Day 1   Evening flight from London bound for Buenos Aires.

Day 2   Morning arrival at Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina. Here we will change airports and then fly southwards right down to the toe of South America to Ushuaia for a two nights stay. If it is clear we will be able to see the vast, arid landscapes of Patagonia far below and eventually the ice-clad spires and vast snowfields of Tierra del Fuego. We shall arrive in Ushuaia in time for some initial exploration. At 55 degrees south, Ushuaia is the southernmost city in the world, situated on the southern coast of Tierra del Fuego.

Day 3   Tierra del Fuego, named by Magellan after the warning fires that the now-extinct Ona Amerindians lit when they saw his ships, lies at the extreme southern tip of South America and is a wild land of grassland, windswept moors, stunted Nothofagus beech forests, snow-capped peaks and glaciers. Spring will have reached even this remote extremity of South America and we will have the benefit of long daylight hours, but the weather will still be rather cool at sea level and snow is by no means impossible when we are up in the mountains. Although the bird diversity at this latitude is very low, the quality is outstanding. During our stay at the veritable ‘ends of the earth' we will visit Tierra del Fuego National Park, a spectacular region of seacoasts, forests, lakes and snow-capped mountains on the Chilean border, where in particular we shall be hoping to see the impressive Magellanic Woodpecker (the largest of the South American woodpeckers) and White-throated Treerunner. Other species we should encounter amidst the wonderful scenery of the Ushuaia area include Great Grebe, Imperial Shag, Black-faced Ibis, the attractive Kelp Goose, Upland and Ashy-headed Geese, Fuegian (or Flightless) and Flying Steamerducks, Chiloe Wigeon, Turkey Vulture, Southern Crested-Caracara, Chimango Caracara, the range-restricted White-throated Caracara, Magellanic Oystercatcher, Dolphin Gull, South American Tern, Bar-winged and Dark-bellied Cinclodes, Thorn-tailed Rayadito, Dark-faced and Ochre-naped Ground-Tyrants, White-crested Elaenia, Fire-eyed Diucon, Chilean Swallow, Austral Thrush, Southern House Wren, Chilean Swallow Black-chinned Siskin, Rufous-collared Sparrow, Patagonian Sierra-Finch, the localized Yellow-bridled Finch and Austral Blackbird. If we are very fortunate we will even come across a small party of White-bellied Seedsnipe, a species that is notoriously difficult to find, or a magnificent Andean Condor.

Day 4   This morning we will have another opportunity to explore Tierra del Fuego. In the late afternoon, with increasing excitement, we will board our ship prior to setting sail down the Beagle Channel. Here Black-browed Albatrosses, Southern Giant Petrels, diminutive Magellanic Diving-Petrels, Rock Shags, Chilean Skuas and Kelp Gulls will bid us farewell, but they are only an appetizer compared to the seabird glories of Antarctica that still lie ahead.

Day 5   Today, we will awake in the middle of the ocean, and the whole day will be spent sailing south across the deep waters of the Drake Passage. Crossing this historic waterway, named after the great English seafarer whose expedition almost came to grief in these wild waters, is an exciting experience. We will be hoping for good conditions so that we can spend as much time as possible studying the large numbers of seabirds that will be almost constantly in view. Much of our time will be spent marvelling at the flying antics of the albatrosses as they seemingly appear from nowhere, swoop alongside, peering at us with their beady eyes until their curiosity has been sated, and then effortlessly arc away back into the vast ocean! When we cross the Antarctic Convergence, we arrive in the circum-Antarctic upwelling zone, a particularly rich area for seabirds. During the crossing, we may well meet Wandering, Southern Royal, Grey-headed, Black-browed and supremely elegant Light-mantled (Sooty) Albatrosses, Southern Giant Petrels, Antarctic Prion, the prion-like Blue Petrel, Sooty Shearwater, and Wilson's and dainty Black-bellied Storm-Petrels, and as we get further south, we shall keep a careful lookout for Antarctic Petrels amongst the much more common Southern Fulmars and piebald Cape Petrels, squadrons of which are our constant companions! We may also encounter one or two of the scarcer species such as Manx, Little or Great Shearwaters, Slender-billed Prion, White-chinned Petrel or even a Shy Albatross! We will also keep a careful eye out for cetaceans and if we are fortunate and have some calm conditions, scanning the horizon for blows may well lead us to a huge Humpback or Fin Whale, or a Southern Bottlenose Whale may surface by the boat.

Day 6   We will continue towards the South Shetland Islands, a remote place where black rock outcrops and mighty glaciers speckled with pink algae create a dramatic landscape. This is the place where Ernest Shackleton's men survived for more than four grim months after Shackleton set out on his epic attempt to reach South Georgia in a tiny open boat and so bring help. A bust of Captain Pardo, the master of the Chilean ship Yelcho that finally got through to Elephant Island (one of the easternmost islands in the group) on Shackleton's fourth rescue attempt, still stands guard over this terrible place, a reminder of the days when explorers could not rely on radios or helicopters to save them but only on their own courage and determination. In the late afternoon we plan our first Zodiac landing (by now we will be pleased to once more set foot on terra firma), not on Elephant Island, but on Penguin Island, which lies just off the south coast of King George Island. King George Island was first claimed for Britain on the 16th of October 1819, after it was discovered by the British explorer William Smith, and was formally annexed by Britain and incorporated as part of the Falkland Islands Dependencies in 1908. It is presently regarded as part of the separate British Antarctic Territory and was claimed by Chile in 1940 and by Argentina in 1943, though the USA and Russia do not recognize these claims, and have formally reserved their right to claim Antarctic territories! Over 90% of the island's surface is permanently glaciated. In 1821, 11 men of the sealing vessel Lord Melville survived the winter on the island, the first men to do so in Antarctica! Penguin Island was first sighted in 1820 by a British expedition. Here, the Chinstrap and Gentoo Penguins that the island was named after (by expedition leader Bransfield) will be the focus of our attentions, and we will watch with glee as these comical birds go about their daily business, defending their nests, stealing stones from one another, and marching to and from the ocean in orderly lines along the penguin paths! Pale-faced (or Snowy) Sheathbills and Brown and South Polar Skuas are likely to be in attendance, looking out for any unguarded eggs or other titbits around the colonies.

Day 7   Today we will sail into the Weddell Sea through the ice-clogged Antarctic Sound. Huge and spectacular tabular icebergs will announce our arrival at the eastern side of the Antarctic Peninsula. We will then make our way to Paulet Island, a circular island about one mile in diameter, lying three miles southeast of Dundee Island, off the northeastern end of the peninsula. Composed of lava flows capped by a cinder cone with a small summit crater, geothermal heat keeps parts of the island ice-free, and the presence of such heat suggests that it was active within the last 1,000 years. It is also home to a colony of over one million endearing Adelie Penguins which will surely be an incredible sight! In the afternoon we will visit the scenic Brown Bluff, an ice-capped, flat-topped mountain with a prominent cliff of reddish-brown volcanic rock on the north side.

Days 8-9   We will position ourselves between Snow Hill Island and James Ross Island where we will make our first attempt to observe the Emperor Penguins, the lords of the ice. We are hoping to find the birds at the ice edge as they make their way between their colony far inland and the open water. We have plenty of time to find these special creatures, and if time permits, we will also visit the remains of the Nordenskiöld expedition's base on Snow Hill Island. We might also visit Seymour Island, where many fossils can be found, and the Argentinean station Esperanza on the Antarctic Continent (where we can observe Gentoo Penguins, Cape Petrels, more sheathbills and skuas, Kelp Gulls and Antarctic Terns. We will then set sail for the northwestern part of the Antarctic Peninsula, and hope to stop on the way at Astrolabe Island, which was discovered by the French expedition of Captain Jules Dumont d'Urville during 1837-1840 and named by him after his chief expedition ship.

Day 10   As we reach the Antarctic mainland at the northwest corner of the Antarctic Peninsula, we will once more keep a careful lookout for Antarctic Petrels and watch Adelie Penguins porpoising through the waves or scampering from side to side as we approach their ice-floes. Passing icebergs of immense size and awesome beauty, some white, others tinged blue-green by algae, we will look out for the huge flukes of sounding Humpback Whales, the high dorsal fins of Killer Whales slicing through the water and the unobtrusive Antarctic Minke Whale. Here the silence is profound as the sun glows on ice floes dotted with Crabeater, Weddell and Leopard Seals, whilst beyond is an endless vista of icebergs and distant, snow-coated mountains. We plan to visit Cuverville Island which houses the largest colony of Gentoo Penguins in the region and where we will find other species such as Southern Giant Petrel, Antarctic Shag and South Polar Skua. From there we sail through Paradise Bay with its myriad ice-bergs and deep cut fjords. We will have opportunities for Zodiac cruising between the icebergs in the inner parts of the fjords, and, as the sea ice sparkles and 3000m high mountains and glaciers tower above us, we will watch the chicken-like Snowy Sheathbills scavenging along the shoreline, South Polar Skuas keeping a watchful eye out for any opportunity for a meal and delicate Snow Petrels gliding around the ice floes. Out in the bay, graceful Antarctic Terns perch on blocks of floating ice. No description can do justice to this awesome, unearthly place where all the works of man seem puny indeed.

Day 11   After a morning visit to Enterprise Island, first charted by the Belgium explorer Gerlache in 1898 and well-known by whalers operating in the area in the early 20th century, we sail to Hannah Point where we can see more Chinstrap and Gentoo Penguins and also small numbers of attractive Macaroni Penguins, as well as doe-eyed Southern Elephant, Weddell and Antarctic Fur Seals.

Day 12   To our north lies the thousand kilometres of the Drake Passage, separating us from the curving tail end of South America, and today we will commence our journey back across the great ‘Southern Ocean'.

Day 13   In the afternoon we should see the steep, rocky, greenish-grey headland of Cape Horn looming ahead whilst Sooty Shearwaters circle and dive, and Black-browed Albatrosses glide effortlessly down the troughs between the breakers. This southernmost point of South America, named by the Dutch navigator Schouten after Hoorn, his birth place in the Netherlands, has earned a reputation as one of the wildest places on earth. Here, at the meeting point of the Atlantic and the Pacific, the ferocious winds can whip the waves into a frenzy of spray, although in summer it can sometimes be flat calm.

Day 14   This morning we will return to Ushuaia. Here we will very reluctantly disembark from the ship we have come to know so well and which has brought us so many unforgettable memories. Later we will fly back to Buenos Aires and transfer to the international airport in time for an evening flight bound for London.

Day 15   Afternoon arrival at London.

Accommodation & Road Transport: The hotel in Ushuaia is of normal Birdquest standard. For details of the ship, see the introductory section. The few road transfers and excursions will be by small coach or minibus.

Walking: The walking effort is mostly easy, but there will be one or two optional harder walks.

Climate: Quite mild at this season. Around the Antarctic Peninsula the temperature is generally a little above freezing point and on sunny days it can feel relatively warm if there is no wind (but it feels decidedly cold on windy days at sea). Sunny spells are interspersed with (often longer) overcast periods and some rain or snow are to be expected. In southern Argentina conditions are typically cool, but considerably warmer than further south.

Bird/Sea Mammal Photography: Opportunities are excellent for much of this tour.

Important:   Adverse weather conditions may prevent landings on exposed coasts. It is, however, unusual for more than two or three landings to have to be called off during a cruise. The information given about possible landing sites should be taken as a general indication about what is likely to be achieved: every Antarctic cruise is different, being dependent on the amount of time available, sea and ice conditions, and the weather, and so it is likely that some of the sites visited will be different from those described.