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Guide to Planning an Antarctic Cruise Welcome and Contents | 2 Dear Traveller… Guide to planning an Antarctic cruise Welcome and contents www.swoop-antarctica.com | 2 Dear Traveller… Antarctica is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, Welcome and contents 2 Do I want to sail or fly? 16 something many people have dreamt about for years. Meet the team 3 Sail or fly? 17 We understand how important it is, and the valuable How do I get to Antarctica? 18 role we can play in ensuring that it’s the very best it Antarctic overview 4 can be. What can I expect? 5 What size and style of ship? 19 Where to go in Antarctica 6 Choosing an Antarctic cruise ship 20 As Antarctic specialists we live and breathe this What is expedition cruising? 7 A selection of our favourite ships 21 extraordinary region, which gives us a unique What will I do in Antarctica? 8 perspective. We’ve come to realise that there are How important are the optional five key decisions to planning an Antarctic journey: Where should I go in Antarctica? 9 adventure activities? 22 Antarctic Peninsula & Polar Circle 10 Adventure activities 23 1. Where should I go in Antarctica? 2. Which month should I travel? South Georgia & Falkland Islands 11 3. Do I want to sail or fly? About us 24 4. What size and style of ship? Which month should I travel? 12 Five reasons to choose Swoop 25 5. How important are the What’s the best time to visit Antarctica? 13 Our sustainability manifesto 26 optional adventure activities? Antarctic weather guide 15 FAQs 27 If this guide helps you to answer these questions and provides the confidence to get in touch and start the all important planning process, then its done its job. Alex Mudd HEAD OF SWOOP ANTARCTICA Meet the team www.swoop-antarctica.com | 3 Meet the team Together we have over 50 years of accumulated polar experience! John spent 13 years living in Cassia has had the good fortune Tennessee has had a passion for Finland, just south of the Arctic of specialising in the Russian Arctic exploration and the polar regions Circle, working as a fisherman. Since and Antarctica’s Ross Sea for over since childhood. A Fellow of the then he’s deepened his polar ten years, working for a ship Royal Geographical Society and knowledge with extensive travel in operator. Her familiarity with the keen history enthusiast, he’s Antarctica, including walking in operational logistics of expedition currently writing a book about James Shackleton’s footsteps and voyages complements her deep Clark Ross, one of the most under- circumnavigating South Georgia. knowledge for these little-travelled appreciated polar explorers. An inveterate traveller, he’s now polar regions. visited an impressive 155 countries. Jud has polar travel running Molly has crossed the Polar Circle Ben has been hooked on the through his blood. His great- and has camped out on the Antarctic planet’s cold places ever since his grandfather sewed sails for vessels continent. An avid traveller, she has first Arctic adventure snowmobiling voyaging up the coast of Labrador spent over a decade exploring on five 500 miles across Svalbard at a and into the Davis Strait, and a continents. She has extensive ship formative age. Further polar trips branch of his family tree contains knowledge and loves sharing her followed, and since then he’s been one of Canada’s most recognized experiences to help ensure customers evangelising about the joys of Arctic explorers: Captain Robert get the best possible Antarctic expeditionary cruising. Bartlett. Inspired by history and experience. innately drawn toward the poles, Jud carries on the family polar tradition. Antarctic overview www.swoop-antarctica.com | 4 ANTARCTIC OVERVIEW Incomprehensibly vast, remote and majestic, neither words nor pictures ever manage to truly capture the splendour of the White Continent. Antarctica has this mythic weight – it looms large in the collective unconscious of so many of us. It’s like going to the moon. Antarctic overview / What can I expect? www.swoop-antarctica.com | 5 What can I expect? Space Wildlife Camaraderie The size of the United States and Mexico combined yet Antarctica and South Georgia’s menagerie of rich and Forged by this shared immersive experience and fanned with just 0.00008 people per km2, Antarctica’s vast diverse wildlife rarely fails to enthrall. A dizzying by a common passion for travel, a unique sense of spaces and deafening silence is the ultimate antidote to cocktail of penguins, seals, whales and seabirds. Make camaraderie quickly develops on board an Antarctic our busy, modern world. sure you pack plenty of camera memory cards. cruise which is often an unexpected delight. Adventure Unpredictability Learning Simply getting to Antarctica is a big enough adventure Where you go and what you do each day will be You’ll be accompanied throughout by Antarctica for many. But how many people can say they’ve camped influenced by changing local conditions in the ice, sea experts. These are the unsung heroes who are generous out overnight on the ice or snowshoed with penguins? and weather. As such, spontaneity is the watchword and with their deep knowledge by day and who will then Expect adventure at every turn. no two trips to Antarctica are ever the same. enthrall you with Polar tales at the bar in the evening. Antarctic overview / Where to go in Antarctica www.swoop-antarctica.com | 6 Where to go in Antarctica ANTARCTIC PENINSULA FALKLANDS ISLANDS The most accessible part of Antarctica, achingly beautiful and home to spectacular The Falklands are a popular addition to longer Antarctic voyages, but they're wildlife. Icebergs, penguins, seals and whales abound! FALKLAND well worth seeing in their own right - particularly for their spectacular birdlife. Punta Arenas ISLANDS • Spectacular scenery & wildlife SOUTH • Penguin, seal & albatross colonies Ushuaia • Most popular Antarctic experience GEORGIA • Encounter 5 penguin species • Widest choice of dates & ships • Visit Stanley & meet the locals • 8 - 12 days • 1 - 2 days to a week ANTARCTIC When to visit PENINSULA When to visit November - March November - March POLAR CIRCLE POLAR CIRCLE Polar SOUTH GEORGIA Circle The extra time needed to reach the Polar Circle at 66 degrees south is more than The ultimate destination for wildlife lovers, photographers and history buffs. justified by having more days to explore Antarctica. The time and effort investment to reach this remote island is paid off in spades. • Achieve 66 degrees south • The 'Serengeti of the South' • Forge deeper than most other visitors • Spectaular settings & scenery • Experience navigating through heavy ice • Raise a glass at Shackleton's grave • 10 - 13 days • 17 - 23 days SOUTH POLE When to visit When to visit January - March November - March ROSS SEA ROSS SEA Experience one of the last truly remote bastions on earth. Emperor penguins, the Ross Ice Shelf and the Historic Huts of the early explorers await. • An epic journey into true wilderness • Follow in the footsteps of early explorers • Fewer than 500 visitors a year • 30 - 35 days When to visit January - February Antarctic overview / What is expedition cruising? www.swoop-antarctica.com | 7 What is expedition cruising? If the word ‘cruising’ typically conjures up images of vast ships, cocktail parties and evening floor shows, polar cruising couldn’t be more different. Expedition cruising (as it is also known) in the Antarctic is the very antithesis of a traditional cruise – it is active, “Antarctica exceeded my adventurous and fully immersive. expectations. I have been Small ships with between 70 to 200 passengers dreaming of going to Antarctica follow flexible itineraries, responding to ice and for many years and this was an climate conditions, accessing remote regions amazing experience.” inaccessible by other means. Christine & Rollence, California, December 2017 Each ship will have an expedition team, whose purpose is to get you off-ship whenever possible. Typically, this will be twice a day, ensuring that you experience the Antarctic environment up close and personal. Optional additional activities, such as kayaking, are also available. Onboard activities are not limited to lectures and library facilities. Although education is a key part of an expedition voyage, many ships offer much more, from citizen science programmes to photography and cultural workshops. Each boat has its own team of experts making it imperative that you get the right ship for you. There are no hotels in Antarctica – a vast area utterly devoid of infrastructure – so travelling by ship is the ideal way to comfortably explore. Antarctic overview / What will I do in Antarctica? www.swoop-antarctica.com | 8 What will I do in Antarctica? 1. EDUCATION 4. OBSERVATION Travelling in the company of passionate Polar Specialists, who provide Keep your eyes peeled, the drama and beauty isn't reserved just for time fascinating onboard lectures, gives these voyages a strong educational focus. off-ship. Observation from the bridge or deck is a 24-hour activity. • OFF AND ONBOARD • ONBOARD THE SHIP THE SHIP • 24/7 • 5-6 LECTURES PER VOYAGE • OPEN TO ALL • OPEN TO ALL • UNLIMITED • 1 HOUR • INCLUDED IN PRICE • INCLUDED IN PRICE 2. POLAR PLUNGE 5. LANDINGS 1 Strictly for the brave or foolish, this is either a brief swim from the shore or 4 Daily land-based visits to penguin rookeries, places of historic interest & a 'plunge' off the ship. Bragging rights guaranteed. research stations - nothing beats actually setting foot on the 7th continent. • OFF THE SHIP • OFF THE SHIP 2 • 10-15 SECONDS • 1-2 DAILY OPEN TO ALL • ONLY FOR THE BRAVE! • • 2-3 HOURS • ONCE PER VOYAGE 5 (PER LANDING) • INCLUDED IN PRICE 6 • INCLUDED IN PRICE 3. ZODIAC SAFARIS 6. ADVENTURE ACTIVITIES Skimming along in a small rubber boat, weaving between icebergs in search of Where else but in Antarctica can you kayak past icebergs or sleep out on the ice? wildlife and dazzling photo opportunities - zodiac safaris are thrilling.
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