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A journey to the last continent might begin at Punta Arenas, Chile, overlooking the Straits of Magellan. Embark and sail
among the islands of Tierra del Fuego and the Beagle Channel where, in 1920, Charles Darwin explored the region aboard the HMS Beagle. Huge condors can be observed against a backdrop of enormous glaciers. Crossing the
Drake Passage to Antarctica you can spot seabirds gliding alongside the ship. On the Antarctic Peninsula, explore the beauty of the surrounding islands and waterways and watch humpback whales swim alongside the ship.
Set foot on the one-mile thick ice layer and share the world with unique animal species like the Emperor, Chinstrap and Adelie Penguins, elephant seals, giant petrels, terns and skuas. The sights, sounds, and splendor
become a cherished memory of an unforgettable experience. Weather and ice conditions permitting, take a helicopter flight from the deck of the cruise ship to one of the most spectacular and seldom-visited areas of
Antarctica, the Dry Valleys. It's a wondrous and haunting landscape of wind-eroded granite and desert scenery unlike anywhere else in the world. Sail through the incomparable glacier-lined Lemaire Channel, dubbed by
travelers as "Kodak Gap" for its photographic opportunities. Glide into Paradise Bay, a protected harbor, surrounded by hanging ice cliffs, visit a research station and delight in a panoramic view of the bay
from a snowy hilltop. On the return trip, round the southernmost tip of South America, Cape Horn, named in 1616 by Dutch navigator Willem Schouten, and on to Ushuais and then Santiago, Chile. What you will take away
from this adventure to the unspoiled white continent is the iridescent blue of the icebergs, the towering glaciers, the comic antics of penguins, the myriad shapes, the vastness of the landscape and a sense of snow.
Antarctica speaks to the explorer hidden within all of us. |
