HIGHLIGHTS
- Be
awestruck by the array of wildlife that play and hunt in the Antarctic
Sound.
- With
favourable conditions, we hope to experience the incredible sea ice and
enormous icebergs in the Weddell Sea.
- Learn
about the incredible fossil-rich volcanic islands from our onboard
palaeontologist.
- Keep
a close watch for whales that have migrated tremendous distances to
feed on plentiful krill in Antarctica.
DATES / RATES
Rates are listed per person
|
| Start Date | End Date | From EUR | From USD |
|---|
| Mar 24, 2025 | Apr 04, 2025 | 12,682 |
13,395 |
| Feb 17, 2026 | Mar 01, 2026 | 19,026 |
20,095 |
Rates are listed per person
|
| Start Date | End Date | From EUR | From USD |
|---|
| Mar 24, 2025 | Apr 04, 2025 | 12,682 |
13,395 |
| Feb 17, 2026 | Mar 01, 2026 | 19,026 |
20,095 |
ITINERARY
Day
1 Arrive Ushuaia
Arrive
in Ushuaia, where you will be met by a representative of Aurora
Expeditions and transferred with your fellow expeditioners to your
assigned pre-voyage hotel. If you are already in Ushuaia, we ask you to
make your way to your hotel. Check-in is from 3.00 pm. This afternoon,
visit the Aurora Expeditions hospitality desk in the lobby at Las Hayas
Ushuaia Resort, Luis Fernando Martial 1650, between 8.00 am and 12.00
pm, or 3.00 pm and 7.00 pm, to collect your luggage tags, and confirm
if you wish to join our Beagle Channel and Isla de Los Lobos Cruise
(sea lion island) tomorrow. Our team will confirm details regarding
your embarkation day, answer any questions and provide you with
information on where to dine or purchase last minute
items.
Expeditioners
arriving after 7.00 pm will find a welcome pack waiting for them at
check-in. We ask you to visit our hospitality desk tomorrow between
8.00 am – 10.00 am.
The
remainder of your time is at leisure. All meals today are at your own
expense.
Assigned
accommodation: Las Hayas Ushuaia Resort or Los Acebos Ushuaia Hotel
Day
2 Embarkation
This
morning, enjoy breakfast and check-out. Please ensure your cabin
luggage is fitted with cabin tags clearly labelled with your name and
cabin number. Take your cabin luggage to hotel reception, prior to, or
at check-out. Your luggage will be stored and transferred directly to
the port for clearance, to be placed in your cabin ahead of your
arrival on board. Please keep any valuables or personal items with you
throughout the day.
Your
morning is at leisure to explore Ushuaia.
Those
wishing to join our afternoon catamaran cruise, meet back at the hotel
lobby at 12.45 pm ready to transfer to the port at 1.00 pm. Here we
board our catamaran and sail the Beagle Channel, towards the
city’s iconic Les Eclaireurs Lighthouse. Crossing the Bridges
Archipelago we’ll slow down to watch colonies of sea lions
and imperial cormorants sun themselves on the rocky outcrops, while
gulls, rock cormorants, skuas, petrels, albatrosses and cauquenes are
often sighted. Our cruise offers panoramic views of the city and the
surrounding mountain range, in addition to hearing tales of the people
and communities of the region.
Alternatively,
enjoy your day at leisure and meet at your hotel lobby at 3.45 pm to be
transferred to the pier for embarkation.
Once
onboard, you’ll have time to settle into your cabin before
our important mandatory briefings. As the ship pulls away from port,
we’ll gather on the deck to commence our adventure with
spectacular views over Ushuaia and Tierra del Fuego.
This
evening get to know your fellow expeditioners and friendly expedition
team and crew at a welcome dinner to celebrate the start of a thrilling
adventure to Antarctica.
Days
3-4 Drake Passage Crossing
As
we commence the Drake Passage crossing, we make the most of our time
getting comfortable with the motions of the sea. Our expedition team
prepare you for our first landing with important wildlife guidelines
and biosecurity procedures and start our lecture program to help you
learn more about Antarctica’s history, wildlife and
environment.
Our
wildlife experiences begin as we enjoy watching and photographing the
many seabirds, including majestic albatrosses and giant petrels
following our vessel. On sea days, you may can enjoy the facilities on
board the vessel including the gym, wellness centre or the relaxing in
one of the observation lounges.
Nearing
the South Shetland Islands and the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula on
the afternoon of day four, the excitement is palpable with everyone
converging on one of the observation decks watching for our first
iceberg. The ocean takes on a whole new perspective once we are below
the Antarctic Convergence and are surrounded by the surreal presence of
floating ice sculptures. The memory of your first big iceberg sighting
is likely to remain with you for a lifetime. Time and weather
permitting, we may attempt our first landing in Antarctica by late
afternoon.
Days
5-9 Weddell Sea & Antarctic Peninsula
It’s
almost impossible to describe the feeling of arriving in Antarctica.
Spotting your first iceberg and taking a deep breath of some of the
most fresh, crisp air on earth is an experience that will stay with you
forever.
Once
we arrive, the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula and the South
Shetland Islands are ours to explore, and we have a host of choices
available to us. Because we are so far south, we will experience
approximately 18-24 hours of daylight and the days can be as busy as
you wish.
Your
experienced expedition team, who have made countless journeys to this
area, will use their expertise to design your voyage from day to day,
choosing the best options based on the prevailing weather, ice
conditions and wildlife opportunities.
We
generally make landings or Zodiac excursions twice a day. You will want
to rug up before joining Zodiac cruises along spectacular ice cliffs or
among grounded icebergs, keeping watch for whales, seals and porpoising
penguins. Zodiacs will also transport you from the ship to land, where
you can visit penguin rookeries, discover historic huts and explore
some of our favourite spots along the peninsula.
While
ashore we aim to stretch our legs, wandering along pebbly beaches or
perhaps up snow-covered ridgelines to vantage points with mountains
towering overhead and ice-speckled oceans below. If you have chosen an
optional activity, you will have the option to do that whenever
conditions allow, and of course keen polar plungers will have the
chance to fully immerse themselves in polar waters - conditions
permitting!
In
addition to Zodiac cruises and shore excursions, we may ship cruise
some of the narrow, dramatic straits separating offshore islands from
the mainland, or linger in scenic bays to watch whales travelling or
feeding. This is a great time to enjoy the observation lounge or make
your way to the bridge for uninterrupted views of Antarctica in all its
splendour. Keep an ear out for the creak and deep rumble of glaciers as
they carve their way from summit to sea. Take a quiet moment to
experience the wonder of this incredible white continent.
Central
to the story of where Sir Ernest Shackleton’s ship, the
Endurance became trapped in formidable sea ice, the Weddell Sea
certainly is high on the list for many polar adventurers. A small set
of islands standing off to the east of the Antarctic Peninsula
collectively form the Antarctic Sound – the gateway to the
Weddell Sea. With a well-deserved reputation as being an iceberg alley
where large icebergs try to escape the Weddell Sea through Antarctic
Sound, often making navigation difficult. However, the rewards can be
great. Fossils are a reminder of a more temperate era –
gastropods, large clams, and spiral-shaped ammonites, all turned to
stone.
We
hope to experience memorable wildlife encounters as the Weddell boasts
a large Adélie penguin colony just outside of Antarctic
Sound, some of which breed on the rocky slopes of a small volcanic
island, where a large colony of Antarctic blue-eyed shags jostle for
space with nest-building Wilson’s storm petrels. On thrilling
Zodiac excursions or slicing a path through the maze of sea ice in your
kayak, keep watch for chinstrap and gentoo penguins in and out of the
water, as well as humpback, minke and orca whales. Your camera is sure
to get a solid workout during your time in the Weddell Sea.
Days
10-11 Drake Passage Crossing
Enjoy
a final morning landing in the South Shetland Islands before we
re-enter the Drake Passage for our return journey to South America.
With
lectures and film presentations to complete our Antarctic experience,
there is still plenty of time to enjoy the magic of the Southern Ocean
and the life that calls it home. There is time for reflection and
discussion about what we have seen and experienced. We hope you become
ambassadors for Antarctica telling your family, friends and colleagues
about your journey to this magical place, advocating for its
conservation and preservation so that they might one day visit the
region to experience what you have been lucky to see and do
here.
As
we approach the tip of South America, our Captain may sail close to
legendary Cape Horn, weather and time permitting.
Day
12 Disembark Ushuaia
During
the early morning, we cruise up the Beagle Channel, before quietly
slipping into dock in Ushuaia, where we will be free to disembark
around 8.00 am. Farewell your expedition team and fellow passengers as
we all continue our onward journeys, hopefully with a newfound sense of
the immense power of nature.
On
disembarkation, passengers on flights departing prior to 2.00 pm will
be transferred directly to Ushuaia Airport, while those fortunate
enough to be continuing their travels in this spectacular region of the
world, will be transferred to their post-voyage Ushuaia accommodation.
Passengers flying after 2.00 pm will have time to explore Ushuaia,
prior to an afternoon airport transfer, the details of which will be
provided onboard prior to disembarkation.
Note:
At the conclusion of the voyage, we do not recommend booking flights
departing Ushuaia prior to 12.00 pm on the day of disembarkation in
case there are delays.
Sylvia Earle (Luxury Expedition, 126-guests)
Due to sail in October 2021 our new ship honours the highly accomplished marine biologist, oceanographer and explorer, Sylvia Earle. As the first female chief scientist of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and named by Time Magazine as its first Hero for the Planet in 1998 - this vessel pays tribute to Sylvia's long standing conservation efforts for marine protected areas and ocean wildlife. Sylvia Earle will be actively involved in the development of her namesake.
(Click image to view Ship details)
WHAT'S INCLUDED
- All airport transfers mentioned in the itinerary.
- One night’s hotel accommodation including breakfast, in Ushuaia on Day 1.
- Half-day tour of Ushuaia on Day 2, prior to embarkation.
- Onboard accommodation during voyage, including daily cabin service.
- All meals, snacks, tea and coffee during voyage.
- Beer, house wine and soft drinks with dinner.
- Captain's Farewell reception including four-course dinner, house cocktails, house beer and wine, non-alcoholic beverages.
- All shore excursions and Zodiac cruises.
- Educational lectures and guiding services provided by Expedition Team.
- Complimentary access to onboard expedition doctor and medical clinic (initial consultation).
- One 3-in-1 waterproof, polar expedition jacket.
- Complimentary use of Muck Boots during the voyage.
- Comprehensive pre-departure information.
- Port surcharges, permits and landing fees.
- Wi-Fi*.
*Please note we travel to remote regions and therefore the connection can be unreliable. Exclusions - International or domestic flights – unless specified in the itinerary.
- Transfers - unless specified in the itinerary.
- Airport arrival or departure taxes.
- Passport, visa, reciprocity and vaccination fees and charges.
- Travel insurance or emergency evacuation charges.
- Hotel accommodation and meals – unless specified in the itinerary.
- Optional excursions and optional activity surcharges.
- All items of a personal nature, including but not limited to alcoholic beverages and soft drinks (outside of dinner service), gratuities, laundry services, personal clothing, medical expenses or phone charges.
ADVENTURE
OPTIONS
Add-on
Activities
- Sea Kayaking: USD 1,300
- Scuba Diving: USD 1,295
- Snorkelling: USD 675
- Paddling: USD 640
Included
Activities
- Bird watching
- Lectures on wildlife, our environment, history and
destinations
- Near shore cruises
- Photography
- Polar plunge
- Trips ashore
- Walking
- Whale and mammal spotting
- Zodiac cruises
