Iconic Antarctica, The Explorer's Route

Day 1 · Buenos Aires

The voyage begins in the Argentine capital, with an included night in a central hotel and breakfast the next morning. We always suggest arriving a day or two early if you can, both to shake off the long flight and to see something of a city that is far too good to treat as an airport stop. Wander the old streets of San Telmo, see the painted houses of La Boca and finish with a steak and a glass of Malbec. Our gateway cities guide has more ideas.

Day 2 · Fly to Ushuaia and embark

After an early transfer to the airport you take the included charter flight south to Ushuaia, on the Beagle Channel in Tierra del Fuego. The town calls itself the end of the world, and when you see the mountains rising straight out of the water behind it you understand why. You board your ship in the afternoon, settle into your cabin and join the Expedition Team for the first briefings, and in the evening the ship sails east along the Beagle Channel towards the open sea.

Days 3 to 4 · Crossing the Drake Passage

Two days at sea across the Drake Passage, the stretch of ocean between Cape Horn and the South Shetlands. Wandering and black browed albatrosses ride the wind behind the ship, and the Expedition Team start their programme in the Science Centre with talks on Antarctic history, wildlife and ice. Given the theme of this voyage, expect plenty about Shackleton, Nordenskjöld and de Gerlache. You will also have your briefing on the IAATO rules for visiting Antarctica, and your outdoor clothing and bags are vacuumed and checked so that no seeds or soil travel ashore with you.

Days 5 to 13 · Antarctica in expedition mode

Nine days in Antarctica gives the Expedition Team room to plan properly, and to wait for the weather when they need to. The regions below are the plan for this voyage. The order, and the landing sites within each region, are decided day by day.

The South Shetland Islands. For most people this archipelago is the first sight of Antarctica. One possible stop is Deception Island, a volcano whose flooded caldera the ship can enter through a narrow gap called Neptune's Bellows. Inside, at Whalers Bay, the rusting tanks of an old Norwegian whaling station and an abandoned British base sit on black volcanic sand. Half Moon Island, with its chinstrap penguins nesting on the rocks, is another landing the team often choose.

The Antarctic Sound. The sound takes its name from the Antarctic, the ship of Nordenskjöld's expedition, which was crushed by ice nearby in 1903. It is the gateway to the Weddell Sea and the place where the biggest tabular icebergs come drifting through, some of them several kilometres long. Brown Bluff, a towering volcanic headland with Adélie and gentoo penguins nesting beneath it, is one of the landings that may be possible here.

The Weddell Sea. If the ice allows, the ship pushes into the northern Weddell Sea, a very different Antarctica of pack ice and flat white horizons. Near Snow Hill Island, where Nordenskjöld's stone hut still stands, there is a small chance of seeing emperor penguins on the sea ice, though this depends entirely on conditions and should be seen as a bonus rather than a promise. This is also the sea where the wreck of Shackleton's Endurance was finally found in 2022, three kilometres down.

The Gerlache Strait. Turning to the west side of the Peninsula, the ship enters the sheltered Gerlache Strait, one of the best places in Antarctica for humpback whales, especially later in the season. The bays around it hold many of the classic landings: the gentoo colony on Cuverville Island, the mainland landing at Neko Harbour beneath a calving glacier, and the mountains of Paradise Bay, which are just as dramatic from an expedition boat as from the shore. Adrien de Gerlache charted these waters in 1898 before the Belgica became trapped in the ice and her crew became the first to spend a winter in the Antarctic.

The Penola Strait. In the last part of the expedition the plan is to head south of the Lemaire Channel into the Penola Strait, a scattering of islands, penguin colonies and glaciers. Petermann Island, with Adélie and gentoo penguins side by side, and nearby Pleneau Island, where grounded icebergs collect, are sites the team often aim for. If conditions favour it, the ship may instead spend time in the Lemaire Channel itself, a narrow passage between sheer peaks that is one of the most photographed places on the continent.

Throughout these days there are landings and cruises by expedition boat, and for those who book them, kayaking and a night camping on the snow. Your time of year shapes the wildlife: early departures see penguins on their nests, December brings the first chicks and the February 2027 sailing is good for whales.

Days 14 to 15 · Back across the Drake Passage

The ship turns north for the return crossing. There is time for the last lectures, a session with the onboard photographer to go through your pictures, and a chance to send whale fluke photographs to the Happywhale Citizen Science project. Or simply a long hour in the hot tub watching the albatrosses.

Day 16 · Ushuaia to Buenos Aires

You arrive in Ushuaia in the morning, disembark and transfer to the airport for the included flight back to Buenos Aires, where you can connect with your flight home. If you would like to stay longer, we can add hotel nights or an optional post programme.