The Antartic Peninsula And Weddell Sea - M/v Ushuaia

Embark the Ushuaia in the afternoon and meet your expedition and lecture staff. After you have settled into your cabins, sail along the famous Beagle Channel and the scenic Mackinlay Pass.

Overnight Comfortable Cruise Boat Included meals: Dinner

Named after the renowned explorer, Sir Francis Drake, who sailed these waters in 1578, the Drake Passage also marks the Antarctic Convergence, a biological barrier where cold polar water sinks beneath the warmer northern waters. The Drake Passage also marks the northern limit of many Antarctic seabirds. As you sail across the passage, join lecturers out on deck to help you spot a variety of seabirds, including many albatrosses, which follow in our wake.

The first sightings of icebergs and snow-capped mountains indicate that you have reached the South Shetland Islands, a group of twenty islands and islets, and what will be your first encounter with penguins and seals.

Overnight Comfortable Cruise Boat Included meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

The Weddell Sea is chock-a-block full with ice, making for exciting ice navigation. Why not get up early and go out on deck; the sunrises will be unlike anything you've ever seen. Huge tabular icebergs break from the Larsen, Ronne and Filchner ice shelves and combine with one-year-old and multi-year sea ice to produce a floating, undulating panorama of rugged ice scenery. All-white snow petrels are likely to be coursing over the floes, often joined by pintado petrels.

Hope Bay and the Argentinian Station, Esperanza, are located on the western side of the Antarctic Sound. Brown Bluff, a promontory on the Tabarin Peninsula, is located south of Hope Bay. Both of them might be possible landing sites.

The Weddell Sea represents the centre of the Peninsula's Adélie penguin population. The numbers of penguins are
breathtaking. Sometimes juvenile emperor penguins have been sighted, but are not regulars in the area.

This region also teems with vibrant exploration history. You will hopefully visit four sites: Hope Bay, Paulet Island, Snow Hill Island and Cape Well-Met on Vega Island.

Overnight Comfortable Cruise Boat Included meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

You will have plenty of time to explore the Antarctic Peninsula's amazing scenery, pristine wilderness of snow, ice, mountains and waterways and a wide variety of wildlife. Apart from gentoo and chinstrap Penguins, and seabirds, you are likely to encounter Weddell, crabeater and leopard seals as well as minke and orca whales at close range.

We hope to navigate some of the most beautiful waterways: the Gerlache Strait, Errera Channel and Neumayer Channel. Possible landing sites may include: Paradise Bay, which is perhaps the most aptly named place in the world with its impressive glacial fronts and mountains, Cuverville Island, home to the biggest gentoo penguin colony in the peninsula surrounded by glaciers and castellated icebergsand the British Museum and Post office at Port Lockroy.

Further exploration will lead you to the South Shetland Islands. This volcanic island group is a haven for wildlife. Vast penguin rookeries and seals hauling out on the shorelines make every day spent here unforgettable. Sailing through the narrow passage into the flooded caldera of Deception Island is truly amazing, so is visiting the crescent shaped island Half Moon, home to chinstrap penguins in breathtaking surroundings.

Overnight Comfortable Cruise Boat Included meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Head back across the Drake Passage. The last lectures help polish our Antarctic education before making a ceremonial rounding of Cape Horn, time and weather permitting.

Overnight Comfortable Cruise Boat Included meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

A pre-dawn sail along the Beagle Channel and an early breakfast prepare you to dock in Ushuaia. There’s time for final photos and to saying farewells before disembarking.

Overnight Comfortable Cruise Boat Included meals: Breakfast