Antarctica – The white desert calls

In fact, the dreaded passage between Cape Horn and Antarctica shows its turbulent side. The approximately 800-kilometre crossing is the start of a nine-day expedition to Antarctica offered by Swan Hellenic.

The Vega expedition ship, which will enter service in 2021, has an ice class 5 rating, making it ideal for voyages in polar waters – even ice thicknesses of up to 1.20 metres can be broken through. ‘The ship is not designed to be fast, but above all strong,’ explains Captain Lyubomir Garciyanov.

‘The spirit of our journey is absolute flexibility,’ emphasises expedition leader Pousa at the passenger briefing. The small size of the ship (152 beds) allows for spontaneous course changes and manoeuvres – for example when whales are sighted.

Offspring among the chinstrap penguins on Barrientos Island.

The route of our voyage leads from Ushuaia via the South Shetland Islands to the Antarctic Peninsula. On the very first day of landing on Barrientos Island, thousands of gentoo and chinstrap penguins await the guests. ‘Gentoo penguins are really fast swimmers, they can reach speeds of up to 36 kilometres per hour,’ explains biologist Anya Astafurova during the Zodiac trip.

One or two landings or trips are on the programme every day. Humpback whales appear in Paradise Bay, while the Zodiacs pass huge icebergs in the spectacular Sprightly Bay. ‘The average lifespan of an iceberg is around four years,’ explains expedition guide Michael Brooks. ‘Yet only a seventh to a fifth of their mass protrudes above the surface of the water.’

In a Premium Suite of the MS Vega (Photo: Swan Hellenic).

Between excursions, the 22-strong expedition team will give lectures on geology, marine biology and the history of Antarctic research. The international background of the crew is also reflected in the excellent service provided to guests. The crew-to-passenger ratio is almost 1:1 and the language on board is English.

The crowning glory of this Antarctic expedition is a late passage through the Lemaire Channel. While the sun never seems to set, geologist Alisa Baranskaya goes into raptures: ‘I simply can’t get enough of the glowing pink, rugged mountains with their gigantic layers of snow.’

The sun behind the Lemaire Channel doesn’t seem to want to set.

It is a magical moment that underlines the special nature of this continent: Antarctica not only contains 90 per cent of the world’s ice and 70 per cent of the global freshwater supply – it is also the last largely untouched continent on earth.