Antarctica
Antarctica Kayaking in the Wild Antarctic Peninsula
Trip Overview
• Rugged Expedition Kayak Travel
• 20 nights and 22 days Shipboard
• 4 Nights in Tented Camp on the Antarctic Continent
• 4 Days To and From Your Home
In the Antarctic summer of 1998, Explorers’ Corner senior guide Olaf Malver led a small group of select paddlers and adventure travel journalists to Antarctica, to kayak and explore the polar waters from their base on board a Russian Ice Breaker and Expedition Vessel. These hardy travelers had the experience of a lifetime on this voyage, the first ever successful commercial sea kayaking trip to the South Georgia Archipelago and the Palmer Peninsula on the Antarctic Continent.
Inspired by the grandiose scenery and the abundance of wildlife that exceeds anything seen anywhere in the arctic, the group agreed that the REAL way to experience this “last wilderness on earth” would be to go for a longer time and with only a small expedition sailing boat. The ideal Antarctic adventure would be to get away from civilization, away from the noise of people and engines and camp, and to paddle and hike the unspoiled shores "the pristine way!” That is what we are offering with this new trip.
Our specific objective is the famous waters of the Gerlache Strait/Lemaire Channel area on the west side of the Palmer Peninsula, at approximately 65 Degrees South. Here, high Antarctic mountains tower over deep fjords, and huge, silent icebergs slowly drift in the Antarctic waters. These channels are relatively protected from the “Screaming Sixties” and we can expect to find some of the best kayaking conditions in the Antarctic. Our sailing expedition ship, the Spirit of Sydney, will start in Ushuaia and head towards Cape Horn. We’ll try our first paddling past this notorious sailors’ beacon at the tip of the South American continent. We then cross the notorious Drake Passage (expect some wild sailing) and after 4 – 5 days reach the ice free waters of the Antarctic Peninsula. Then, for the next two weeks, we paddle and camp along the Peninsula, on our way to the Paradise Bay area. Here, we will be picked up and brought back by the more modern and larger expeditionary cruise ship the Akademik Ioffe.
Please call Olaf at our office to inquire. Only for very experienced cold water kayakers and expeditioners.
Thumbnail image © Alvin Walter
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29 Days
2008 Dates
Nov. 20 – Dec. 18
Dec. 4 – Jan. 1
2008 Fees
Land Cost
$13,500 per person (groups of 6)
$14,500 per person (groups of 5)
$16,000 per person (groups of 4)
Rates quoted are per person, based on sharing double/twin accommodations on the M/V Ioffe and based on the split charter between the two groups.
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