| Cruise Line |
Ponant |
| Ship |
Le Commandant Charcot |
| Destination |
Antarctica |
| Nights |
11 |
| Departure Date |
25 Mar 2022 |
| Description |
11 Night cruise sailing return from Ushuaia onboard Le Commandant Charcot.
Insurmountable, extreme and captivating: this is the best way to describe the Weddell Sea, mostly frozen by a thick and compressed ice floe. It is a challenge and a privilege to sail on it, with its promise of exceptional landscapes and original encounters.
As you advance across this immense polar expanse, you will enter an infinite ice desert, a world of silence where there is nothing but calm and serenity.
To the northwest of the Weddell Sea, stretching along the eastern coast of the Antarctic Peninsula, stands an imposing ice shelf known as the Larsen Ice Shelf. An extension of the ice sheet onto the sea, this white giant is equally disturbing and fascinating, if only due to its colossal dimensions and the impressive table top icebergs - amongst the largest ever seen - that it generates.
This voyage will be an opportunity to come as close as possible to the Weddell Sea, a real refuge for wildlife.
We are privileged guests in these remote lands where we are at the mercy of weather, ice, tidal and current conditions. Landings on certain sites and the observation of certain wildlife cannot be guaranteed. They vary from day to day, making each PONANT cruise a unique experience. The Captain and the Expedition Leader will make every effort to ensure that your experience is as rich as possible, while complying with the safety rules and instructions imposed by the IAATO.
Highlights of this cruise:
Ushuaia, Argentina
Capital of Argentina's Tierra del Fuego province, Ushuaia lies in a bay opening into the Beagle Channel at the country's southernmost tip. Its colourful houses are framed against towering mountains, snow-capped in winter and summer alike. Downtown, the End of the World Museum showcases Tierra del Fuego's natural and indigenous history. A ride on the heritage railway is an exciting excursion into the Tierra del Fuego National Park, while a cruise on Ushuaia Bay is the perfect way to spot sea lions and Magellanic penguins.
Drake Passage
If there is one place, one sea, one waterway dreaded by tourists, researchers and hardened seafarers alike, it is undoubtedly Drake Passage. Situated at the latitude of the infamous Furious Fifties winds, between Cape Horn and the South Shetland Islands, it is the shortest route to Antarctica. Seasoned navigators will tell you that you must earn your visit to the White Continent! As the Antarctic convergence zone where cold currents rising up from the South Pole meet warmer equatorial water masses, Drake Passage harbours a very diverse marine fauna. Don't forget to look to the sky to catch a glimpse of elegant albatross and Cape petrels, playfully floating about in the wind around your ship.
South Shetland Islands
On the edge of the Antarctic Peninsula, 120 km (70 miles) from the White Continent, the South Shetland Islands offer surreal and mysterious scenery. On these volcanic islands of dark rock, the landscapes alternate between long, jagged and snow-covered coast and large, gently sloping bays. These lunar and wild lands are home to important scientific research stations and a large number of animal species: chinstrap penguins, crabeater seals or Weddell seals, Antarctic terns, giant petrels and elephant seals have taken up residence here.
Antarctic Peninsula
The Antarctic Peninsula is the northernmost part of the mainland of Antarctica, and almost the only part of that continent that extends outside the Antarctic Circle. It lies in the Western Hemisphere, facing South America. The peninsula is highly mountainous, its highest peaks rising to approximately 2,800 metres (9,186 feet). The Antarctic Peninsula is regarded by many visitors as being one of the most beautiful places on earth. Jagged mountain peaks clad in glaciers flowing sometimes down to the sea and sometimes spilling into mid air from an altitude of hundreds of feet or more. Attractions include giant icebergs, penguins, seals, whales, pack ice, sea birds and more.
The Weddell Sea
Amidst the eerie stillness of the Weddell Sea, you'll wend your way through a veritable labyrinth of dense ice floe and majestic table icebergs. Sweeping ice platforms sculpt a landscape unlike any other, populated by fur seals, penguins, wandering albatross and other imposing seabirds. The Weddell seal, king of this realm, will welcome you to his territory with a haunting cry that pierces the surrounding silence. You'll recognise him by his dark grey coat and spotted belly. Weddell seals have the impressive distinction of being able to stay underwater for more than an hour.
Sailing toward Larsen Ice Shelf
On the Weddell Sea, you will sail close to the gigantic Larsen ice shelves. These floating ice shelves help to prevent the erosion of the Antarctic ice sheet. Over the last fifty years, scientists have however observed regular collapses of these shelves, along giant cracks that can be several hundred kilometres long and deep. In 2017, a portion measuring more than 6,000 km2, so barely smaller than Corsica, had broken off the Larsen C ice shelf, forming one of the largest tabular icebergs in the world. This disintegration is believed to be due in part to global warming and melting sea ice. |
|
| Itinerary |
Cruise Itinerary
| Day | Date | Activity | Arrive | Depart |
|---|
| 1 |
25/03 |
Ushuaia, Argentina |
|
06:00 PM |
| 2 |
26/03 |
Drake Passage |
|
|
| 3 |
27/03 |
Drake Passage |
|
|
| 4 |
28/03 |
South Shetland Islands, Antarctica |
|
|
| 5 |
29/03 |
Antarctic Peninsula |
|
|
| 6 |
30/03 |
At sea |
|
|
| 7 |
31/03 |
At sea |
|
|
| 8 |
01/04 |
At sea |
|
|
| 9 |
02/04 |
At sea |
|
|
| 10 |
03/04 |
Drake Passage |
|
|
| 11 |
04/04 |
Drake Passage |
|
|
| 12 |
05/04 |
Ushuaia, Argentina |
07:00 AM |
|
|
All itineraries and ports of call at the discretion of the cruise line subject to local weather conditions and may change without notice.
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