AUSTRALIA TO SANTIAGO (CHILE)
Continue on from the Pre-Conference Tour of the Atacama Desert
or
Depart Australia and fly to Santiago where you will spend the next few days to explore the city and surrounding areas.
Over the course of the voyage, there is an exciting selection of activities to choose from each and every day – including short or long hikes ashore, visits to historic points of interest and wildlife colonies, Zodiac cruising looking for whales and seals or simply photographing the incredible icebergs. Such activities are enjoyed in the company of our onboard team of wilderness guides, naturalists and photographers.
Continue on from the Pre-Conference Tour of the Atacama Desert
or
Depart Australia and fly to Santiago where you will spend the next few days to explore the city and surrounding areas.
Free time to explore Santiago and the surrounding region.
A bustling city like Santiago de Chile has a lot to offer to its tourists. From museums to markets, there is something for everyone to discover. Here is list of the top 10 things not to miss in Chile’s capital. Find out more here: https://theculturetrip.com/south-america/chile/articles/top-ten-things-to-do-and-see-in-santiago-de-chile/
Free time to explore Santiago and the surrounding region.
New World wines are becoming progressively well loved around the world, if you like a full bodied red or a vibrant and crisp white, then taking a day to explore the wine regions around Santiago is worthy of your time:
https://unconventional.com.au/blog/sipping-sauv-in-santiago/
Free time to explore Santiago and the surrounding region.
You’ve tried the wines, now you’ve got time for some cocktails. Find out what the city holds in the way of nightlife here:
(BOOKINGS WILL BE REQUIRED FOR FRIDAY NIGHT)
https://unconventional.com.au/blog/2015-7-14-santiago-a-taste-of-the-chilean-pisco/
Fly early in the morning to Punta Arenas to join a city tour before embarking on MS Roald Amundsen for your expedition to Antarctica.
Enjoy cruising through the Beagle Channel, with channels, fjords and mountains plunging straight into the icy water. This wild and remote area seems almost undisturbed by humans. The ice has scoured its way between the mountains, leaving isolated islands and hidden bays and creating the unique fjord landscape of Chile.
When ranking the most iconic places on Earth, Cape Horn is high on the list. At almost 56 degrees south, it is the southernmost point of South America. Before the Panama Canal, seafarers had to pass this infamous rocky island in order to cross from one side of the Americas to the other. We will do our best to make a landing on Cape Horn – however, this is an area known for high seas and challenging conditions and if we make it this will be a great achievement.
We chart a southerly course for Antarctica. The Drake Passage is rich in bio-diversity and showcases a great abundance of wildlife. We will be joined by hundreds of seabirds including the wandering albatross. Giant petrels and smaller Cape petrels are also constant companions as make our way south. Photographing these magnificent birds takes patience and skill and our photography expert will be on hand to show you the best techniques.
Throughout the day our onboard experts educate us with a series of presentations about the environment, the wildlife and history and the locations we hope to visit in the coming days. As we approach the coastline of Antarctica, we start to encounter icebergs and anticipate our first whale sightings.
We want to leave nothing but footprints and take nothing but pictures! What is so overwhelming about Antarctica is that its location makes every voyage to the continent an expedition. Even the most sophisticated technology cannot override some of the climatic challenges that are a part of this environment. Therefore, we need to be pragmatic; we change landings, re-route and shift plans as we go along. This also means that we will take advantage of the often ideal conditions – spend hours ashore, on the water with kayaks, hiking or simply cruising amongst huge pods of whales. Weather, wind and ice conditions have a great influence on our programme and schedule. We will attempt to land several places, including Deception Island, Half Moon Island, Brown Bluff, Cuverville Island and Neko Harbour. All of these places are serene and offer untouched nature, oportunities to observe penguin colonies, seals, , glaciers, icebergs in every shape and colour and old whaling stations and. It´s hard to sum up all the impressions you will gain over the next few days.
The daily travel schedule in Antarctica changes regularly. The following daily schedule is based on possible landings but is subject to change.
Staggeringly photogenic and blessed with some of the most spectacular Antarctic scenery imaginable, Half Moon Island is a glittering gem amongst these island treasures. Its serrated and creviced cliffs are home to a large colony of chinstrap penguins, as well as Antarctic terns, kelp gulls, snowy sheathbills, Wilson’s storm petrels and several species of seals who are regular visitors to the island.
Brown Bluff lies on the coast of the Antarctic Sound at the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. As the name suggests, the landscape is dominated by an ominous 745 metre high cliff. The towering, rust-coloured bluff is volcanic in origin and the beach is peppered with lava “bombs”. Adélie penguins, Gentoo penguins, kelp gulls, and cape petrels can be found breeding here and Weddell seals are also regular visitors.
Situated in the scenic Errera Channel, Cuverville Island boasts the largest known colony of Gentoo penguins.
The narrow Errera Channel offers a spectacular passage to and from Cuverville as icebergs become trapped and grounded in the nearby shallows. Watching from the observation decks as our navigators weave the ship carefully between the icebergs is as exciting as being surrounded by the throngs of nesting penguins onshore.
The harbour is paradise not only in name, but in splendour and scenery as well. Protected from the winds of the nearby Gerlache Strait, Paradise Harbour offers another rare opportunity for a mainland landing and some of the finest vistas the Peninsula has to offer. Here you can find the Argentine base Almirante Brown and the Chilean base Gonzalez Videla, as well as colonies of neighbouring penguins.
This 11 kilometre long and 1.6 kilometre wide channel is one of the most beautiful passages in Antarctica. It bestows upon the traveller a glimpse into what fascinates us most about this incredibly contrasting environment; it is sublime yet imposing, delicate yet daunting, alluring yet inhospitable.
Neko Harbour with its Gentoo penguin colony lies nestled in Andvord Bay, surrounded by the mountains and high glacier walls of the peninsula. Named after a factory whaling ship from the early 1900s, Neko is one of the rare places in this area where you may land on the Antarctic mainland.
The mountains and high glaciers around Wilhelmina Bay ensure plenty of dramatic scenery and sculpted ice from tiny floating pieces to large bergs. The bay is a choice feeding ground for whales and seals and therefore was a rich hunting ground for the whalers of the past.
After exploring this superlative-exhausting continent, we set course back for The Falkland Islands. The Falklands consist of two large islands and around 700 smaller ones. Captain John Strong of HMS Welfare made the first recorded landing here in 1690. We will continue our lecture series that focuses on the dramatic history and diverse wildlife of the islands as we keep a watch for wandering albatross.
Arrive in The Falkland Islands where you will have time to explore the area over the next few days.
Having just been in Antarctica, it might seem a bit surreal to arrive in a town that looks like a miniature England, with red phone boxes, red buses and English pubs. Stanley is the capital on the Falkland Islands. Roam the city streets, the town is easy enough to discover in a day on foot, or join one of the excursions to explore the wilderness and wildlife in the surroundings.
The Falklands are teeming with wonders of wildlife and nature. This is an unpolluted environment with fantastically clear blue skies, seamless horizons, vast open spaces and stunning white sand beaches. As we reach the westernmost settled outposts in the Falklands you will see remote farms that have been family owned for six or seven generations. The sheep graze alongside immense colonies of albatross and rockhopper penguins, while predatory striated caracaras patrol overhead and upland geese forage at the water’s edge. Bird lovers will rejoice if we go ashore on Carcass Island. This is a bird paradise with several ducks, geese, penguins, albatrosses, caracaras and wrens. It is also one of few islands down here with trees. We use our small boats to go ashore for exploring, hiking or take a closer look at all the birds.
You can choose from a number of optional tours over the next 2 days:
Another day to explore the Falkland Islands with a number of optional tours to choose from:
As we complete the loop of the Magellan Strait, we will have a recap of everything we have experienced on this expedition. Make sure you spend some time on deck looking for wildlife.
We arrive back in Punta Arenas in the morning and take a charter flight back to Santiago de Chile where you will spend the night in the airport hotel.
POST TOUR
Those participating in the post conference tour will continue directly to Patagonia.
Begin your homeward journey
End of arrangements. Please note this program may be subject to change