Upon arriving in Punta Arenas and transferred to your hotel. It's essential to arrive no later than 2:00 pm to ensure attendance at the important evening briefing.

Between 2:00 pm and 6:00 pm, please stop by the hospitality desk in the lobby to pick up your luggage cabin tags. The team can also provide details about your embarkation day, address any inquiries, and offer guidance on dining options and last-minute purchases.

Nestled along the Straits of Magellan, Punta Arenas occupies a historic spot on one of the world's most significant trade routes. Today, it embodies a captivating fusion of cultural influences, from English sheep ranchers to Portuguese sailors, serving as a vivid testament to Chile's vibrant past. Modern Punta Arenas boasts an array of popular restaurants and bars, showcasing both local and international cuisine (meals are at your own expense today).

At 7:00 pm this evening, join your fellow expeditioners for a voyage briefing. You'll confirm your transfer times for tomorrow, discuss the procedures for your flight to King George Island, and outline crucial IAATO regulations for Antarctica visitors.

Note: Please arrive no later than 4:00 pm so that you may attend the important voyage briefing by approximately 7:00 pm. In this meeting, your transfer times and the procedures for your flight to King George Island will be reconfirmed, and IAATO regulations for visitors to Antarctica will be discussed.

This morning, transfer to Punta Arenas airport for the charter flight to King George Island, Antarctica (weather permitting). The flight's duration is approximately one hour and forty-five minutes. Upon arrival at King George Island, the expedition team welcomes you and assists with your transfer to the vessel via Zodiac. You'll have time to settle into your cabin before the important safety briefings are conducted.

Note: A clear sky with great visibility is required for safe take-off and landing at King George Island. Should the weather be uncooperative at this remote airstrip, flights can be moved earlier, or delayed later.  Historically, 85% of flights occur on the day they are scheduled.  But if this is not possible, the ship operator will follow their established contingency plan, which can be read here. 

It’s almost impossible to describe the feeling of arriving in Antarctica. Spotting your first iceberg and taking a deep breath of some of the most fresh, crisp air on earth is an experience that can stay with you forever.

Once you arrive, the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula and the South Shetland Islands are yours to explore, and you have a host of choices available to you. Because you are so far south, you'll experience approximately 18-24 hours of daylight and the days can be as busy as you wish.  

Your experienced expedition team, who have made countless journeys to this area, use their expertise to design your voyage from day to day, choosing the best options based on the prevailing weather, ice conditions, and wildlife opportunities.

You generally make landings or Zodiac excursions twice a day. You'll want to rug up before joining Zodiac cruises along spectacular ice cliffs or among grounded icebergs, keeping watch for whales, seals, and porpoising penguins. Zodiacs can also transport you from the ship to land, where you can visit penguin rookeries, discover historic huts, and explore some of the favorite spots along the peninsula.

While ashore, aim to stretch your legs, wandering along pebbly beaches or perhaps up snow-covered ridgelines to vantage points with mountains towering overhead and ice-speckled oceans below. If you have chosen an optional activity, you'll have the option to do that whenever conditions allow, and of course, keen polar plungers have the chance to fully immerse themselves in polar waters - conditions permitting! 

In addition to Zodiac cruises and shore excursions, you may ship cruise some of the narrow, dramatic straits separating offshore islands from the mainland, or linger in scenic bays to watch whales travelling or feeding.  

This is a great time to enjoy the observation lounge for uninterrupted views of Antarctica in all its splendor. Keep an ear out for the creak and deep rumble of glaciers as they carve their way from summit to sea. Take a quiet moment to experience the wonder of this incredible white continent. 

Central to the story of where Sir Ernest Shackleton’s ship, the Endurance became trapped in formidable sea ice, the Weddell Sea certainly is high on the list for many polar adventurers. A small set of islands standing off to the east of the Antarctic Peninsula collectively form the Antarctic Sound – the gateway to the Weddell Sea. With a well-deserved reputation as being an iceberg alley where large icebergs try to escape the Weddell Sea through Antarctic Sound, often making navigation difficult. However, the rewards can be great. Fossils are a reminder of a more temperate era – gastropods, large clams, and spiral-shaped ammonites, all turned to stone.

You hope to experience memorable wildlife encounters as the Weddell boasts a large Adélie penguin colony just outside of Antarctic Sound, some of which breed on the rocky slopes of a small volcanic island, where a large colony of Antarctic blue-eyed shags jostle for space with nest-building Wilson’s storm petrels. On thrilling Zodiac excursions or slicing a path through the maze of sea ice in your kayak, keep watch for chinstrap and gentoo penguins in and out of the water, as well as humpback, minke, and orca whales. Your camera is sure to get a solid workout during your time in the Weddell Sea.

Enjoy a final morning landing in the South Shetland Islands before you re-enter the Drake Passage for your return journey to South America.

With lectures and film presentations to complete the Antarctic experience, there is still plenty of time to enjoy the magic of the Southern Ocean and the life that calls it home. There is time for reflection and discussion about what you have seen and experienced. Hope you become ambassadors for Antarctica telling your family, friends, and colleagues about your journey to this magical place, and advocating for its conservation and preservation so that they might one day visit the region to experience what you have been lucky to see and do here.

As you approach the tip of South America, the Captain may sail close to legendary Cape Horn, weather and time permitting.

During the early morning, you cruise up the Beagle Channel, before quietly slipping into the dock in Ushuaia, where you are free to disembark around 8.00 am. Farewell to your expedition team and fellow passengers as you all continue your onward journeys, hopefully with a newfound sense of the immense power of nature.

Upon disembarkation, for those continuing their travels in the region, transportation to the hotel can be arranged exclusively for guests who have booked their accommodations through Aurora or for those staying in downtown areas near the port. Expeditioners departing on flights prior to 12:30 pm can be directly transferred to Ushuaia Airport, those with flights after 12:30 pm can have the opportunity to explore Ushuaia before an afternoon airport transfer, and the transfer procedures and details can be communicated onboard before disembarkation.

Note: After the cruise, we do not recommend booking flights departing Ushuaia before 12:00 pm on the day of disembarkation in case there are delays.