Antarctica - Discovery and learning voyage

Classic Antarctica including Deception Island

29 photos of the trip
in the gallery »

Title: Antarctica - Discovery and learning voyage
Dates:
Tripcode: OTL24-25
Duration: 10 nights
Ship: m/v Ortelius
Embarkation: Ushuaia
Disembarkation: Ushuaia
Language: English speaking voyage
Important: Diving is an optional activity. Experience with cold-water diving and dry-suit dives (at least 30) is a must!
More about:
Antarctica cruises
Antarctic Peninsula cruises
 
Cabins & prices
Itinerary
PLEASE NOTE:

All itineraries are for guidance only. Programs may vary depending on ice, weather, and wildlife conditions. Landings are subject to site availabilities, permissions, and environmental concerns per IAATO regulations. Official sailing plans and landing slots are scheduled with IAATO prior to the start of the season, but the expedition leader determines the final plan. Flexibility is paramount for expedition cruises. The average cruising speed for our vessel is 10.5 knots.

This Antarctic Peninsula and South Shetland Islands cruise delivers you into a landscape of dark rugged rock, pure white snow, and a fantastic variety of wildlife. Come say hello to whales, seals, and thousands of penguins.

Day 1: End of the world, start of a journey

Your voyage begins where the world drops off. Ushuaia, Argentina, reputed to be the southernmost city on the planet, is located on the far southern tip of South America. Starting in the afternoon, you embark from this small resort town on Tierra del Fuego, nicknamed “The End of the World,” and sail the mountain-fringed Beagle Channel for the remainder of the evening. 

Day 2 - 3: Path of the polar explorers

Over the next two days on the Drake Passage, you enjoy some of the same experiences encountered by the great polar explorers who first charted these regions: cool salt breezes, rolling seas, maybe even a fin whale spouting up sea spray. After passing the Antarctic Convergence – Antarctica’s natural boundary, formed when north-flowing cold waters collide with warmer sub-Antarctic seas – you are in the circum-Antarctic upwelling zone. Not only does the marine life change, the avian life changes too. Wandering albatrosses, grey-headed albatrosses, black-browed albatrosses, light-mantled sooty albatrosses, cape pigeons, southern fulmars, Wilson’s storm petrels, blue petrels, and Antarctic petrels are a few of the birds you might see.

Day 4 - 7: Enter the Antarctic

Gray stone peaks sketched with snow, towers of broken blue-white ice, and dramatically different wildlife below and above. You first pass the snow-capped Melchior Islands and Schollaert Channel, sailing between Brabant and Anvers Islands. 
 
Sites you may visit include: 
 
Danco Island – Activities here may focus on the gentoo penguins nesting on the island, in addition to the Weddell and crabeater seals that can be found nearby.
 
Neko Harbour – An epic landscape of mammoth glaciers and endless wind-carved snow, Neko Harbour offers opportunities for a Zodiac cruise and landing that afford the closest views of the surrounding alpine peaks.
 
Paradise Bay – You may be able to take a Zodiac cruise in these sprawling, ice-flecked waters, where there’s a good chance you’ll encounter humpback and minke whales.

Port Lockroy – After sailing through the Neumayer Channel, you may get a chance to visit the former British research station – now a museum and post office – of Port Lockroy on Goudier Island. You may also be able to partake in activities around Jougla Point, meeting gentoo penguins and blue-eyed shags.
 
When conditions are right, you can snowshoe around the shore and to the old ski-way at nearby Damoy Point.

Day 8: Scenes of South Shetland

The volcanic islands of the South Shetlands are windswept and often cloaked in mist, but they do offer subtle pleasures: There’s a wide variety of flora (mosses, lichens, flowering grasses) and no small amount of fauna (gentoo penguins, chinstrap penguins, southern giant petrels).
 
In Deception Island, the ship plunges through Neptune’s Bellows and into the flooded caldera. Here you find an abandoned whaling station, and thousands of cape petrels – along with kelp gulls, brown and south polar skuas, and Antarctic terns. A good hike is a possibility in this fascinating and desolate volcanic landscape.
 
As an alternative, you may be able to engage in activities near Half Moon Island. Here chinstrap penguins and Weddell seals often haul out onto the beach near Cámara Base, an Argentine scientific research station. Conditions on the Drake Passage determine the exact time of departure.

Day 9 - 10: Familiar seas, familiar friends

Your return voyage is far from lonely. While crossing the Drake, you’re again greeted by the vast array of seabirds remembered from the passage south. But they seem a little more familiar to you now, and you to them.

Day 11: There and back again

Every adventure, no matter how grand, must eventually come to an end. It’s now time to disembark in Ushuaia, but with memories that will accompany you wherever your next adventure lies.

Highlights you might experience

Polar Diving

Deception Island

Cuverville Island

Paradise Bay

Port Lockroy

Danco Island

Chinstrap Penguin

Weddell Seal

m/v Ortelius

Full ship info »

101 photos of the ship
in the gallery »

ACTIVITIES YOU CAN PARTICIPATE IN

Diving

on request

You must be advanced and experienced in dry suit and cold water diving. Diving is subject to local ice and weather conditions. Group size: minimum 8 divers.

Learn more

Cabins & Prices

Quadruple Porthole

  • Cabin size between 12,4 m² and 14,1 m²
  • 2 portholes
  • 2 upper / lower berths
  • Private shower & toilet
  • Desk & chair
  • Flatscreen TV
  • Telephone & WiFi (supplemented)
  • Hair dryer
  • Safe deposit box
  • Ample storage space

Complete cabin

32200 USD

Price for the complete cabin, fully occupied.

Sharing berth

8050 USD

Share your cabin with others for the best price.

Triple Porthole

  • 2 portholes
  • 1 upper / lower berth + 1 single lower berth
  • Private shower & toilet
  • Desk & chair
  • Flatscreen TV
  • Telephone & WiFi (supplemented)
  • Hair dryer
  • Safe deposit box
  • Ample storage space

Complete cabin

29400 USD

Price for the complete cabin, fully occupied.

Sharing berth

9800 USD

Share your cabin with others for the best price.

Twin Porthole

  • Cabin size between 11,4 m² and 15,1 m²
  • 2 portholes
  • 2 lower berths
  • Private shower & toilet
  • Desk & chair
  • Flatscreen TV
  • Telephone & WiFi (supplemented)
  • Hair dryer
  • Safe deposit box
  • Ample storage space

Complete cabin

19600 USD

Price for the complete cabin, fully occupied.

Single cabin

16660 USD

Price for the complete cabin occupied by 1 person ({rate}x the shared rate).

Sharing berth

9800 USD

Share your cabin with others for the best price.

Twin Window

  • Cabin size between 17,5 m² and 17,7 m²
  • 2 windows
  • 2 lower berths
  • Private shower & toilet
  • Desk & chair
  • Flatscreen TV
  • Telephone & WiFi (supplemented)
  • Hair dryer
  • Safe deposit box
  • Ample storage space

Complete cabin

20500 USD

Price for the complete cabin, fully occupied.

Single cabin

17425 USD

Price for the complete cabin occupied by 1 person ({rate}x the shared rate).

Sharing berth

10250 USD

Share your cabin with others for the best price.

Twin Deluxe

  • Cabin size 17,7 m²
  • 3 windows
  • 2 lower berths
  • Private shower & toilet
  • Desk & chair
  • Small sofa
  • Refrigerator
  • Coffee & tea maker
  • Flatscreen TV
  • Telephone & WiFi (supplemented)
  • Hair dryer
  • Safe deposit box
  • Ample storage space

Complete cabin

22200 USD

Price for the complete cabin, fully occupied.

Single cabin

18870 USD

Price for the complete cabin occupied by 1 person ({rate}x the shared rate).

Sharing berth

11100 USD

Share your cabin with others for the best price.

Superior

  • Cabin size between 18,4 m² en 20,4 m²
  • 2 windows (minimum)
  • 1 double bed
  • 1 single (sofa) bed
  • Private shower & toilet
  • Desk & chair
  • Flatscreen TV
  • Telephone & WiFi (supplemented)
  • Refrigerator
  • Coffee & tea maker
  • Hair dryer
  • Safe deposit box
  • Ample storage space

Complete cabin

23700 USD

Price for the complete cabin, fully occupied.

Single cabin

20145 USD

Price for the complete cabin occupied by 1 person ({rate}x the shared rate).