Antarctica Adventure Review

by Dominic J Nardi, Jr.
(USA)

Our greatest wildlife experience came undoubtedly from kayaking near humpback whales. We got within 5 meters of one humpback, who passed under our kayak. It gave us goosebumps to be so close to these giants.

DOMINIC'S TRIP DETAILS: Rating: 8/10 Travel agent used: OneOcean Boat: Prof. Multanovskiy Date of trip: January 4-14, 2009 (11 days) More reviews for this ship » Review Index: Travel company performance Ship Route Weather & sea conditions Wildlife Tips and advice

Travel Company Performance

I found OneOcean online. They gave absolutely amazing service.

We loved OneOcean and highly recommend them.

Ship

The boat had a group of experts in wildlife and the history of Antarctic exploration. The crew was very nice and welcoming. The ship was relatively small, so it really allowed the staff to meet and know us personally.

The chef was superb and we loved every meal. He was very creative and we had a different set menu each meal. I ate far better than I expected to in Antarctica.

Our cabin was good. The window was small, so we spent most of our time on the upper decks or lounge.

Route

We stayed on the western side of the peninsula, going through the Lemaire Channel, which has incredible scenery – known by tour operators as the Kodak Channel.

We then went to Petermann and Pleneau Islands, both of which were filled with penguins (mostly gentoo, some adelie). We also went to Orne and Neko Harbours to see more penguins.

From there we headed northward toward Dorian and Wilhelmina Bays, where we saw whales, seals, and more penguins.

Finally, we headed up to Hannah Point in the South Shetlands and Deception Island. Hannah Point in particular had an amazing concentration of wildlife, with stinky elephant seals, huge broods of chinstrap and gentoo penguins, and something even rarer in the Antarctic environs – green grass.

I did the kayaking option and enjoyed it very much. At several sites, we would kayak around the bay instead of walk on land, which provided a great vantage point to see seals.

For more details of our itinerary, see my website below for details.

Weather and Sea Conditions

The Drake Passage is rough. I got seasick on the return. Most passengers did. I used wristbands. The seasickness wasn't too bad (just feeling a bit weak) and was not enough to deter me from taking another trip.

Wildlife

We saw lots and lots of penguins (gentoo, adelie, chinstrap, and a few macaroni in the South Shetlands). We could walk very close to the penguin colonies and it was great to see how these hardy animals survive in such a harsh environment.

In addition, we saw several leopard seals up close (too close sometimes!) while kayaking. This was great and also at times frightening.

South Shetlands Island easily had the greatest concentration of wildlife and best photo opportunities. We saw an elephant seal wallow and were close enough to smell them. The penguin colonies here were later in their breeding cycle so we saw several babies and young penguin chicks.

I would like to have seen minke whales a bit closer (we did see them from a distance). Also, our itinerary did not take us down to emperor penguin colonies (which we realized before our trip).

Tips and Advice

Extend your trip as long as possible. See if you can get an itinerary that takes you down further south or up to the Georgia Islands. Spend as much time as you can afford there.

Take warm, thick socks. Our tour provided gumboots for our use on land. Thus, we needed good thick socks to wear inside the boots. Regular socks might be too thin and not be comfortable in the boots.

Also, a rainsleeve for your camera is useful for the snow. It was snowing when I took the pictures of the humpback whale from the kayak and would not have been able to do so without the rainsleeve.

I have pictures as well as more details from our trip on my website.

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