The Heroic South

Arrive in Ushuaia—the world’s southernmost city and a lively port rich in maritime history. After lunch, join your expedition team and fellow travellers for a short historical walking tour of the town before boarding your expedition vessel.

Once on board St Helena, enjoy a welcome briefing and dinner as we begin our journey down the Beagle Channel. This is your chance to get to know your expedition team, fellow guests, and the historians who will bring Britain’s Antarctic legacy to life throughout the voyage.

Our journey begins with the crossing of the legendary Drake Passage—one of the great milestones in polar travel. These two days at sea offer time to relax, settle in, and get inspired. Join expert-led presentations covering early British expeditions, glaciology, and Antarctic wildlife.

Outside on deck, keep watch for cape petrels, giant petrels, and the graceful flight of albatrosses riding the winds.

During the crossing, we’ll also conduct important safety briefings and biosecurity procedures as we prepare to enter Antarctica’s pristine environment. Keep an eye on the horizon—icebergs on the water mean we’re getting close.

Embracing the spirit of true expedition travel, we set our course for the remote and seldom-visited Marguerite Bay—a striking landscape of ice covered waters, towering glaciers, and dramatic mountain backdrops.

If conditions allow, we’ll aim to approach Rothera Research Station, operated by the British Antarctic Survey. While shore landings at Rothera depend on permission and sea ice, cruising in its vicinity offers a powerful sense of the station’s vital role in modern polar science.

In these waters, we may encounter Weddell seals resting on floes, Adélie penguins weaving through the ice, and perhaps a minke whale surfacing nearby. This part of our itinerary is very condition dependent with safety paramount when operating in this remote part of the world.

Today, we set out to traverse the breathtaking Gullet—a narrow, ice-filled channel that separates Adelaide Island from the mainland. This picturesque and rarely visited passage was first charted by Jean-Baptiste Charcot and later explored by British expeditions. Towering cliffs and hanging glaciers rise around us, while leopard seals patrol the ice floes in pursuit of penguins.

If conditions allow, we may make a landing on Pourquoi Pas Island, once a refuge for early explorers during their extensive survey missions. Weather permitting, we’ll navigate this icy maze by Zodiac, following in the wake of the pioneering Antarctic cartographers.

As we journey northward along the coast, we pass through the magnificent Penola Strait, famed for its striking peaks and intricately shaped icebergs. Weather allowing, we’ll pause at Vernadsky Station, operated by Ukraine. Formerly the British Faraday Station, this site is renowned as the birthplace of groundbreaking ozone layer research in the 1980s.

There may be an opportunity to explore the station’s facilities and visit the iconic southernmost bar on Earth—originally built by the British and still serving vodka to scientists and explorers who stop by.

Today, we set our sights on one of the most breathtaking waterways on the planet. The Lemaire Channel—known as the “Kodak Gap”—is bordered by towering cliffs and often packed with brash ice, mirrored by surreal reflections of majestic icebergs.

At Pleneau Island, once a safe anchorage for Charcot’s expeditions, we’ll visit vibrant penguin colonies and navigate among grounded icebergs. Keep an eye out for leopard seals basking on the ice floes or humpback whales feeding just offshore.

A final two days of immersive exploration. We continue our exploration of the Danco Coast with a potential landing at Neko Harbour—an ideal location to set foot on the Antarctic continent itself. Nestled amidst a horseshoe of glaciers, Neko offers commanding views and close encounters with gentoo penguins. Conditions permitting, we may undertake a short hike for panoramic views or a Zodiac cruise along the ice cliffs, where calving glaciers send thunderous waves rolling through the bay.

Perhaps a remote scientific hut, a calving glacier, or one last landing on the Antarctic mainland—your expedition team will maximize your time on the Peninsula before turning north.

Relive your adventures as you cross the Drake Passage, keeping an eye out for seabirds and whales along the way. Take part in final lectures or workshops, and enjoy a celebratory dinner with your fellow travellers as you reflect on the unforgettable journey.

Arrive back in Ushuaia in the early morning. After breakfast, disembark with cherished memories of an epic Antarctic expedition and new stories to tell.