Go with the floe


An expedition to Antarctica means expecting the unexpected – but how can you explain that to clients? Samantha Mayling gets answers from the experts


DESTINATIONS ANTARCTICA | CRUISE


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xpedition leader Jonathan Zaccaria sets out the paramount principle on day one of our Antarctica cruise as he quotes an Inuit proverb: “Weather


and ice are the masters.” Though the Inuit live in the frigid reaches of the northern hemisphere rather than here at the edge of the wild White Continent, their words – born of experience at the furthest extremes of our planet – feel equally applicable. We have no set route on Atlas Ocean Voyages’ World Navigator; the itinerary simply reads: ‘Captain’s Choice’. Destinations are revealed each night for the next day, but by morning, schedules might be reshuffled according to winds, currents and drifting icebergs. The unpredictability only adds to our anticipation as we sail across the Drake Passage from Ushuaia to the Antarctic peninsula. This infamous 600-mile waterway often has the world’s


roughest seas, which has earned it a nickname of the ‘Drake Shake’. Fortunately, we encounter the calm ‘Drake Lake’ instead. If you have clients who want to bypass the Drake Passage altogether, Atlas Ocean Voyages has expanded its Drake Express range, which flies passengers across the channel to King George Island, for 2027-28.


ALL AT SEA Our first sea day enables the 17-strong expedition team to introduce us to safety measures for Zodiac boats, which ²


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PICTURE: Lindsey Oz Watson


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