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From USD 9,650 pp (shared quadruple cabin) | Ask for special promotions | 4 departures (27 Dec 2026–8 Feb 2027) | Vessels: Hondius, Plancius.
This expedition is designed for travellers who want to experience Antarctica classically and educationally, embracing the Drake Passage crossing as part of the journey.
It is ideal for explorers interested in learning, wildlife observation, and hands-on exploration, as well as for those open to optional activities such as kayaking or camping under polar conditions.
The expedition begins in Ushuaia, Argentina, sailing south across the Drake Passage and the Antarctic Convergence toward the Antarctic Peninsula.
Once in Antarctic waters, the voyage focuses on daily exploration of the Antarctic Peninsula and the South Shetland Islands, with landings and Zodiac cruises planned according to ice, weather, and wildlife activity. No two itineraries are the same, and flexibility is central to the expedition approach.
For a broader overview of Antarctic routes and expedition formats, see our Antarctica Travel Guide.
This expedition is operated aboard m/v Hondius, a modern, ice-strengthened polar vessel designed specifically for expedition cruising in Antarctica.
The ship offers efficient Zodiac operations, comfortable observation areas, and onboard spaces suited for educational briefings and daily expedition planning.
All landings, Zodiac operations, and wildlife encounters are conducted under the strict guidelines of the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO).
Daily activities include Zodiac landings, shore walks, and wildlife encounters, guided by an experienced expedition team across the Antarctic Peninsula and the South Shetland Islands.
In addition to standard expedition activities, guests may request participation in optional experiences, subject to weather, ice conditions, and operational feasibility:
All activities follow strict environmental and safety standards, in line with our Sustainability at KMS Travel – Ethical & Responsible Tourism framework.
This expedition starts and ends in Ushuaia, Argentina. Travellers may choose to arrive earlier or extend their journey afterwards, with optional hotel and transfer arrangements in Ushuaia or Buenos Aires, ensuring a smooth transition before or after the expedition.
Your voyage begins where the world drops off. Ushuaia, Argentina, reputed to be the southernmost city on the planet, is located on the far southern tip of South America. Starting in the afternoon, you embark from this small resort town on Tierra del Fuego, nicknamed “The End of the World,” and sail the mountain-fringed Beagle Channel for the remainder of the evening.
You enjoy some of the same experiences encountered by the great polar explorers who first charted these regions: cool salt breezes, rolling seas, maybe even a fin whale spouting up sea spray. After passing the Antarctic Convergence – Antarctica’s natural boundary, formed when north-flowing cold waters collide with warmer sub-Antarctic seas – you are in the circum-Antarctic upwelling zone.
Not only does the marine life change, the avian life changes too. Wandering albatrosses, grey-headed albatrosses, black-browed albatrosses, light-mantled sooty albatrosses, cape pigeons, southern fulmars, Wilson’s storm petrels, blue petrels, and Antarctic petrels are a few of the birds you might see.
Gray stone peaks sketched with snow, towers of broken blue-white ice, and dramatically different wildlife below and above. You first pass the snow-capped Melchior Islands and Schollaert Channel, sailing between Brabant Island and Anvers Island.
Sites you may visit include:
Danco Island – Activities here may focus on the gentoo penguins nesting on the island, in addition to the Weddell and crabeater seals that can be found nearby.
Neko Harbour – An epic landscape of mammoth glaciers and endless wind-carved snow, offering opportunities for a Zodiac cruise and landing that afford the closest views of the surrounding alpine peaks.
Paradise Bay – Zodiac cruising in sprawling, ice-flecked waters, where there’s a good chance of encountering humpback and minke whales.
Port Lockroy – After sailing through the Neumayer Channel, you may get a chance to visit the former British research station, now a museum and post office, on Goudier Island. Activities may also take place around Jougla Point, meeting gentoo penguins and blue-eyed shags.
When conditions are right, you can snowshoe around the shore and to the old ski-way at nearby Damoy Point.
The volcanic islands of the South Shetlands are windswept and often cloaked in mist, but they offer subtle pleasures. There’s a wide variety of flora (mosses, lichens, flowering grasses) and fauna (gentoo penguins, chinstrap penguins, southern giant petrels).
At Deception Island, the ship passes through Neptune’s Bellows and into the flooded caldera. Here you may find an abandoned whaling station, and large numbers of cape petrels, along with kelp gulls, brown and south polar skuas, and Antarctic terns. A hike may be possible in this dramatic volcanic landscape.
Alternatively, activities may take place near Half Moon Island, where chinstrap penguins and Weddell seals often haul out near Cámara Base, an Argentine research station. Conditions on the Drake Passage determine the exact time of departure.
Your return voyage is far from lonely. While crossing the Drake Passage, you’re again greeted by the vast array of seabirds remembered from the passage south. They seem a little more familiar to you now, and you to them.
Every adventure, no matter how grand, must eventually come to an end. It’s time to disembark in Ushuaia, carrying memories that will accompany you wherever your next adventure lies. Group transfer to the airport.
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