As we steamed into Bluff on the 2am tide, there was certainly an air of regret to be disembarking our home for the last month, and more pointedly the Antarctic and Sub-Antarctic wonderlands that had so captivated us and revealed the value of this ecological paradise. It was with more than a little optimism then […]

Leaving Antarctica after such a short visit and having spent seven days being tossed around the Southern Ocean just to get there, let alone contemplating another seven to be spent before we saw land again, certainly left one feeling a little short changed. But that’s why the Ross Sea side of the continent has so […]

Eight days since leaving Bluff we’ve at last entered the Ross Sea and so in the final stretch to get down to McMurdo and Scott Bases. Along the way we’ve had a few milestones which brings home just how remote this part of Antarctica is. Indeed these days there are 25,000 tourists visiting per year, […]

Finally reaching 77 degrees 45 minutes South two weeks after leaving Bluff has engendered a feeling of relief more than anything, given we’re one of only two private ships to get this far south this season, the ice ring at the north of the Ross Sea being so stubborn. Even so we’re still 6 miles […]

The first surprise on this voyage of discovery to Antarctica and the sub-Antarctic islands was to be told on the eve of departure that the route had been changed. Instead of heading south west from Bluff to the Snares, Auckland and the Macquarie islands before doglegging southeast to the Ross Sea, we would be taking […]