Weddell Sea Luxury Cruises, Antarctica

The following day, head to the penguin rookery on Martillo Island, where you will marvel at the bustling colony of Magellanic Penguins at their breeding site. Then, continue to a delicious picnic lunch on Gable Island, the largest island in the Beagle Channel, before taking a light hike to spot seabirds such as petrels, skuas, cormorants, seagulls, and albatross.

The adventure begins as your captain steers you across the Drake Passage. As you cruise further and further south, your expert naturalist guides will organize lectures to provide you with interesting facts and background about the enigmatic Antarctic region that you’re about to experience. 

After navigating the Drake Passage, you will arrive at the South Shetland Islands. There, discover a dreamlike landscape of jagged volcanic rock that contrasts against gentle snow-covered slopes. As you get your first taste of Antarctica during land, zodiac, and kayaking excursions, witness firsthand the many animal species that reside on the island, including seals, penguins, terns, and giant petrels. Next, continue across the Antarctic Sound to arrive at the North Antarctic peninsula. There, you will marvel at the enormous drifting icebergs and plates of floating ice that mark the gateway to the Weddell Sea. 

The following day, you will cruise across the unearthly Weddell Sea. This area is characterized by a stark, silent landscape of towering ice punctuated by the Weddell seal calls, which congregate in the area alongside penguins and wandering albatrosses. Finally, on the seventh day of the cruise, arrive at the Larsen Ice Shelves, which are critical in preventing erosion of the Antarctic Ice Sheet. However, cracks in the ice shelves have become more common over the past few decades, and large portions have separated from the main ice mass. After you explore the Larsen Ice Shelves, you will return northward, passing once more through the ice floes of the Weddell sea and the Drake Passage before disembarking Le Commandant Charcot in Ushuaia.