After some waiting and uncertainty as to whether we would be able to experience this highlight on our Central and South America trip, we are finally certain: we are visiting the sixth of seven continents in our lives! Welcome to Antarctica!

Our Antarctic adventure is packed with great experiences, which we want to share with you and of which we have of course taken thousands of photos. In order to do this justice, we have decided to make two blog posts out of it. This blog post continues with part 2 of our Antarctic trip.
If you missed part 1 or would like to take another look – click here for Antarctica – Part 1.

Our Antarctic route

Thanks to the early arrival mentioned before, we will be able to make our first excursion in Antarctica on the third day on the ship. The plan would have been three days on the ship and the first small Antarctic expedition on the fourth day. We are very happy to make the additional stop, as not everything will go as planned. On the fourth day, we visit the Graham Passage and set foot on the Antarctic mainland at Portal Point. The fifth day takes us to the two islands Petermann Island and Pleneau Island. Then, on the sixth day, we get to explore Cuverville Island and Paradise Harbour. And this is where nature comes into play. The captain decides that we have to say goodbye to Antarctica a day earlier than planned. We had actually planned another day with two excursions, but the wind is getting stronger and stronger and the waves are getting higher and higher with the wind. As we want to make the approximately 900 km long Drake Passage on the open sea back to Ushuaia as bearable as possible, we set off a day earlier back to Ushuaia. And so, the luck of the outward journey has already paid off. In total, we only lose one of the planned eight excursions instead of two. It’s a shame, but on the return journey we are happy because, despite leaving early, we encounter waves up to 7 meters high towards the end of the Drake Passage, which causes both the ship and our stomachs to sway quite a bit.
The early return to Ushuaia means that we can enjoy a bus tour through the Andes north of Ushuaia on the ninth day of the cruise before we finally leave the ship again on the tenth day.

• Drake Passage 12.03. – 14.03.2025
• Yankee Harbour 14.03.2025
• Graham Passage 15.03.2025
• Portal Point 15.03.2025
• Lemaire Channel 16.03.2025
• Petermann Island 16.03.2025
• Pleneau Island 16.03.2025
• Cuverville Island 17.03.2025
• Paradise Harbour 17.03.2025
• Drake Passage 17.03. – 20.03.2025
• Day tour in Ushuaia 20.03.2025
• Disembarkation in Ushuaia 21.03.2025

Polar plunge

A special highlight should not be missed on such an exclusive Antarctic trip: The polar plunge! A catchy word for a jump into the cold water of the polar sea. The captain also notes the water temperature on his daily ship report: -0.7°C! That’s how cold the sea is thanks to the many glacier tongues and icebergs in the Antarctic. To our surprise, this part of the program is more popular with the guests than expected. Some 90 guests line up to take a plunge into the ice-cold water under special safety precautions.

Icebergs and glaciers

Up to this point, we have written a lot about the wildlife of Antarctica. We are also captivated by the entire scenery. Large, small, tiny, flat and expansive, or steep and pointed icebergs are scattered in great density in the Arctic Ocean all around us. There are so many that, over time, we only photograph the most beautiful ones and simply enjoy the others. We had hoped for icebergs, but we never thought that everything would be so full of them! At one point, the ice was so much that a channel between two islands was blocked with icebergs and we had to take a small detour around the island to reach Paradise Harbor. Icebergs are present in epic proportions on our tour through Antarctica.

The same ice, so to speak, simply on land and even more cohesive, forms the huge glaciers of Antarctica. They are just as omnipresent as the icebergs. Every mountain flank, however small, where enough snow can accumulate, forms a small glacier on the way to the waterline. The really big glaciers are formed from the Antarctic continental plate by the Antarctic ice sheet. For us, the whole picture is incredibly impressive and we almost can’t take our eyes off the impressive ice and mountain landscape. In Paradise Harbor in particular, the glacier tongues extend over several kilometers with a height of at least 50m.

Farewell to Antarctica

Despite the ten-day length of this cruise, the farewell comes too soon and somewhat abruptly, as always in beautiful places. After a good four days in calm waters between the Antarctic mainland and the many offshore islands, it is now time to set off again for the wild and rough Drake Passage. Despite returning early, the return journey will be a good deal rougher than the outward journey. Many guests feel the swell more than expected. While the auditorium was still well filled during the lectures on the outward journey, now only a handful of guests are sitting in the lecture hall. The rest are either watching on the TV in their rooms or sleeping off the seasickness. That is also part of it. According to various team members, we encounter 6m – 7.5m waves on the return journey, which leads to considerable ship movements. So strong, in fact, that sometimes plates slide off the food buffet or the cupboard is pushed open and 50 plates fall to the floor with a great roar. At this point, however, it must also be said that the waiters did an excellent job even in these waves! With this experience, we can now truly say: we survived the rough Drake Passage well, but it can get really rough. Nevertheless, we would definitely book the tour again and can recommend the Antarctic adventure without hesitation.

We did our cruise with Quark Expeditions and were completely satisfied! The expedition team has an enormous amount of knowledge, which they are happy to share with anyone who asks. In addition, they simply all enjoy their job together and this is noticeable in so many aspects and is infectious. The ship’s crew are highly trained and leave nothing to be desired, we have rarely experienced such good service – and that at the end of the world!

A unique experience that we will remember for the rest of our lives.