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Trip
Details

Antarctica Cruise - The Peninsula -  great guides, kayaks, underwater dive master & National Geographic partnership
optional kayaking and scuba
15 Days | Departures: 11/4/09, 12/16/09, 12/27/09, 1/7/10, 1/18/10, 1/29/10 | From $10 760

Locations:  Antarctic Peninsula | South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands | South Shetland Islands | Falkland Islands

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Testimonials  |   Ship types

Trip Highlights: Expect great guides, kayaks, underwater dive master & National Geographic partnership. This ship is very stylish and completely renovated in 2008.

Rates: $10,760 - $19,870
Twin from:$10,760, single from $13,590
Child Rate: $500 off per child (under 18)

Ship - National Geographic Explorer - Expedition Ship
Passengers: 148

Introduction

This journey to the "White Continent" offers six days of exploration on the incomparably beautiful Antarctic Peninsula and the surrounding islands and waterways. The sights, sounds and emotions will stay in your mind forever — enormous tabular icebergs, hillsides covered with thousands of penguins and the excitement on deck as someone shouts, “Whales!” Travel with a very highly experienced Antarctica expedition staff, which includes an Undersea Specialist. Zodiacs and kayaks to further your ability to examine this remote wilderness.

Itinerary

Day 1: Miami/Santiago, Chile
You depart this evening on an overnight flight to Santiago, Chile's capital.

Day 2: Santiago
You arrive in Santiago this morning. With the soaring Andes as a backdrop, Santiago, makes a spectacular and welcoming first impression — as does your hotel, located in a gracious residential neighbourhood. The morning is free for resting up or exploring on your own. Santiago offers an intriguing blend of European, Spanish Colonial and innovative modern architecture. Its sun-mellowed facades and stately palms invite leisure walks. After lunch, join a guided excursion of Santiago, including the Presidential Palace and historic cathedral area. You’ll head up into the San Cristobal hills for a panoramic city view, sure to inspire photographers. You return to the Hyatt for a relaxing dinner.

Day 3: Santiago/Ushuaia, Argentina/Embark Ship
The morning's flight offers some fascinating and rare views as you fly over the vividly rugged terrain of Patagonia before landing in Ushuaia, Argentina, the southernmost city in the world. This windy and desolate outpost is awe inspiring in its starkness. As your luggage is transferred to Endeavour, you'll head to the nearby El Restaurante Relincho for a lunch that includes Argentina's traditional barbecue. Tierra del Fuego National Park at Lapataia Bay is your afternoon destination. Bordering the Beagle Channel, it is home to an array of plants and animals that are rarely seen anywhere else in the world, including the Tierra del Fuego red fox and the chungungo otter. After your walk, return to town and board the Endeavour, your seafaring home for the next several days. As you step aboard, surrounded by Ushuaia's soaring mountains, you'll be aware, in an exciting way, of the fact that you're a long way from home. Settle into your cabin before joining your first dinner onboard. It's time to start your voyage toward Antarctica.

Days 4-5: At Sea
You leave Ushuaia with Argentina and Chile behind you, and head to the Drake Passage. Lying between Cape Horn and the Antarctic Peninsula, the Drake holds a unique place in maritime lore and legend. From the Endeavour's bridge, observe expert navigation at work as your skilled Captain and officers sail these historic waters. Sometimes misty and gray, other times calm and clear, crossing the legendary Drake Passage is unforgettable — a milestone in any adventurer's personal travel history.

Endeavour's library, gym and guest e-mail station become welcoming haunts. Watching for seabirds on deck in the fresh air, socializing in the Lounge, as well as attending informal lecturers given by the naturalists onboard, are among the opportunities that make your time at sea an active and engaging preparation for the adventure ahead.

Days 6-11: Antarctica

With nearly 24 hours of daylight at this time of year, you are able to luxuriate in our six days exploring the Antarctic Peninsula and its surrounding islands. And what a light it is — ranging from brilliantly blue-skied to the famous "golden hour" light prized by photographers, and the shades of gray, from pearly to pewter.

Your expedition style of travel means that your schedule is completely flexible, adapting to give you the best experience during your time. Out there, amid the splendour of the ice, surrounded by penguins and snow-capped mountains, the ship will freely roam in the most spectacular environment on earth. Your expedition team is a veteran one, and their knowledge of Antarctica's waters enables you to take advantage of prime conditions as you find them. Perhaps to explore an inlet this year that was blocked by ice last season, or drop kayaks in a small cove for a more personal, "penguin level" expedition. Sometimes we're even able to take you places where no one has ever been before — places for which our Captain and Ice Master might make a "mud map" that will eventually be published by maritime authorities as a guide for other mariners. You may also be able to enter Lindblad Cove, named in memory of Lars-Eric Lindblad, a pioneer in Antarctic tourism.

Sail through the incomparable Lemaire Channel, also known as Iceberg Alley, where a hush falls over onlookers as bergs of beauty and scale drift by. Cruise in Zodiacs to make landfall on Deception Island, where you'll walk along the beach, in the shadow of high black hills, through the spectral ruins of an abandoned whaling factory which once employed 100 men. And visiting historical such as Elephant Island, a name known to anyone familiar with the story of Ernest Shackleton, and his legendary feat — bringing every member of his crew safely back home after the wreck of his expedition ship Endurance and a two-year ordeal.

As you voyage, you'll see all the creatures that thrive in this polar habitat. Seabirds — from Pintado petrels to albatross with their magnificent wingspans. You may see orcas and minke whales, Weddell seals and fearsome leopard seals. And you will see — penguins. You'll see Gentoos, Adélies and chinstraps in unimaginably large numbers, visiting their colonies and observing their antic hunting, gathering and parenting behaviour firsthand.

You'll be out daily — experiencing Antarctica with all your senses as you walk, cruise in Zodiacs, and paddle kayaks through berg fields, hearing the Antarctic seltzer (gases escaping from dissolving icebergs) around you, the cries of the penguins, and the huge, nurturing silence of this perfectly pristine place.

Day 12-13: At Sea
As you sail back to Ushuaia, an albatross or two may join the avian escort of fulmars, petrels and other seabirds that cross the bow in a mesmerizing, balletic display. There'll be plenty of time to enjoy a massage, log some time in the gym, or catch up on the book you haven't had a minute to read. If you did manage to finish it, you'll find hundreds of others to peruse in Endeavour's extensive library. During our time at sea, our Expedition Leader and naturalists offer talks and presentations that add depth and dimension to your experiences. And your Undersea Specialist will show rare footage of the seldom-seen creatures that inhabit these icy waters.

Day 14: Ushuaia/Disembark/Santiago
As you disembark in Ushuaia, a location that mere days ago seemed wild and remote, is now, in contrast to the "farness" of Antarctica, cosily familiar. After your time at sea, your visit to the Maritime Museum in Ushuaia will have a richer context. You then proceed to the airport for the flight to Santiago, and the subsequent overnight flight to Miami.

Day 15: Miami
Arrive in Miami at sunrise. As you board connecting flights home, you will each carry vivid memories of your adventure.


Notes:

Photo Expeditions: All departures
The photo team, a National Geographic Photographer and a Lindblad Photo Specialist, will enhance your voyage by working with you on photo composition and exposure; helping you develop your own unique vision; showing you how professionals edit and store images while on the go; and sharing the stories behind some of their greatest images. Whether expert or interested beginner, you'll find added benefits such as walks ashore and Zodiac cruises dedicated to photography, presentations on the creative and technical aspects of photography, and one-on-one mentoring and coaching in the field.

Included:
Round-trip flights to and from Santiago/Ushuaia; accommodations aboard and all meals except two lunches and one dinner ashore; one hotel night in Santiago, all shore excursions and sightseeing; transfers to and from group flights; tips (except to ship's crew), taxes and service charges; services of a ship physician and natural history staff.

Not Included:
International air transportation except as noted above; extension; passport and visa expenses; two lunches and one dinner; baggage/accident/cancellation insurance; items of a personal nature; gratuities to ship's crew at your discretion; fuel surcharge may apply.