Falkland Islands – South Georgia – Elephant Island – Antarctica – Polar Circle

Your journey begins in Ushuaia.

At sea.

The Falkland Islands are a hidden gem with rich wildlife and the opportunity to carefully approach animals, known from the 1982 conflict. Besides numerous bird species, they are also home to Peale’s and Commerson’s dolphins. Visitable places include Westpoint Island with its variety of bird species, including a rockhopper penguin colony, and Saunders Island, where black-browed albatrosses, king cormorants as well as rockhopper, king, Magellanic and gentoo penguins can be observed.

Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands combines South American flair with Victorian charm, offering historic shipwrecks and a museum that showcases local history up to the Falklands War.

While crossing the Antarctic Convergence on the way to South Georgia, you will experience how the sea rapidly cools and nutrient-rich water rises, allowing you to observe many seabirds, including albatrosses and petrels, near the ship.

Upon arrival in South Georgia, you begin initial activities, depending on weather conditions. Possible destinations include Fortuna Bay with numerous king penguins and seals, as well as the chance to explore Shackleton’s historic route. Salisbury Plain, St. Andrews Bay, and Gold Harbour offer insights into large colonies of king penguins and fur seals. In Grytviken, you can visit an abandoned whaling station, the South Georgia Museum, and Shackleton’s grave. The journey continues on the tenth day with the trip to the South Orkney Islands, weather permitting.

On this route, there is the possibility of encountering pack ice. In such a case, south polar skuas and snow petrels might join the other seabirds and follow the ship southward.

Depending on conditions, the Argentine research station Base Orcadas on Laurie Island may be visited; if not, a landing at Shingle Cove on the Coronation Islands is possible.

You have now retraced a similar path to Sir Ernest Shackleton, who crossed the vast sea in the small rescue boat James Caird in the spring of 1916 to save stranded members of his expedition on Elephant Island. The conditions there are extremely challenging, but the goal is to bring the Zodiacs to Point Wild, where Shackleton’s crew survived against all odds.

If icy conditions allow, your route will take you into the Antarctic Sound at the northwestern edge of the Weddell Sea. There you will be greeted by massive tabular icebergs that mark the eastern edges of the Antarctic Peninsula. Brown Bluff offers a possible landing site where you might have the opportunity to set foot on the Antarctic continent.

The South Shetland Islands are volcanic, wind-swept, and often shrouded in fog, but they also have their charms: a diverse flora (mosses, lichens, flowering grasses) and fauna (gentoo and chinstrap penguins, southern giant petrels). On Deception Island, the route leads through Neptune’s Bellows into the flooded caldera. There you will find an abandoned whaling station and numerous birds such as cape petrels, kelp gulls, brown and south polar skuas, and Antarctic terns. There are good hiking opportunities in this volcanic landscape.

In Antarctica, breathtaking landscapes with gray stone peaks, snow-covered towers of ice, and rich flora and fauna await you. The Gerlache Strait offers a view of some of the region’s most beautiful scenery, including Neko Harbour and Paradise Bay, where you can see humpback and minke whales. If possible, you can travel further south and visit places like Crystal Sound, Detaille Island, Pourquoi Pas Island, and Horseshoe Island, all of which offer their own fascinating features and histories.

Crossing Drake Passage

Arrival in Ushuaia