Antarctica with AE Expeditions

Antarctica, the 7th and least-visited continent, is on many intrepid travellers' bucket list, ours included. Whenever we discussed it though the one thing that put us off was crossing the Drake Passage, so a voyage incorporating flying to Antarctica one way and sailing back seemed the perfect solution, giving us the opportunity to experience the Drake Passage without it affecting our outward journey.

We started our expedition in the lovely city of Punta Arenas in southern Chile with a two night stay in the Cabo De Hornos hotel in Punta Arenas, one of which was included in our Aurora Expedition package and the other booked independently to fit in with our flight schedule.

Cabo de Hornos hotel is probably the finest hotel in Punta Arenas and is perfectly positioned for a pre-cruise stay, being close to the airport and the seafront and having plenty of lovely rooms with views out to sea to watch the ships sailing in and out. Our extra night gave us just the right amount of time to explore this compact, friendly coastal city before checking in with the Aurora ground team and meeting our fellow passengers at our first expedition briefing. At the meeting we were all briefed on our flight out to King George Island where we would join Aurora Expeditions new x-bow designed ship, the 132 passenger MV Greg Mortimer, for an eight night voyage around Antarctica and back to Punta Arenas via the Chilean fjords.

At the airport the next morning the excitement levels were rising quickly and when our flight was announced a massive cheer went out from us all waiting at the boarding gate. Our ride for the 1 hour 45 minute flight was a BAe146 with unique chinstrap penguin livery and very spacious, comfortable seating and free flowing champagne. After a surprisingly smooth landing (given the gravel runway) we grabbed a pair of muck boots and started our 2km walk to the beach where the zodiacs were waiting to take us on the short ride to the awaiting Greg Mortimer. In Antarctica there are no harbours so every embarkation and disembarkation is done using the very sturdy and impressively comfortable zodiacs, accessed using a stairway from the mudroom to a doorway in the side of the ship. Arriving at the ship, our zodiac pulled up portside and using the sailors grip were helped off of the zodiac onto the ship by one of the crew before washing our muck boots in a disinfectant bath and heading into the mudroom, a locker room on deck three for storing outerwear and muck boots.

Our first afternoon on board was action packed with a muster drill, briefings about our landings, the zodiacs and safety, introductions to our guides and a bio party to make sure our outerwear was free from contamination prior to our landings. We quickly got used to the ship-wide announcements telling us when to be where and soon became reliant on them, nearly missing lunch one day when no announcement was made! Though this is not normally something we would like on a cruise, an expedition cruise is very different and these types of announcements are part of the journey and even seemed to promote a sense of collectivism and shared experience with the guides and 45 fellow passengers who quickly became our friends.

Our first full day and we were up at the crack of dawn having woken up to the sight of icebergs from our patio doors. We were so excited we jumped out of bed, quickly donned our layers and headed up to the top deck to get the best view. Once there we realised that there were humpback whales swimming in the sea all around the ship, oftentimes the sound of them spouting drawing our attention to them.

Our first expedition was an action packed zodiac cruise off the coast of Enterprise island, starting with a shipwreck and a lone Emperor penguin before getting in the path of a rather amorous leopard seal who, much to our delight, took great joy in hugging our zodiac. Eventually we had to leave the leopard seal to romance the other zodiacs, heading out of the bay a little towards some humpback whales on the horizon in the open sea. The next half an hour turned out to be one of our favourite moments of the trip with Justine, our zodiac driver, turning off the engines as we watched three or four pairs of humpback whales close-by. After a while an eerie silence fell upon the whole zodiac as we sat in awe watching and listening to the noises they were making as they spouted, lurched, rolled and dived.

Though we hadn’t yet set foot on snow we didn’t have to wait long - that afternoon we landed at Portal Point in Charlotte Bay. It really is hard to describe the awe and excitement at setting foot on land that so few have visited, walking on deeper snow than we have ever seen and listening simply to the sounds of nature as the glaciers and snow creak and crack around us. On our way back to the ship we had our first close encounter with an iceberg, marvelling at the beautiful blue colour and magnificence of nature's floating sculptures.