Ross Sea Odyssey

Arrive in Hobart, where a representative of Aurora Expeditions meets you and transfers you with your fellow expeditioners to your assigned pre-voyage hotel. If you’re already in Hobart, make your way to your hotel. This afternoon, visit the Aurora Expeditions hospitality desk in the lobby to collect your luggage tags and clearly label them with your name and ship cabin number. The team will confirm embarkation details, answer your questions, and provide information about dining options and last-minute shopping.

Enjoy your evening in Australia’s southernmost capital city. You can indulge in a delicious meal at one of Hobart’s renowned restaurants or take a relaxing stroll along the historic waterfront.

Assigned accommodation: To be advised.

Enjoy breakfast this morning and check out. Ensure your cabin luggage is fitted with cabin tags clearly labeled with your name and cabin number. By 11:00 am, take your luggage to hotel reception, either before or at check-out. Your luggage will be stored and transferred directly to the port for clearance and placed in your cabin before your arrival onboard. Keep any valuables or personal items with you throughout the day.

You have the morning at leisure to explore Hobart.

Settle into your beautifully appointed cabin and explore the luxurious public spaces designed for your comfort. This vessel is yours to discover! As we cast off and sail down the Derwent River, join your expedition team on deck to enjoy panoramic views of Hobart’s foreshore and the dramatic fluted columns of the Tasman Peninsula. From Storm Bay, we set a southerly course, retracing the path of the vessel Aurora, which carried Sir Douglas Mawson’s Australasian Antarctic Expedition (AAE) 100 years ago.

On an expedition like this, the journey is as important as the destination. Sea days provide a wonderful chance to relax, meet fellow travelers, and learn about the history, environment, and wildlife of this fascinating part of the world. 

As you settle into life on board, your expedition team is there to answer any questions and share photography and birdwatching tips. With decades of experience in the region, they are eager to share their knowledge and passion with you. Specialists in various fields offer engaging talks and presentations on local wildlife and history, which you won’t want to miss!

Once you’ve settled in, you may want to indulge in a sauna or visit the onboard gym. For book lovers, the well-equipped polar library is an ideal spot to relax, while the bar serves as a lively social hub to connect with your fellow expeditioners.

As you take in the vast expanse of the Southern Ocean, reflect on Mawson and his party, who made this same journey aboard the Aurora, a wooden vessel no longer than an Olympic swimming pool! Mawson reported sightings of numerous whales and albatross in these waters, so take time to head out on deck with your binoculars, or enjoy a ‘cuppa’ from a vantage point in one of the spacious observation lounges.

As you sail towards Antarctica, you’ll encounter "an exquisite scene." Macquarie Island, affectionately known as Macca, rises steeply from the Southern Ocean in a series of emerald summits, creating a beautifully fierce and elemental landscape teeming with life. 

Keep your binoculars handy, as this subantarctic refuge is home to 3.5 million breeding seabirds, including four species of penguins! Alongside noisy colonies of tuxedoed kings, charming gentoos, robust rockhoppers, and endemic royal penguins, you’ll find three types of fur seals and a large portion of the world’s elephant seals. Layer up and head out on deck to experience the sounds, sights (and smells!) as you approach one of the largest concentrations of life in the Southern Ocean.

Don’t forget to keep an eye out for Macca’s kelp forests. These incredible underwater ecosystems are mesmerizing as their fronds sway back and forth on the water’s surface.

Beyond being a globally protected wildlife refuge, Macquarie Island holds a significant place in Antarctic history. It was here, in 1911, that five men disembarked Mawson’s Aurora to establish a radio relay station, transmitting the first communication from Antarctica to the outside world.

As Macquarie Island disappears over the horizon, keep an eye out for wandering, grey-headed, black-browed, and light-mantled albatross, which may follow the ship to bid you farewell as you continue south.

As you cross the Antarctic Convergence, you may notice a subtle change in the sea’s character. Beyond this zone, where northern and southern waters mix, the sea surface temperature drops by around 4°C (39°F), signaling your entry into Antarctica. This nutrient-rich zone is home to porpoising penguins, flocks of fluttering Antarctic petrels, and perhaps the more solitary snow petrel. Your first iceberg is likely not far away as you near the Antarctic Circle.

Sea days offer a perfect chance for relaxation while you digest your subantarctic experiences and prepare for the next phase of your voyage. Unwind your way—maybe meeting new friends at the bar, enjoying a sauna, or editing photos in your cabin. Join your expedition team in the lecture room for talks on the charismatic wildlife and extraordinary adventures you’re about to encounter along the epic Antarctic coastline.

It’s almost impossible to describe the feeling of arriving in this storied, ice-bound sector of Antarctica. Stepping outside and taking a deep breath of some of the most fresh, crisp air on earth is an experience to cherish forever.

The Ross Sea region is a globally significant wildlife sanctuary. Its nutrient-rich waters support an astonishing array of uniquely adapted Antarctic species, including Ross Sea orcas, Antarctic petrels and South Pacific Weddell seals. It is also home to Antarctica’s largest Adélie penguin colony, and many of the largest emperor penguin colonies. The unique biodiversity of the Ross Sea has been protected within the world’s largest marine protected area since 2016.

The human heritage of the Ross Sea coast is equally impressive. Since James Clark Ross discovered the region in 1841, countless expeditions have built base camps on scattered ice-free slivers of land, using them as staging posts for bold forays across the polar plateau. Many of them departed in a hurry, leaving artefacts, scientific equipment and sometimes entire huts behind. Today these sites are preserved as open-air museums and protected under the Antarctic Treaty System.

Embrace the spirit of exploration as your expedition team designs your voyage from day to day, bringing decades of experience to selecting the ideal sites based on the prevailing weather, ice conditions and wildlife opportunities. 

Leave the grandeur of the ice to the seals and penguins and head northwards, but the voyage is far from over. In the days ahead there is plenty of time to enjoy the magic of the Southern Ocean and the life that calls it home. You won’t want to miss presentations from your onboard specialists about the wonderful wildlife and rich human history of Macquarie Island. 

These days at sea also offer time and space to reflect on the emotions and special moments you’ve lived over the past few weeks. You may like to take a moment of quiet contemplation or reminisce with your fellow travellers over a cuppa (or other beverage of choice!) 

As you approach Macquarie Island keep watch for graceful grey-headed, black-browed and light-mantled albatross, which may venture from their nests to welcome their human visitors.

As they sailed towards Antarctica, Mawson and his men encountered ‘an exquisite scene’. Macquarie Island (known affectionately as Macca) rises steeply from the Southern Ocean in a series of emerald summits: a beautifully fierce, elemental landscape teeming with life.   

Keep your binoculars handy because this subantarctic refuge is home to 3.5 million breeding seabirds, including no less than four species of penguin! Alongside boisterous colonies of tuxedoed kings, charming gentoos, robust rockhoppers and endemic royal penguins, you’ll find three types of fur seals and a large proportion of the world’s elephant seals. Layer up and head out on deck to experience the sound, sight (and smell!) as you approach one of the largest concentrations of life in the Southern Ocean.

Remember to keep an eye out for Macca’s kelp forests—these remarkable underwater ecosystems are quite mesmerising as their fronds sway back and forth on the water’s surface.

In addition to being a globally recognised and protected wildlife refuge, Macquarie Island played an important role in Antarctic history. It was here, in 1911, that five men disembarked Mawson’s Aurora and established a radio relay station which would transmit the first communication from Antarctica to the outside world.

The South Shetland Islands is a volcanic island group around a day’s sail from the Antarctic Peninsula. Aim to land or Zodiac cruise at one of the many appealing coves, bays and beaches, with the opportunity to see chinstrap and gentoo penguin colonies, fur and elephant seals, and the historic remnants of the sealing and whaling age.

In the afternoon, begin your transit north across the Drake Passage.

As your journey draws to a close, take some time to reflect on the experiences of the past few weeks. Perhaps you’d like to organise your photos, jot some more notes in your journal or simply relax and soak up the ambiance on board as you farewell your travel mates . . . until next time!

The team hope you become ambassadors for the great Southern Ocean, advocating for its conservation and preservation, and share your experiences with your loved ones, so they might visit and become ambassadors themselves.

After breakfast, farewell your expedition team and fellow passengers as travelers all continue our onward journeys, hopefully with a newfound sense of the immense power of nature.

Note: At the conclusion of the voyage, it is not recommended booking flights departing prior to 12.00 pm on the day of disembarkation in case there are delays.