Ross Sea Odyssey

Arrive in Hobart, where an Aurora Expeditions representative will greet you and arrange your transfer to your designated pre-voyage hotel alongside fellow expeditioners. If you are already in Hobart, please proceed directly to your hotel.  

This afternoon, visit the Aurora Expeditions hospitality desk in the lobby to collect your luggage tags, ensuring they are clearly labeled with your name and ship cabin number. The team will confirm embarkation details, answer any questions, and offer dining and last-minute shopping recommendations.

Spend the evening exploring Australia’s southernmost capital. Savor a gourmet meal at one of Hobart’s renowned restaurants, or take a relaxed stroll along the historic waterfront.

Assigned accommodation: To be advised

This morning, enjoy breakfast before checking out. Ensure your cabin luggage has tags clearly labeled with your name and cabin number. By 11:00 am, drop your cabin luggage at the hotel reception before or during check-out. It will be securely stored and transferred directly to the port for clearance, arriving in your cabin before your embarkation. Keep valuables and personal items with you throughout the day.

Spend the morning at your leisure, exploring Hobart.

Once aboard, settle into your elegantly appointed cabin and familiarize yourself with the ship’s inviting public spaces designed for your comfort and enjoyment. As you depart, gather on deck with your expedition team to take in panoramic views of Hobart’s waterfront and the striking fluted cliffs of the Tasman Peninsula. From Storm Bay, you chart a course southward, following in the historic wake of the Aurora, which carried Sir Douglas Mawson’s Australasian Antarctic Expedition (AAE) over a century ago.

The journey is as significant as the destination of an expedition such as this. Sea days are a wonderful opportunity to relax, meet fellow travelers, and learn about the history, environment, and local wildlife in this fascinating corner of the globe.   

As you acclimate to life on board, your expedition team is available to answer any questions and offer pro tips on photography and birdwatching. With decades of collective experience in the region, they love to share their expertise and enthusiasm with fellow travelers. Specialists across various fields will offer entertaining talks and presentations on the local wildlife and history, which you won’t want to miss!

Once settled in, you can pamper yourself with a sauna or work out at the onboard gym. For the bookworms, the well-equipped polar library is the perfect place to spend hours away at sea, and the bar is a vibrant social hub to get to know your fellow expeditioners.

As you take in the vast expanse of the Southern Ocean, spare a thought for Mawson and his party, who made this transit aboard the Aurora, a wooden vessel no longer than an Olympic swimming pool! Mawson reported sightings of many whales and albatross in these waters, so spend some time on deck with your binoculars - or grab a ‘cuppa’ and find a vantage point in one of the spacious observation lounges.

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 penguin species! Alongside boisterous colonies of tuxedoed kings, charming Gentoos, robust rockhoppers, and endemic royal penguins, you can find three types of fur seals and many 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 watch for Macca’s kelp forests—these remarkable underwater ecosystems are quite mesmerizing as their fronds sway back and forth on the water’s surface.

In addition to being a globally recognized 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 that would transmit the first communication from Antarctica to the outside world.

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

Close observers may notice a subtle change in the character of the sea as you cross the Antarctic Convergence. Beyond this zone, where the north and south waters mix, the sea surface temperature drops by about 4°C (39°F), signaling your entry into the Antarctic. This transition zone is known for its nutrient waters, so keep watch for porpoising penguins, flocks of fluttering Antarctic petrels, or perhaps the more solitary snow petrel. You’re not far from the Antarctic Circle, so your first iceberg can’t be far away!

Sea days are a great opportunity for some R & R as you digest your subantarctic experiences and prepare for the next phase of your voyage. Relax and unwind your way, perhaps meeting newfound friends at the bar, treating yourself to a sauna, or editing some images in the comfort of your cabin. Join your expedition team in the lecture room for presentations on the charismatic wildlife and extraordinary adventures along the epic Antarctic coastline you are about to experience.

It's almost impossible to describe the feeling of arriving in Antarctica's storied, icebound sector. 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 Adelie 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 departed hurriedly, leaving artifacts, scientific equipment, and sometimes entire huts behind. Today, these sites are preserved as open-air museums and are protected under the Antarctic Treaty System.

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

Some places you may visit include:  

Ross Ice Shelf 

Find a spot on deck as you cruise perfectly cleaved ice cliffs towering some 30 meters above the crystalline waters of the Ross Sea. This is the floating edge of the largest ice shelf in Antarctica, which covers an area the size of France. Watch for elegant emperor penguins, sweet-faced Weddell seals hauled out on ice floes, and the unmistakable 'pouf' of an orca's exhalation.

Franklin Island

This delightful ice-free outpost with a rookery of rambunctious Adelie penguins is well worth a visit. Stretch your legs as you stroll up a gentle incline past the colony to a high point, where panoramic views of the Ross archipelago and the ice shelf unfurl.

McMurdo Sound

Enter a realm of exquisite beauty, an otherworldly icescape set against a backdrop of gleaming glaciers, shimmering mountains, and the polar ice sheet itself. McMurdo Sound is the historic gateway to the South Pole. It remains a busy working harbor today, serving as a logistics hub for the extensive scientific operations at the McMurdo and Scott Research bases on Ross Island.

In this achingly barren landscape, early explorers established their base camps and struck out for the South Pole. If conditions allow, you aim to land at one (or more) of their beautifully preserved huts, many of which still stand, to dwell for a moment amongst the artifacts of a distant time and reflect on the triumphs and tragedies of those who brought them here.

Cape Washington, Terra Nova Bay

Bounded by soaring peaks and fed by immense glaciers, Terra Nova Bay supports an abundance of polar wildlife, including the rarely sighted Arnoux's Beaked Whale. Fast ice anchored to the bay's northern shore in the shelter of Cape Washington is home to one of the largest known emperor penguin colonies. Some 20,000 males huddle here each winter, incubating their eggs and awaiting the sun's return. Weather and ice permitting, visit the bustling rookery to witness the delightful emperors and their fledging chicks.

Cape Hallett

The snow-capped Admiralty Mountains rise dramatically from the gravelly spit of Cape Hallett, where you hope to land. This is the site of a decommissioned scientific base and an abundance of Antarctic mosses, lichens, and invertebrates protected by the Antarctic Treaty System.

Amble across gently undulating terrain, giving resting Weddell seals a wide berth. The Adelie penguin rookery here can host nearly 50,000 breeding pairs, while snow petrels, Wilson's storm petrels, and South Polar skuas breed in the rocky crevices nearby.

Cape Hallett also has a special significance for Aurora. From this rocky foothold, Greg Mortimer, co-founder of Aurora Expeditions, launched the Australian Bicentennial Antarctic Expedition in 1988. Cape Hallett provided access to the glaciated coastal ranges beyond, where the six-man team completed the first ascent of Mt Minto (4,165 meters).

Cape Adare

Cape Adare lies 100 km (62 miles) north of Cape Hallet, at the western entrance to the Ross Sea. A rare ice-free refuge on this icebound coastline, Cape Adare is home to Antarctica's largest Adelie penguin colony. Ice and weather permitting, wend your way through the pack ice to land on the flat, cobbled spit where more than 250,000 breeding pairs of Adélies gather to busily breed, feed, and raise their chicks in the short southern summer.  

First visited by James Clark Ross in 1841, this rocky promontory played an important role in the pioneering expeditions of the Heroic Age of Antarctic exploration. It was here in 1899 that the Southern Cross expedition, led by Carsten Borchgrevink, became the first to winter over in Antarctica and establish the first human structures on the continent.

The remnants of these pioneering constructions and thousands of artifacts scattered in their vicinity remain virtually untouched and protected under the Antarctic Treaty System. You hope to enter Borchgrevink's living quarters to experience the awe and imagine the perils of conducting science here, as they did through an Antarctic winter.

You leave the grandeur of the ice to the seals and penguins and head northwards, but your 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. If the mood takes you, join your expedition team in the lecture room for presentations and polar film showings, or meet your new travel mates in the bar, library, or observation deck to reminisce on your Antarctic experiences.

These days at sea also offer time and space to reflect on the emotions and special moments you’ve lived over the past two weeks. You may like to review your photos, jot some notes in a journal, mark your passage on a map, and reflect on your journey.

As you approach the rugged New Zealand subantarctic islands, you can spot the endemic white-capped mollymawk (a type of albatross) in flight—the largest of the mollymawk family, over ninety percent of its population breeds on the Auckland Islands. Keep an eye out also for the playful New Zealand sea lion and southern right whale, which are known to frolic in these waters.

First visited by Maori navigators centuries ago, these islands are of great significance to Ngai Tahu, the indigenous peoples of New Zealand's South Island. Their natural beauty and astonishing biodiversity have now been recognized globally, but few have had the privilege to visit these far-flung shores, which are now yours to explore.

Auckland Islands (Maungahuka / Motu Maha)

Born of fire, scoured by ancient glaciers, and shaped by the fierce hand of the Southern Ocean, there is an exquisite ruggedness to this group of weather-worn islands. This apparent bleakness belies the extraordinary abundance of life that thrives here. Roughly half of the world's yellow-eyed penguins (hoiho), most of the world's white-capped mollymawks, and the entire Auckland Islands wandering albatross population find shelter on these shores.
Embrace the spirit of exploration as your expedition team designs your voyage daily, bringing decades of experience to selecting ideal sites based on the prevailing conditions and wildlife opportunities.

Some places you may visit include:

Sandy Bay

Sandy Bay is home to a breeding colony of rare New Zealand (Hooker's) sea lions and an enchanting rata forest where yellow-eyed penguins (hoiho) make their nests.

Carnley Harbor, Erlangen Clearing

Carnley Harbor offers superb Zodiac cruising through a landscape rich in human history. In 1864, five men became stranded here after their schooner, the Grafton, was wrecked, ending their sealing and tin prospecting ambitions suddenly. You hope to see the Grafton's skeletal remnants and the Epigwaitt Hut's moss-covered remains, where they sheltered for 20 months.

Victoria Passage

Victoria Passage is a lively channel separating Auckland Island from the mountainous Adams Island to the south. You may Zodiac cruise these scenic waters, watching for sooty shearwaters, penguins, and sea lions frolicking in the pure waters.

Campbell Island (Motu Ihupuku)

Wind and weather permitting, Zodiac cruises sheltered harbors and coves in search of Campbell Island snipes and teals, yellow-eyed penguins (hoiho), and New Zealand (HooHooker'sea lions (whakahao).

You hope to land at Beeman Cove, Perseverance Harbor, where an old meteorological station stands vigil on the windswept shoreline. Follow a boardwalk through tussock and upland tundra, then enter an otherworldly landscape where large-leaved megaherbs abound. Wonder at the Ross Lily, Campbell Island Daisy, and Campbell Island carrot, whose brilliant flowers would look more at home in the tropics than in these southern climes. Continue towards the nesting grounds of the majestic southern royal albatross, whose wingspans can exceed three meters (10 feet). It is truly humbling to be in the presence of these great wanderers of the southern seas. Find a spot to quietly observe these marvelous birds as they go about their daily duties, undisturbed by their human visitors.

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

The team hopes 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 to your expedition team and fellow travelers as they all continue 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.