Day 10 - Drake Passage Northbound
It was relatively calm for our last sea day as we approached the entrance to the Beagle Channel. Guests got ready for disembarkation and received information about their flights, hotels, and transfers from the ship for the following morning. We enjoyed one last lunch and dinner together on board in...
Day 9 - Drake Passage Northbound
Our first sea day heading north again was a little bit bumpy, but overall, not too bad. Guests had to part ways with their rubber boots after breakfast. Then they had the opportunity to visit the bridge for a short tour. There was a Q&A with the officers that was took place later in the afternoon. A...
Day 8 - Attempted Landing at Mikkelsen Harbour
After scenic cruising along the coast of the peninsula, we made our way over to the south end of Trinity Island in Mikkelsen Harbour. By this point the weather had changed dramatically, with strong winds and some heavy snow coming down. We waited a bit for things to clear up, and the Expedition Team...
Day 7 - Landing at Danco Island
During lunchtime we sailed out of Paradise Harbour through the Aguirre Channel and past the Chilean González Videla Antarctic Base base there. We had to make a little detour through the Errera Channel due to large icebergs blocking the west side of Danco Island. Once in position we started our landi...
Day 7 - Expedition Boat Cruising and Discovery Kayaking
For our morning activities we were in the beautiful and rightly named Paradise Harbour (Bay). After three amazingly sunny days on the continent we had a slight change in weather, with overcast skies and even some light snow at times. However, it was still quite calm on the wind front which made it p...
Day 6 - Expedition Boat Cruising and Landing at Neko Harbour
At around lunchtime the ship turned into Andvord Bay and sailed to Neko Harbour, our landing spot for the afternoon. Despite the forecast calling for more cloudy skies, the band of clouds remained firmly outside of the bay for the duration of our stay. So, for both our landing and expedition boat cr...
Day 6 - Ship's Cruise through Lemaire Channel
After picking up our campers early in the morning, and an unplanned meet up with our sister ship the MS Roald Amundsen, we headed into the southern part of the picturesque Lemaire Channel. The weather was still sunny and mild as we navigated the icy waters of this narrow channel. We spotted some wha...
Day 5 - Pleneau Island
In the afternoon we had our landing at Pleneau Island, where we had hundreds of gentoo penguins nesting and just sitting around on the rocks molting. It was a brilliant landing which also had beautiful views out towards the 'iceberg graveyard' where we did some expedition boat cruising. Later that e...
Day 5 - Expedition Boat Cruising and Snowshoeing at Hovgaard Island
It was another gorgeous day in Antarctica today as many of us had an optional activity of snowshoeing on Hovgaard Island, while everyone else went on a nice zodiac cruise in the bay. Most of us managed to see some seals, possibly even some whales in the bay, and also a few gentoo penguins. Even whil...
Day 4 - Landing at Prospect Point
We repositioned the ship farther south (our southernmost point for this trip) at 66 degrees south (just shy of the Antarctic Circle) at a place called Prospect Point, which was our first landing as well as our first continental landing on the Peninsula. It was a beautiful first landing with perfect...
Day 4 - Zodiac Cruising at Dog Island
We all woke up excited this morning, like children on Christmas Day - anticipating what awaited us outside. Our first glimpses of the Antarctic Continent as we stepped out on deck or headed to the restaurant for breakfast. The first activity today was a zodiac cruise on our way down to our landing s...
Day 3 - Drake Passage Southbound
The morning was characterized by more of a 'Drake-shake' as we had strong winds as well as waves. All guests had to attend the mandatory IAATO briefing before lunch to learn more about how to travel sustainability in Antarctica and also some safety information for our operations. Then guests picked...
Day 2 - Drake Passage Southbound
There was some movement on the Drake Passage for our first sea day but overall, it was not a real 'Drake-shake'. Most were able to get around, have breakfast, and pick up or exchange their expedition jackets in the morning. Then the Expedition Team hosted a briefing about the optional, add-on activi...
Day 1 - Embarkation in Ushuaia
After a restful night at the hotel in Buenos Aires, our guests flew to Ushuaia where beautiful MS Fridtjof Nansen awaited them. Once on board they had some time to roam around and find their way around the ship before attending a pre-departure drill. There was also a welcome briefing, where the crew...