Antarctica - The Realm of Penguins & Icebergs

What's Included

• Accommodation
  10 Nights aboard Sea Spirit

• 11 breakfasts, 9 lunches and 10 dinners

• 1 night hotel accommodation in Ushuaia on a triple or twin share basis (depending on ship berth configuration chosen)

• Group transfer from the airport to the hotel on day 1 of itinerary

• Group transfer to the ship on day of embarkation

• Comfortable cabin accommodation and use of all public areas on cruise

• Specialist expedition staff

• All shore excursions from the ship including the use of Zodiacs

• Lectures, videos, slide and film shows and guide services

• Medical services. There is a resident medical officer and infirmary on board (charges may apply)

• Port taxes and port charges imposed by government authorities

• Complimentary Polar Expedition Parka

• Rubber boots for shore landings for the time of the cruise

• Pre-departure information

• Digital Voyage Log

• Pre-scheduled group transfer from the vessel to the airport or hotel in Ushuaia (directly after disembarkation).

What's Not Included

• Air transport and transfers before and after the cruises (except for pre-scheduled group transfers listed above)

• Passport and vaccination charges, reciprocity fees and airport departure taxes

• Accommodation and meals or other services not included in the ship cruise itinerary

• Soft drinks and alcoholic beverages other than those for special events and celebrations

• Laundry, postage, personal clothing, medical expenses, travel insurance and items of a personal nature such as bar charges, wine and phone calls

• Customary end of voyage tips

• Emergency Evacuation Insurance to a minimum benefit of USD 200,000

Accommodation

10 Nights aboard Sea Spirit
There are a variety of cabins available on the ship. Please ask us for more details.

Wildlife

Apart from the deep sea, Antarctica is the oldest and largest self-contained ecosystem in the world. The animal world is very closely linked with the sea and is consequently to be found mainly on the periphery of the continent. With the exception of a few insects, all forms of life capitulate in the face of the increasingly harsh climatic conditions further inland. The coastal regions are populated by sea birds such as petrels, albatrosses, skuas and penguins as well as marine mammals like the crabeater seal, leopard seal, Ross seal, Weddell seal, fin and right whale, and sea lions. The Antarctic sea regions contain the greatest quantities of animal protein on Earth.
Antarctica’s marine food chain
The most common Antarctic shrimp, krill, uses its front legs to catch microscopic unicellular algae known as diatoms. The word krill comes from the Norwegian and means “food of the whale”. All living creatures consume 90% of their food for their everyday activities and thus convert only 10% into body weight, meaning that nutritional value declines exponentially as one progresses through the food chain. The whale jumps these links in the chain by preying directly on krill rather than on fish or sea birds. A fin whale requires about 2-3 tonnes of krill per day to reach an impressive length of 24 metres and a weight of up to 80 tonnes.
Antarctic birds
Penguins represent half of the Antarctic bird population, nine-tenths of its biomass. These birds depend on the sea for their food. They eat about 4.7 million tons of food each month, mainly crustaceans and fish, but also squid. While penguins dominate the bird biomass, tube-nosed petrels constitute the majority of the breeding species. Other groups include cormorants, skuas, gulls, and terns.
It takes a tough bird to overcome Antarctica’s notorious inclemency. One might infer from the enormous concentrations of sea birds that do occur that the populations are invincible. They are not. The long isolation of Antarctic birds has produced an extraordinarily innocent and docile avifauna - a quality attractive to both scientific study and tourism, but one that leaves these highly vulnerable birds open to harm from human presence or mismanagement.
Natural factors such as storms or abnormally extensive sea ice can cause extremely high mortality in nesting areas. But Antarctic bird species have evolved to overcome these adversities. Human activity is another matter. On the evolutionary time scale, people and their machines have just entered the Antarctic scene. The birds have had little time to adjust. Studies have shown that even casual or occasional contacts with Antarctic bird colonies can adversely affect breeding success. After visits are ended or controlled, bird populations have been observed to return to former levels.
Today, much is known about some of these birds at breeding sites, but virtually nothing about the longer time they spend at sea.

Grading

Although there is no commitment to extended walking on this journey we nonetheless want to keep the ‘accent on the active’. We therefore advise that any physical training you complete before undertaking the trip will be to good effect.

Book with Confidence

• Transfer as credit to Future Tours

  World Expeditions allows you to transfer existing payments to a future tour to avoid cancellation fees if you can't travel and inform world expeditions, 70 days before departure.

• Low Deposit

  World Expeditions requires a minimum deposit of 250 GBP per person or the full booking value, whichever is less, with the final balance not due until 70 days before departure.

• Cancellation Policy

  We don't charge a cancellation fee, here is a summary of world expeditions charges.

  Up to 70 days before tour starts: Forfeit 100% of deposit.

  At 69 days before tour starts: Forfeit 50% of booking price.

  At 35 days before tour starts: Forfeit 100% of booking price.