Kayaking, camping or skiing - Crossing the Circle Draft Itinerary- Aqua-Firma


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Kayaking, camping or skiing - Crossing the Circle Draft Itinerary

	Day 1 Arrive in Ushuaia, locally known as, ‘the City at the end of the world’. You can check into your hotel and explore at your leisure Day 2 Embarkation is not until the late afternoon, affording us plenty of time to sample the retail and gastronomic delights of Ushuaia. The city is tucked into a sheltered bay on Isla Grande, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. It is a hive of activity, with the sea, mountains and forests of Tierra del Fuego on its doorstep it never fails to impress. Day 3-4 Antarctica bound, we cross the famous Drake Passage. Crossing the Antarctic Convergence with have plenty of time to study the rich bird and sea life: wandering albatross, grey headed albatross, black-browed albatross, light-mantled sooty albatross, cape apigeons, southern fulmars, Wilson’s storm petrels, blue petrels and antarctic petrels. Not to mention the chances of marine mammals and penguins. Day 5-12 The South Shetland Islands are our first proposed landing spots. Deception Island named after its topography, a ring shape with a huge internal crater whose black sanded beaches are home to thousands of chinstrap penguins. They nest far up into the hill sides and are usually busy bringing food too their nest full of chicks. A respectful distance is kept, so the penguins do not delay their visit, or not visit their chicks at all. Whilst looking at the cape petrels nesting in the cliffs above we can dig into the sand on the beach to reveal that the water below is a lot warmer than we would expect. At mid-tide a bathe is even possible! The peninsula itself marks the southern end of a chain of mountains that reaches up to Alaska. It is here we start to experience our new environment at close quarters. We will, weather permitting, take to our kayaks and start to explore the Peninsula coastline, making landings by penguin rookeries and weaving our way through the ice berg grave yards. Our night of camping ashore will be carefully chosen by the guides so that after an exhilarating day in kayaks or exploring the mountains on skis, our tents await us in this truly unique site. The zodiacs give us access to penguin rookeries and take us closer to the wildlife found scattered on the rafts of drifting pack ice or on the tabular icebergs that float up to this region from far further south. On crossing the circle in Crystal Sound it may be possible (permission granted) to visit Rothera Station. Your hosts may tell you about their on-going research projects. The Gerlache Strait separates the Palmer Archipelago from the Antarctica Peninsula offers potential minke whale sightings as they feed close to the polar ice pack in the summer months. Small groups may come for an inquisitive look at the ship. This area is often considered to be one of the most beautiful on the Peninsula, with sculpted icebergs lounging in the waters that appear to be painted on canvass. We cross the Antarctic Circle, the sun sits low on the horizon and shimmers on the snow to dramatic effect. This creates a back drop to the abundant populations of terns, petrels, cormorants, seals, penguins (including gentoo), and whales that inhabit this area. It should be noted that due to changes the ice and weather enforces, the itinerary timings could be swapped around. Day 13-14 In the Drake Passage again we have the opportunity to spot well over fifty species of bird, both in the water and in flight. The graceful albatross, be it the wandering, sooty, black browed or royal can often be seen from the ship. Penguins may also be spotted racing through the waters on their food finding missions, sometimes in large numbers and reaching surprisingly fast speeds. We will hope to encounter whales on the crossing, long-finned pilot whales are a spectacular sight often seen in large numbers. Day 15 We arrive in the morning in Ushuaia and disembark Please note the above itinerary is provided to give you a flavour of the voyage only. The ships route will be decided by the captain and may vary from the above in accordance with ice, weather and other conditions.