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    Antarctica Discovery and Learning

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    Highlights

    Experience the incredible wildlife, stunning mountain scenery and gigantic icebergs in 11 action-packed days.

    This Antarctic Peninsula and South Shetland Islands cruise delivers you into a landscape of dark rugged rock, pure white snow, and a fantastic variety of wildlife. Come say hello to whales, seals, and thousands of penguins.

     Highlights you might experience:

    • Antarctic Camping: Few things get you closer to the Antarctic expedition experience than making camp, settling into your bivouac bag, and sleeping under the Southern Hemisphere stars.
    • One-off kayak experience: Discover the thrill of kayaking for beginners, guided by our experts in breathtaking polar seas.
    • Neptune’s Bellows: An iconic Antarctic landmark, Neptune’s Bellows mark the entrance to the sunken caldera that forms Deception Island.

    Map/Itinerary

    Please note: this itinerary is meant to serve as a general guide. Plans may change along the way, depending on weather, sea conditions, or choices made by the expedition leader and team to give you the safest and most rewarding experience.

    Day 1End 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. 

    Day 2-3Path 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. Not only does the marine life change, the avian life changes too. 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 are a few of the birds you might see.

    Day 4-7Enter 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. 
     
    Sites you may visit include: 
     
    Danco Island – Activities here may focus on the gentoo penguins nesting on the island, in addition to the Weddell and crabeater seals that can be found nearby.
     
    Neko Harbour – An epic landscape of mammoth glaciers and endless wind-carved snow, Neko Harbour offers opportunities for a Zodiac cruise and landing that afford the closest views of the surrounding alpine peaks.
     
    Paradise Bay – You may be able to take a Zodiac cruise in these sprawling, ice-flecked waters, where there’s a good chance you’ll encounter humpback and minke whales.

    Port Lockroy – After sailing through the Neumayer Channel, you may get a chance to visit the former British research station – now a museum and post office – of Port Lockroy on Goudier Island. You may also be able to partake in activities around Jougla Point, meeting gentoo penguins and blue-eyed shags.

    Day 8Scenes of South Shetland

    The volcanic islands of the South Shetlands are windswept and often cloaked in mist, but they do offer subtle pleasures: There’s a wide variety of flora (mosses, lichens, flowering grasses) and no small amount of fauna (gentoo penguins, chinstrap penguins, southern giant petrels).
     
    In Deception Island, the ship plunges through Neptune’s Bellows and into the flooded caldera. Here you find an abandoned whaling station, and thousands of cape petrels – along with kelp gulls, brown and south polar skuas, and Antarctic terns. A good hike is a possibility in this fascinating and desolate volcanic landscape.
     
    As an alternative, you may be able to engage in activities near Half Moon Island. Here chinstrap penguins and Weddell seals often haul out onto the beach near Cámara Base, an Argentine scientific research station. Conditions on the Drake Passage determine the exact time of departure.

    Day 9-10Familiar 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. But they seem a little more familiar to you now, and you to them.

    Day 11There and back again

    Every adventure, no matter how grand, must eventually come to an end. It’s now your time to disembark in Ushuaia, but with memories that will accompany you wherever your next adventure lies.

    Inclusions/Exclusions

    This expedition includes:

    • Voyage aboard the indicated vessel as indicated in the itinerary.
    • All meals throughout the voyage aboard the ship including snacks, coffee and tea.
    • All shore excursions and activities throughout the voyage by Zodiac.
    • Program of lectures by noted naturalists and leadership by experienced expedition staff.
    • Complimentary use of waterproof neoprene expedition muck boots and snowshoes.
    • Luggage transfer from pick-up point to the vessel on the day of embarkation, in Ushuaia.
    • Pre-scheduled group transfer from the vessel to the airport in Ushuaia (directly after disembarkation).
    • All miscellaneous service taxes and port charges throughout the programme.
    • Comprehensive pre-departure material.
    • Complimentary Wi-Fi connectivity. All guests receive 1.5 GB of data usage per day, which resets every 24 hours.
    • Complimentary Dopper water bottle for use during and after your expedition.

    This expedition excludes:

    • Any airfare, whether on scheduled or charter flights
    • Pre- and post- land arrangements.
    • Passport and visa expenses.
    • Government arrival and departure taxes.
    • Meals ashore.
    • Baggage, cancellation and personal insurance (which is strongly recommended).
    • Excess baggage charges and all items of a personal nature such as laundry, bar, beverage charges and telecommunication charges.
    • The customary gratuity at the end of the voyages for stewards and other service personnel aboard (guidelines will be provided).

    Adventure Activities

    Diving (available in selected departures): From $750 USD PP

    Kayaking (available in selected departures): From $300 USD PP

    Camping (available in selected departures): From $280 USD PP

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    Antarctica Discovery and Learning

    Start: Dec 27, 2026

    End: Jan 6, 2027

    Departure: Ushuaia

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    m/v Hondius

    Duration: 11 Days

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    Antarctica Discovery and Learning

    Start: Dec 29, 2026

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    m/v Plancius

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    Start: Oct 30, 2027

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    Start: Dec 9, 2027

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    Antarctica Discovery and Learning

    Start: Dec 10, 2027

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    m/v Plancius

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    Antarctica Discovery and Learning

    Start: Dec 19, 2027

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    m/v Hondius

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    Start: Dec 20, 2027

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    Departure: Ushuaia

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    m/v Plancius

    Duration: 11 Days

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    Antarctica Discovery and Learning

    Start: Feb 2, 2028

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    m/v Plancius

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    Antarctica Discovery and Learning

    Start: Feb 5, 2028

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    m/v Hondius

    Duration: 11 Days

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