Antarctica! To many world travelers this is the ultimate destination.  The aura of Antarctica has its origins in its isolation, but the same rugged icy mountains, coastlines, islands, and icebergs that challenged the explorers a century ago now delight the modern traveler who journeys to Antarctica in safety and comfort. The scale of nearly everything in Antarctica is grand.  Huge colonies of penguins, brash skuas and giant petrels, weird sheathbills, somnolent seals, and feeding whales add life to the austere beauty of the setting.  Beginning in Ushuaia, our voyage encompasses the Falkland Islands and South Georgia, both renowned for their species diversity, sheer numbers of birds, and for their incomparable beauty.  We will also have several full days at sea cruising from one island group to the next.  These sea passages provide some of the world’s premier pelagic birding, with numerous studies of albatrosses, petrels, prions, skuas, and shearwaters.  Cetaceans are also frequently seen on these crossings, ranging from striking Hourglass and Southern Right Whale Dolphins to Orcas and Humpback Whales.  In these plankton-rich waters there is always the possibility of observing rare species or behaviors that symbolize the entire continent.  Antarctica is a once-in-a-lifetime trip—except for those travelers that succumb multiple times to its teeming birds and mammals and the sweeping grandeur of its icebergs and fjords.  Departing from the southernmost city in the world, Ushuaia, Argentina, on Tierra del Fuego, we cruise out the Beagle Channel to the Falkland Islands.  Located in temperate oceanic waters, the seabirds of the Falklands are more typical of the Atlantic Ocean than the Southern Ocean.  Rockhopper Penguin, Black-browed Albatross, and Slender-billed Prion all maintain breeding colonies in the Islands.  Unlikely elsewhere farther south, terrestrial birds of note include Blackish Cinclodes, Cobb’s Wren, Austral Thrush, two oystercatchers, and the rare Striated Caracara.  Our visit to the historic town of Stanley will blend history—including the 1982 Falkland Island War—with birds, since this is a good location for the endemic Falkland Steamerduck.  South Georgia’s glacier-sculpted fjords host great colonies of King, Gentoo, and Macaroni Penguins, as well as Wandering Albatross, and many other seabirds.  The South Georgia Diving-Petrel, the endemic South Georgia Shag, and the South Georgia Pipit are some of the island’s specialties.  Here, too, are thriving colonies of Southern Elephant Seal and Southern (Antarctic) Fur Seal, and perhaps our first Weddell Seals.  Originally a whaling center, South Georgia’s surrounding waters are likely to produce several species of southern leviathans.  On the way to Antarctica itself we plan to stop at the remote South Orkney Islands, which feature large breeding populations of Chinstrap and Adelie Penguins, Southern Fulmar, Southern (Antarctic) Giant Petrel, Cape Petrel, Antarctic Prion, Wilson’s Storm-Petrel, Antarctic Shag and Snowy Sheathbill.  The voyage culminates with four days cruising down the Antarctic Peninsula and back up the adjacent South Shetland Islands.  Zodiacs afford us the opportunity to land almost anywhere to view special wildlife.  Count among these Adelie, Chinstrap, and Gentoo Penguin colonies, and Southern (Antarctic) Fur Seals, Weddell, Crabeater, Southern Elephant, and Leopard Seals, as well as Orcas on the prowl, and Humpback Whales.  The constant excitement of the wildlife and the magnificent surroundings could lead to serious sleep deprivation, but the delicious and varied cuisine, as well as calm seas at our anchorages, translates to wonderful nights of rest.  Join us this holiday season for summertime in the largest and most pristine ecosystem remaining on earth—Antarctica!

View Antarctica Photo Gallery