- 4 Breakfasts, 4 Lunches, 4 Dinners
Early on the morning of Day 16 pass by Elephant Island, and if conditions allow, zodiac cruise or land on this exposed and remote local. Your focus is on the site where Shackleton's party beached, after Endurance sank in the Weddell Sea. Twenty-two men remained here, living under a lifeboat, while Shackleton and two companions took the James Caird and sailed for South Georgia. After four months, on August 30, 1916, Shackleton returned to rescue his men with the vessel Yelcho. A bronze bust of the Yelcho's Captain, Luis Pardo Villalon, can be seen within the chinstrap penguin colony. In 2013 a group of explorers and filmmakers set out from the same spot, in an effort to replicate Shackleton's journey using only the equipment and gear available to the original group. Special guest Seb Coulthard was the expedition engineer on this project and has many tales to tell, about both the original expedition and the 2013 recreation.
Your Expedition Leader and Captain create a flexible itinerary based on weather, ice, and opportunity. The route stresses the most scenic bays and channels of the Peninsula with stops at penguin rookeries, seal wallows, bird colonies and whale feeding areas as well as sites of historic and scientific interest. The trip may include picturesque Neko Harbor, sheltered Paradise Harbor, the humpback whale favored Wilhelmina Bay, the striking Lemaire Channel, the wildlife-filled Penola Channel, or the majestic Neumayer Channel. The expedition may stop at an active scientific base such as Poland’s Arctowksi or Ukraine’s Vernadskiy as well as an historic base such as U.K.’s Port Lockroy or Wordie House. Adelie, chinstrap and gentoo penguins abound, and Weddell, crabeater and elephant seals are often found hauled out to rest along with predatory leopard seals and the aggressive Antarctic fur seal. Minke and humpback whales are frequent visitors in the late season and orca sightings are also common.