Travel Articles: Antarctica

Food, on any cruise, speaks to the overall quality of the experience and is an essential part of the adventure- even more so when that food is the only option available for hundreds of miles. Cuisine provides cruise ships an opportunity to showcase their level of sophistication and luxury. Of course, French influence was apparent through each and …

Cruising with Ponant is a great experience. Every room is equipped with its own beverage center spanning from a wide variety of teas to "make your own cocktails" mini bar. All was included and restocked daily! Many fine spirits and wines were also complementary and every time we came back from an excursion, the crew would have some warm …

Lots of things about this adventure were great, but can you blame me if I say that this was by far my favorite aspect? I mean it helped that our expedition guides were cool, but I think it made a world of difference that our captain and our expedition leader both had a sense of adventure at the center of their hearts. The whole ship made us feel …

In addition to penguins, icebergs are a quality that gives Antarctica its Antarctica-ness! Antarctica without icebergs certainly would not be Antarctica. In addition to their massive size, I was also amazed at all the different variations of blues and whites in each iceberg. Did you know that to be classified as an iceberg, the ice height must be …

I consider myself to be a pretty light packer, but planning for Antarctica was a bit daunting. Luckily, living in Montana helped prepare me for the trip as I already owned lots of cold-weather clothing. My goal for the more than two-week-long trip was to bring only a carry on suitcase and a small backpack and I successfully achieved this goal! …

The Drake Passage is the body of water between South America's Cape Horn and Antarctica. With so much water funneled through such a small space, the seas are some of the roughest in the world. In fact, 125–200 million cubic yards per second pass through the passage.I was pretty anxious about spending four days on the Drake and tried to …

This particular trip was extra special because we successfully crossed the Antarctic Polar Circle, an imaginary line at66°33′48 degrees South! Attempts to cross the Polar Circle usually happen once per season on Antarctic ships. The polar circle itineraries tend to occur during late February or March when the larger sheets of ice have …

When choosing an Antarctic vessel, there are many different factors to consider including ship size and the number of passengers, level of on board amenity and overall cost. I chose to travel on the 88 passenger MV Ushuaia. This is one of the smallest and most basic ships plying the Antarctic waters and all passengers are able to go ashore at a …

Back at the ship from whale watching, about half of us lined up to do the polar plunge. I was surprised at how many passengers wanted to, and at the ages of some of those in line. One of the older ladies confessed she didn’t know how to swim - she had never jumped into water in her whole life - but she was willing to try this because …

After lunch, we set out for a final excursion, this time by sea: seeking cetaceans, the ship took us to Fournier Bay, where a high concentration of krill attracts large populations of whales.

So far, all of our landings had been on islands around the Antarctic peninsula. And though we had seen plenty of ice, penguins, whales and seals, we could have easily called everything so far an “Antarctic experience,” many of us still wanted a true continental landing, to set foot on the peninsula itself. Today was our last day in the …

Deception Island was one of the places in Antarctica that I had heard of before, and though I didn’t necessarily have expectations of making a landing there, when it was announced that this was our next stop, I was excited to see it.

Deception Island is so named because it looks like an ordinary island from most of its perimeter, but there …

Because of the building storms, we took a rather ridiculous route on our cruise. Our expedition leader occasionally commented how worried he was about keeping his job since the course he set us on was so inefficient and fuel wasn’t cheap; as he was a gruff British fellow with a sense of humor drier than the McMurdo valleys, I’m truly …

This afternoon, the weather steadily worsened until we were under the impression that we would be unable to make a second landing. Our expedition leader and captain set us on a course to try to get out from the weather system, and in the meantime, hosted a lecture on Scandinavian polar exploration history. We learned about the critical role that …

This morning we were awakened far earlier than usual by the expedition leader announcing over the PA system that a pod of orcas had been spotted off the bow. Though it was barely 6am and the sun was just beginning to rise, most of us headed out onto the decks - some had thrown on the first clothes they touched, others had simply pulled boots and …

This afternoon, we cruised over to the Danger Islands to make a landing for a sunset hike. I don’t recall the name of the island - I’m not sure if it even had a name - but it was home to a small colony of Adelie penguins. Like others we had seen so far, these ones were also moulting - losing all of their feathers to grow new ones - and …

After two days at sea, we were all restless and eager to get off the Ocean Nova. We didn’t know until that morning exactly where we were, or where we were going: in lieu of a strict itinerary, our expedition leader worked with the captain to chart our course hour by hour, looking for the best landing sites with ideal weather windows as they …

The thing about traveling to Antarctica is, it’s a long way away. It took two days of flights from Montana just to get to the port city of Ushuaia, at the southernmost tip of Argentina. From there, it was another two days of sailing across the Drake Passage, a notorious body of water between South America and the Antarctic peninsula. At the …

This was probably the most common response I got from family and (non-travel industry) friends when I first announced I was going to Antarctica. Working in the adventure travel industry, where most of my colleagues have already been to Antarctica - some more than once - I forget that it’s not a place that most people realize that can be …

There is a certain breed of adventurers who cannot help but camp whenever they roam. Luckily for me, Polar Latitudes provides the opportunity on some of their departures to their more adventurous guests who want the opportunity to sleep out on the frozen land in subzero temperatures.

Camping is definitely not an excursion that everyone will want …

With the IAATO regulations only allowing cruise ships operating in Antarctica, I was curious to find out how ships that are over 100 passengers handle the flow of shore landings and daily excursions to ensure everyone is having a phenomenal trip while still complying.

After we had made it across the circle on Day 4, the real adventure began. We …

One morning, we woke to the sound of "Bing Bong" and the voice of Pablo on the intercom excitedly reporting that we had officially crossed the Antarctic Circle at Latitude 66.5 degrees South. We were all invited to wake up, grab some breakfast and prepare for a celebration on deck hosted by the Expedition Crew and Captain to commemorate …

With all the factors an expedition cruise has to consider, flexibility is key to enjoying your experience. When narrowing down cruise options early on in our search, we all tend to scour through itineraries looking for the best possible experience. But, what I learned on this trip is that the reality of improvisation is at the core of all …

Having never been on an expedition cruise to Antarctica before, I was excited and curious to see how the daily logistics really worked. How do they ensure no one missed breakfast or knows to be at a certain place on the ship in time for their excursion?

The first morning on the cruise, we sailed into the Drake Passage for our first crossing. The …