This epic adventure begins at the Icebreaker, meeting at your hotel in Ushuaia to run through embarkation and meet some of the team who will take care of you for your journey. If you are in Ushuaia early enough, there may be chance to take in this delightful port town, hidden away in Tierra Del Fuego, and perhaps take in a short tour of nearby Tierra Del Fuego, or even the End of the World Train.

Sees you embarking the Ocean Endeavour, checking in and getting into your cabin, unpack your luggage, and don your complimentary expedition puffy jacket. We depart the pier in Ushuaia in the evening, making our way along the Beagle channel heading away from Tierra Del Fuego and South America. After the necessary safety and evacuation drills, you have plenty of time to explore the Ocean Endeavour, or just relax in one of the may lounge areas before your first dinner aboard, an A La Carte menu or Buffet, a real introduction to the incredibly high quality food you will be fed. Time to spend on the deck as the setting sun lights up the mountain ranges behind as we head into the infamous Drake Passage. Retiring to your comfortable cabin for a night sleep will be important, because the next few days will be jam packed full of adventure.

Day 3 & 4 are sea days, depending on conditions. After waking for a sumptuous buffet breakfast in the restaurant, you can head to the decks. For some, the Drake Passage can be daunting, the most dangerous sea crossing in the world. But it also holds opportunities for us to get on deck and photograph the giant sea birds who follow the ship as it makes its way into Antarctica. Petrels, Albatross and Prions are all common visitors as we roll around on the rough ocean waters, you get your sea legs very quickly. A few mandatory briefings to run you through the expedition and the “rules” of visiting Antarctica, and then time to exchange your puffy jacket for a different size, and the head to the Mud Room, the area where all your boots, jackets and waterproofs are stored for the duration of the trip. Biosecurity checks on the gear you take ashore is also carried out to make sure you didn’t “pack a pest” paying attention to seeds that might be caught in your Velcro, and there’s no loose fabric that can be detached and lost. Keep an watchful eye out for the 1st Iceberg!! By the end of Day 3, we will be approaching the Antarctic peninsula.

Day 5, 6, 7, 8 & 9 is where you adventure really begins. Zodiac cruises, Ship Cruises and landings on Antarctica get you close to the wildlife, the landscape, the icebergs, and everything else Antarctica will throw at you. It truly is a place where the senses can be overloaded with the sublime scenery, whale encounters, seals and penguins, as well as the excitement of Expedition cruising. Even for some the joy of standing on what may be your 7th continent. With 2 operations per day crammed in morning and afternoon, plus all the opportunities to capture the wilds of Antarctica from the deck of the ship as we cruise between locations, you will truly get a sense of how desolate, how lonely, but just how sublime and beautiful Antarctica truly is. We will depart Antarctica in the evening on Day 9, cruising back into the Drake Passage heading North.

Day 10 & 11 we will be back into the Drake, gradually cruising through the rolling ocean to return to Ushuaia. But as sad as leaving Antarctica behind is, these days there will be more presentations from the Expedition team, plenty of time on deck photographing more of those giant sea birds, or even just some time to sift through all those photos you have taken with guidance from me on editing. We will put together a small show of our images from the trip to present to the ret of the guests aboard.

Day 12 is where we say goodbye. Disembarking the Ocean Endeavour.