Antarctica - Polar Circle - Deep South Discovery voyage

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 AECO regulations.

Path of the polar explorers

Over the next two days on the Drake Passage, you experience some of the same things the great polar explorers did: cool salt breezes, rolling seas, and maybe even a fin whale spouting sea spray. After passing the Antarctic Convergence – Antarctica’s natural boundary, formed when cold waters from the south meet warmer sub-Antarctic seas – you enter the circum-Antarctic upwelling zone. The marine life changes, and so does the bird life. You might see 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.

Sights of late summer Antarctica

There are many options for activities on the Antarctic Peninsula, especially during the late summer. Humpback whales are abundant in this region, feeding on krill before migrating north. Penguin chicks are also fledging, creating a lot of activity on the beaches while sleek leopard seals lie in wait, ready to attack the less fortunate ones.

Possible sites for your Antarctic adventures include:

• Livingston Island – Here you find a variety of gentoo and chinstrap penguins on Hannah Point, as well as southern giant petrels and elephant seals on the beach.
• Deception Island – This island is actually a sunken crater that opens into the sea, creating a natural harbor. You can see an abandoned whaling station and multiple bird species like cape petrels, kelp gulls, brown and south polar skuas, and Antarctic terns. Wilson’s storm petrels and black-bellied storm petrels also nest in the ruins of the whaling station in Whalers Bay.
• Cuverville Island – A small steep island between the mountains of the Antarctic Peninsula and Rongé Island, Cuverville is home to a large colony of gentoo penguins and breeding pairs of brown skuas.
• Neko Harbour – This place offers an epic landscape of huge glaciers and endless wind-carved snow. You can take a Zodiac cruise and land here for close views of the surrounding alpine peaks. You might also be able to set foot on the continent.
• Paradise Bay – You could take a Zodiac cruise in these sprawling, ice-flecked waters, where you have a good chance of seeing humpback and minke whales.
• Pléneau & Petermann Islands – If the ice allows, you may sail through the Lemaire Channel in search of Adélie penguins and blue-eyed shags. There’s also a good chance you’ll encounter humpback and minke whales as well as leopard seals.
• Crystal Sound – Your journey takes you south along the Argentine Islands to this ice-packed body of water, and from here across the Polar Circle in the morning.
• Detaille Island – You may land at an abandoned British research station here, taking in the island’s lofty mountains and imposing glaciers.
• Fish Islands – Further north, you encounter one of the southernmost Adélie penguin and blue-eyed shag colonies in the Antarctic Peninsula.
• Melchior Islands – These islands offer a beautiful landscape rich with icebergs. Leopard seals, crabeater seals, and whales are found here, and there are excellent opportunities for diving.

Conditions on the Drake Passage determine the exact time of departure.

Familiar seas, familiar friends

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

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 stay with you wherever your next adventure takes you.