Antarctica - Discovery and Learning | HDS26-28

About This Itinerary

Day-by-day itinerary

1. Day 1: End of the world, start of a journey

   Your voyage begins where the world drops off. Ushuaia, Argentina, reputed to be the southernmost city on the planet, is located on the far southern tip of South America. Starting in the afternoon, you embark from this small resort town on Tierra del Fuego, nicknamed “The End of the World,” and sail the mountain-fringed Beagle Channel for the remainder of the evening.

2. Day 2: Path of the polar explorers

   Over the next two days on the Drake Passage, you enjoy some of the same experiences encountered by the great polar explorers who first charted these regions: cool salt breezes, rolling seas, maybe even a fin whale spouting up sea spray. After passing the Antarctic Convergence – Antarctica’s natural boundary, formed when north-flowing cold waters collide with warmer sub-Antarctic seas – you are in the circum-Antarctic upwelling zone.

3. Day 3: Path of the polar explorers

   Continuation of the Drake Passage crossing.

4. Day 4: Enter the Antarctic

   Gray stone peaks sketched with snow, towers of broken blue-white ice, and dramatically different wildlife below and above. You first pass the snow-capped Melchior Islands and Schollaert Channel, sailing between Brabant and Anvers Islands.

5. Day 5: Enter the Antarctic

   Activities may focus on the gentoo penguins nesting on Danco Island, in addition to the Weddell and crabeater seals.

6. Day 6: Enter the Antarctic

   An epic landscape of mammoth glaciers and endless wind-carved snow at Neko Harbour. Opportunities for Zodiac cruise and landing.

7. Day 7: Enter the Antarctic

   You may take a Zodiac cruise in Paradise Bay, visit Port Lockroy on Goudier Island, and see gentoo penguins and blue-eyed shags at Jougla Point. When conditions are right, snowshoe around the shore and to the old ski-way at Damoy Point.

8. Day 8: Scenes of South Shetland

   The volcanic islands of the South Shetlands are windswept and often cloaked in mist. In Deception Island, the ship plunges through Neptune’s Bellows and into the flooded caldera. Alternatively, activities near Half Moon Island.

9. Day 9: Familiar seas, familiar friends

   Your return voyage is far from lonely. While crossing the Drake, you’re again greeted by the vast array of seabirds remembered from the passage south.

10. Day 10: Familiar seas, familiar friends

    Continuation of the Drake Passage crossing.

11. Day 11: There and back again

    Every adventure, no matter how grand, must eventually come to an end. It’s now time to disembark in Ushuaia.