an important area in the history of Antarctic exploration where Shackleton embarked on one of the most dramatic rescue missions of all time.

As we leave the wonders of Antarctica behind it’s time to make our return to Ushuaia as we sail back through the Drake Passage. Take the chance to reflect on the unforgettable experiences you will have had over the past days and join your lecturers and naturalists on deck for some final bird spotting and whale sightings.

Arrival back into the port of Ushuaia signals the end of our thrilling Antarctica cruise and after breakfast it will be time to disembark and bid a fond farewell to your crew and shipmates.