My wife and I took a luxury expedition cruise to Antarctica on Seabourn's Pursuit ship. The route shown below is approximate. They don't show stopping points due to unpredictable weather and ice conditions.
The ship, cabins, staff, etc.... were all top-notch! We've been on a number of cruises with other companies. All have been good, no real complaints with any of them. But this was "next level"!
We flew from Saint Louis, Missouri, to Houston, Texas, then on to Buenos Aires, Argentina. This was the flight path.
We departed St. Louis on Nov. 14, flew to Houston, then overnight into Buenos Aires. We arrived on the 15th.
I didn't realize how much further east South America is than the U.S.A. Buenos Aires is 3 time zones ahead of the U.S.'s Central Time Zone.
Seabourn put us up in one of the world's most luxurious hotels, the Alvear Palace Hotel. I didn't realize it's prominence until a friend mentioned it to me days after we'd checked out. I will say our room was HUGE... very nice, comfortable, and modern. The jetted tub even had it's own TV screen!
On the morning of the 16th, we boarded a private chartered flight (sounds cool, but was just like most other domestic jet flights in the U.S., and very nearly a full flight of passengers) from Buenos Aires, to Ushuaia, Argentina. Ushuaia is down near the south tip of South America. It's called the World's Southernmost City, and also "The End of the World". Terra del Fuego. It's on the Beagle Channel.
After getting aboard our ship, the Seabourn Pursuit, we were absolutely enamored with our awesome room! It was an upgrade... and so worth it! Most cabins were typically long and narrow. Ours was shorter, but twice as wide...with an amazing view through floor-to-ceiling windows surrounding a seating area, plus a comfortable outside veranda. Heated floors were a welcome amenity too.
Well before dark, our ship left the port and headed east through the Beagle Channel. For while, at least, Argentina was on our port side, Chile was to our starboard.
Beautiful views.
Once outside the Channel, we began our nearly 2 day-long crossing of the Drake Passage. Mostly saw seabirds, such as Kelp Gulls, Cape Petrel, Antarctic Petrel, Southern Fulmar, Snowy Petrel, Prion, and Albatross. Also saw a (Humpback?) whale or two.
We made good time, despite seas that were a bit rough. We didn't have our sea legs yet, but (barely) managed to retain our stomach contents.
On the early afternoon of the 18th, we had our first excursion. We took Zodiac boats from our ship to Half Moon Island in the South Shetland Islands. We saw a Weddell Seal, and Chinstrap Penguins, in addition to some seabirds. The reddish color on the big rock outcrop below is, I believe, lichen.
As the South Shetland Islands are considered part of Antarctica, my wife officially visited her 7th (of 7) continent! (I still need Asia and Australia.) In recognition of her accomplishment, this was delivered to our room:
We next visited Edinburgh Hill, and columnar basalt structure (like Devil's Tower in Wyoming and Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland) rising from the water.
Then we headed towards our destination for the following day.
November 19th. Mikkelson Harbor. Its a tiny island. Saw whale bones, the ribs of an old ship/boat, Gentoo Penguins, Weddell Seals, Snowy Sheathbill, etc.
In the afternoon, we took Zodiak Tours of Cierva Cove. Saw interesting glaciers and many seabirds, including Snowy Petrel, Antarctic Tern, etc.
November 20. Danco Island (and Chiriguano Bay).
At then end of the day, we made our way through thicker and thicker sea ice in Wilhelmina Bay.
November 21. Wilhelmina Bay. The ship was parked in the sea ice. We disembarked and got some funny pics that looked like we were pulling the ship thru the ice. Also saw an Emperor Penguin which is extremely rare in this area.
Back aboard ship, we improvised a game of Baggo in our cabin.... using a trash pail and a used hand warmer pouch.
Next, our ship headed to Cuverville Island. Here we saw SO MANY Gentoo Penguins, an Adelie Penguin, and rare grass and moss that grows in Antarctica!
November 22. Weather prevented us from getting to a couple spots they'd planned for us to visit. Instead, the ship managed to navigate the Lemaire Channel. We happened to be on the ship's bridge while this was going on!
We later took a Zodiac tour around Port Lockroy and saw seals, penguins, and Imperial Cormorants.
November 23. We visited Neko Harbor, which gave us a landing on the actual Antarctica Peninsula. Lots of Gentoo Penguins again.
After experiencing cloudy weather with rain and snow nearly every day of the trip, we were treated to some sun on our final day in Antarctica. I ordered a couple servings of caviar thru room service, and we enjoyed it on our veranda.
On our way out of Neko Harbor, a mother and calf Humpback Whale were spotted sleeping at the surface. Following rules and protocols, the captain of the ship skillfully cut the engines a mile away, and then quietly drifted next to the whales. It was amazing!
We headed to Melchior Islands, where they offered up the chance to do the Polar Plunge. I did it!
I received a certificate for completing the Polar Plunge:
We also got a certificate giving the latitude and longitude of the furthest south point we reached during our cruise.
Below is roughly the route our ship took during the cruise. Weather conditions caused us to change some of the original plans, so there was backtracking and such.
November 24 & 25, we headed back across the Drake Passage, into the Beagle Channel, and returned to port in Ushuaia.
November 26. We awoke, disembarked, were taken to the airport, flew back to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Instead of sitting in the airport for our connections back to the United States, Seabourn had arranged for us to be taken by tour bus to a nearby Italian restaurant. It was fun to share final stories and talk with more of our fellow cruise passengers!
Excellent trip!
Here's some info about our ship:
The ship had a professional photographer on staff, and he shared some of his pictures with everyone at the end of the trip. We have permission to use them as we see fit. Some were really good, so I've including a few below:
