The coldest, highest, and driest continent on earth has intrigued explorers from the time of Captain Cook to the “heroic age” in the early 20th century, when Shackleton, Amundsen, Charcot, Nordenskjold, Scott and others braved unimaginable hardships to be the first to map the polar regions and plant a frozen flag on the South Pole.

We’ll visit sites on the Antarctic Peninsula on the mainland, as well as the South Shetland Islands, strung like frozen crystal beads along the curved throat of the Peninsula. Some of the expeditions also include time on South Georgia Island. Of course, every landing depends on weather and ice conditions, and no landing can be guaranteed.

THE FALKLAND ISLANDS

Arriving on the wildlife-rich shores of the Falklands, a remote and proudly British scattering of some 420 rocky islands hundreds of miles from any other land mass, visitors are struck by a sense of having reached the ends of the earth. And obviously, for the whalers and clipper ships of an earlier era that lie stranded in the shallows around Port Stanley Harbour, this was the end of their voyaging. Like the now-extinct warrah or Falklands fox, they are part of the fascinating history of the Falkland Islands, whose 1,700 or so hardy inhabitants live primarily in the friendly little capital of Port Stanley. Here brightly coloured wriggly-tin roofs contrast strikingly with the grays and browns of the surrounding hills, and there are tea houses, shops, pubs and a fine museum. In the remote, rarely visited Southeast Falkland Islands, rolling hills and huge clumps of tussock grass provide a habitat for cormorants, elephant seals, sea lions and penguins.

SOUTH GEORGIA ISLAND

Often described as "The Alps in the mid-ocean," this spectacularly picturesque island is actually a continuation of the Andes. It was visited by Captain James Cook in 1775 and Grytviken is the final resting place for Sir Ernest Shackleton. South Georgia has more than 160 glaciers and is home to millions of seabirds including the beautiful King penguin and the enormous wandering albatross. There are abandoned whaling stations, a legacy of a less environmentally conscious era, but now elephant and fur seals can be seen on many beaches.

ANTARCTICA & THE SOUTH SHETLAND ISLANDS
Crossing the Drake Passage on our way to the arugged South Shetland Islands, our first landfall or Zodiac exploration could be Elephant Island, home to huge, raucous rookeries of chinstrap penguins. It was here in 1916 after their ship was crushed in packed ice that Sir Ernest Shackleton's crew was stranded. After 105 days huddled under two lifeboats, they were rescued by Shackleton who had sailed 800 miles in another lifeboat to get help on South Georgia Island.

Deception Island is still considered an active volcano and sailing through the narrow passage into its huge, flooded caldera is a thrilling experience. Places such as Livingston Island and Petermann Island skirting the Peninsula are more temperate than the mainland and support some grasses along with enormous numbers of chinstrap, gentoo and macaroni penguins, while the surrounding waters teem with humpback whales, elephant, fur and leopard seals.

In 1909, the dapper French explorer Dr. Jean-Baptiste Charcot brought his party to little Petermann Island. His ship, the Pourquoi-pas?, was elaborately equipped with electric lights, a cellar of French wines, a well-stocked library and even a motor launch, hardly a survivalist's setting. And, in fact, the crew came through the winter quite handily, proof that one can enjoy the good things in life, even on an Antarctic expedition - a philosophy to which Explorer Cruises heartily subscribes!

Sailing around the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, we hope to navigate the Antarctic Sound often referred to as "iceberg alley," where glaciers flow from the 10,000-foot Foster Plateau into calm waters, and dramatic cliffs are dense with nesting cape petrels, Antarctic blue-eyed shags, kelp gulls and Antarctic terns. Depending on weather conditions, we may land on the volcanic Paulet Island with its large rookery of over a million pairs of Adelie penguins, as well as blue-eyed cormorants and many other species. Captain Anton Larsen and his men of the Nordenskjold expedition sought refuge here in 1903, and remains of his primitive hut still stand.

The Weddell Sea on the east side of the Antarctic Peninsula is famous for Shackleton's epic voyage and the great tabular icebergs, which break off and drift into the Antarctic Sound. We'll see some of these huge mountains of ice as we head for Paradise Bay on the west side of the Peninsula. We hope to land at Almirante Brown Station, and cruise through the Lemaire Channel, possibly the most famous and visually beautiful place along the Peninsula, and nicknamed "Kodak Gap."