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Antarctica, South Georgia & Falkland Islands
19 days - Prices $13,899 to $25,349
Departures:
2/8/2010
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Ship(s):
Corinthian II (charter)
Trip
Highlights:
Luxury expedition ship, great guides, excellent cuisine; amazing king penguin breeding sites, stunning landscapes of South Georgia, historic Shackleton sites including Elephant Island, Deception Island, and gorgeous Paradise Bay.
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Rates:
$13,899 to $25,349
Summary:
This 18-night adventure aboard the Corinthian II, sister ship to the Spirit of Oceanus, explores the highlights of Antarctica, Falklands and South Georgia. Go ashore to visit sea lion and elephant seal rookeries, penguin colonies and shore bird nesting sites, and literally walk in the footsteps of Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton. Visit the historic whaling stations and islands where Ernest Shackleton set foot during his famous Antarctic expeditions. ?Swim? in a volcanic caldera at the End of the World. Carefully planned itineraries and included shore excursions are designed to give you a more authentic understanding of your destination, and back onboard, enjoy ongoing presentations and dialog by occasional guest speakers and resident Expedition Leaders.
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Trip
Itinerary
Day 1: Arrive Buenos Aires, Argentina
Arrive in Buenos Aires and check in at the Palacio Duhua ? Park Hyatt Buenos Aires Hotel. This afternoon you?ll enjoy a half-day tour of Buenos Aires, stopping to explore many of the city?s most famous sights. Stroll through the majestic mausoleums of Recoleta Cemetery where many of Buenos Aires? most beloved people are buried including Eva Peron and many of the nation?s presidents. In La Boca, you?ll discover one of Buenos Aires? most colorful districts ? literally. This working class Italian neighborhood was Buenos Aires? first port, and they say the immigrants used whatever paint was left over on the docks. As a result, the sheet metal-roofed buildings are painted every color of the rainbow. The area is home to a variety of shops as well as tango artists who sometimes perform impromptu dances on the streets.
You?ll return to your hotel in time to relax and attend an evening Welcome Cocktail Reception.
Day 2: Buenos Aires / Ushuaia
Transfer to the airport for a morning charter flight to Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world. After a brief site tour you?ll enjoy lunch at a local restaurant and have free time to explore on your own. You might visit the old prison (Ushuaia was once a penal colony) or one of the interesting museums before boarding the Corinthian II, where every stateroom offers ocean views and a full range of amenities.
In the afternoon sail through the Beagle Channel, named for Charles Darwin?s ship, the H.M.S. Beagle. Stay on deck to take in views that are much the same as when he sailed these waters in 1832 ? countless islands, snow-covered peaks and majestic glaciers.
Day 3: At Sea
Spend a leisurely day at sea enjoying the dramatic scenery and prolific bird life as well as informative Enrichment Programs.
Day 4: Falkland Islands
Port calls at West Point Island and Saunders Island take you to Magellanic and rockhopper penguin colonies, a small king penguin colony and black-browed albatross and king cormorant nesting sites. The owners of West Point Island will serve you a traditional Falkland Islands tea with delicious homemade cakes.
You?ll enjoy lunch on the ship as you make your way to Saunders Island. This island was home to the first British settlement in the Falklands in 1765 and has been an active sheep farm since the late 1800s.
Hike quietly around the gentoo colonies and groups of Magellanic penguins to the northeast side of The Neck. This is a real treat for penguin lovers ? a small colony of statuesque king penguins. A more energetic hike takes us to the black-browed albatross, rockhopper and king cormorant colonies on the north side of Mount Richards before you head back to the Zodiacs and the ship.
Day 5: Falkland Islands
You arrive in Stanley, capital of the Falkland Islands, which some say is even more English than England, complete with red phone boxes, a double-decker bus and English pubs. Before the Panama Canal was built, Stanley had a booming business repairing ships traveling through the Straits of Magellan and around Cape Horn. Later on, it became a base for whaling and sealing, then a coaling station for the Royal Navy. In 1982, Stanley was occupied by Argentine troops for about ten weeks before being ousted by British forces.
Take your pick of two excursions here?a City Tour or a Falklands Nature Trek. The City Tour covers many highlights of the city. Learn about Stanley?s tumultuous history as you view the 1982 Liberation Monument, which pays tribute to the 255 British soldiers who lost their lives in the Falklands War, and the 1914 Battle Memorial, honoring the brave men who helped sink five German warships during the Battle of the Falklands. The Britannia House Museum encapsulates even more local history in its displays.
Government House, with its tidy gardens, has been home to the Falkland Islands? London-appointed governors since the middle of the 19th century. This was also the temporary home of polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton during his famous Antarctic expedition. If you like, you can visit the Christ Church Cathedral on your own after the excursion. It?s hard to miss, with its towering whalebone arch made from the jawbones of two huge blue whales.
Visitors who opt for the Falklands Nature Trek will be taken by minibus to nearby Hadassa Bay where a 3.5-mile hike gives you excellent opportunities to view Falkland Islands birds and fauna. This is a popular area for spotting Magellanic penguins, Commerson?s and Peale?s dolphins, black-crowned night herons, rock cormorants, Falkland thrushes, the Falkland flightless steamer duck, long-tailed meadowlarks and an occasion sea lion, as well as many other species.
Day 6: At Sea
Leave the Falklands and head out to sea bound for South Georgia Island. Spend some time at the ship?s rail admiring the scenery, relax in the lounge or library, soak in the Jacuzzi and take in the informative lectures offered by the Enrichment Programs.
Day 7: At Sea
Another laid-back day at sea. Watch for whales and other marine life and learn more about the wildlife and history of this area with our Enrichment Programs.
Days 8-10: South Georgia, the Orkneys and Antarctica
Note: The following is a sample itinerary for South Georgia, the Orkneys and Antarctica. As with all voyages to this region, the itinerary is subject to change depending on wildlife, weather, sea and ice conditions. Your sense of adventure and flexibility towards changes will help you get the most out of this once-in-a-lifetime experience.
South Georgia - From its discovery over 300 years ago to the present, South Georgia has been a magnet for explorers, whalers and governments. The beauty here is astounding, with up to three quarters of the land covered in glaciers and snowfields during the austral summer (November to January) and a plethora of land and sea birds, seals, king penguins and reindeer.
Grytviken - Walk past fur seals and other local residents to the cemetery where Sir Ernest Shackleton is buried. After making the customary toast, continue along shore past the ruins of a whaling station to the 1913 Whaler? Church and the South Georgia Museum.
Bay of Isles - Head to either Salisbury Plain or Prion Island, depending on conditions. Salisbury Plain is best known as the breeding site of over 200,000 king penguins. Prion Island offers a unique rat-free tussac grass environment and is a breeding site for wandering albatross and rare South Georgia Pipit.
Stromness - Once a whaling station and repair facility for whaling ships, Stromness is now fading into nature as nature reclaims its buildings and the small whaler?s cemetery. King and gentoo penguins, fur seals and elephant seals make their home here, but the most famous visitor was once again Sir Ernest Shackleton, who arrived here in 1916 on an arduous rescue mission.
Fortuna Bay - Where the waters are a pale milky green from glacial sediment. King and gentoo penguins, fur seals, light-mantled sooty albatross and white-chinned petrel are a few of the species you may see, as well as an occasional reindeer.
St. Andrews Bay - Home to a colony of some 100,000 king penguins and to South Georgia?s largest population of elephant seals. Drygalski Fjord is often listed as one of the two most breathtaking places in the southern ocean. The narrow fjord is a haven for Weddell seals and leads to the jagged face of Risting Glacier.
Day 11: Cruising the Scotia Sea
Return to the tale of Shackleton and the wreck of the Endurance as we cross the Scotia Sea. Shackleton and four of his brave crew crossed this frigid sea in 1916 in the 22-foot open lifeboat James Caird on a rescue mission to save those left behind on Elephant Island. Shackleton and his men arrived on South Georgia after crossing 800 miles of sea over two long weeks.
Day 12: South Orkney Islands
These are the least visited islands in the Antarctic Peninsula. Once visited by sealers and whalers, they?re now home to wildlife and a seasonal British weather station. Keep your eyes open as you cruise these waters?they?re known for producing large, beautiful icebergs.
If weather conditions are favorable you?ll attempt to go ashore at Coronation Island, known for its colorful orange and green lichens and mosses. It?s also the site of a large rookery of Adelie penguins, named after the wife of the great French explorer, Dumont d'Urville, and nesting populations of storm and cape petrels.
Adelie penguins breed further south than any other penguin. Or bird, for that matter. Scientists today use the Adelie as an indicator species to monitor the abundance of krill, so important to the web of Antarctic life.
Days 13-16: Antarctic Peninsula and Islands
You?ll spend four days exploring the Antarctic Peninsula with stops that may vary depending on local ice and wind conditions. The cruising alone here is spectacular. You?re likely to spot crabeater and Weddell seals, or even leopard seals hauled out onto ice flows along the way, and orca whales may surface as they hunt for penguins and other prey. May of the shorelines are decorated with fractured glaciers, and snow-covered peaks loom in the distance. The following are some of the paces you may visit, depending on conditions:
Elephant Island ? The refuge of Shackleton?s crew for four long months after their ship, the Endurance, was crushed in pack ice.
Petermann Island ? Home to the world?s southernmost colony of gentoo penguins, plus a large colony of Adelie penguins and blue-eyed shag colonies.
Paradise Bay ? One of the best places in Antarctica to photograph the surrounding glaciers, and one of the only two places where it?s relatively easy to set foot on the actual mainland of Antarctica. Chinstrap and gentoo penguin colonies live here.
Deception Island ? Deception Island is actually the rim of a drowed?but still active?volcano. The inside of the caldera was a favored refuge for early 19-century sealers and whalers when storms were brewing. Admire chinstrap penguins, Pintado petrels and other wildlife while soaking in the geothermally heated pools of Pendulum Cove.
King George Island ? Home to multiple research stations and the world?s southernmost church, as well as elephant, Weddell and leopard seals, and chinstrap and gentoo penguins.
Days 17-18: At Sea
Two final days at sea carry you through the Antarctic Convergence, also known as the Polar Front?an area where the cold Antarctic waters mix with the relatively warmer waters of the sub-Antarctic. With the long daylight hours of the austral summer, this creates the perfect breeding ground for phytoplankton, which in turn provides nourishment for a booming population of Antarctic krill, the key to the Antarctic food chain.
As you cross the Antarctic Convergence and Drake Passage, you may see whales or any number of birds including wandering albatross, grey headed albatross, black-browed albatross, light-mantled sooty albatross, cape pigeons, southern Fulmars, Wilson?s storm petrels, blue petrels and Antarctic petrels.
Day 19: Disembark / Ushuaia / Buenos Aires / Flights Home
Upon your arrival in Ushuaia, you?ll transfer to the airport for your flight to Buenos Aires and home.
Notes:
Included:
1-night stay in Buenos Aires at the Palacio Duhau ? Park Hyatt Buenos Aires Hotel, with early check-in, welcome cocktail reception and breakfast; Round-trip group flights from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia; Welcome and farewell cocktail receptions onboard ship, hosted by the captain; Complimentary coffee, tea, juices or soft drinks onboard; Physician onboard ship; Complete program of shore landings and activities as described in the accompanying itinerary; Educational program of lectures and discussions by accompanying guest lecturers and onboard naturalist guides; Cruise West International Exploration Leader; Expedition parka and complete pre-departure materials (Upon return of order form); Airport and/or hotel transfers; taxes/port charges/fees and on board services ($625 per person); fuel surcharge may be added up to the time of your departure.
Not Included:
Airfare from your home city and return; passport and visa fees; air departure taxes; fuel surcharge may apply; luggage, cancellation and accident insurance; personal expenses such as laundry, telephone calls, faxes and email service.
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