Antarctic cruise with the World Wildlife Fund

Planet

Joining you on this voyage is Dr Ari Freidlaender – a marine ecologist at UC Santa Cruz and the Californian Ocean Alliance. Dr Friedlaender’s work is currently focused on using tag technology to study the ecology and underwater behaviour of whales around the world, and the implications of climate change on these species. Having made over 35 trips to Antarctica over 20 years, he, along with an expert research team, is being supported by our Foundation and WWF-Australia to join this polar voyage. As the team will be continuing their research and data-gathering, along with advocacy for whale conservation, environment is at the heart of this trip. This is in addition to our expedition staff, who are highly-skilled experts in fields like natural history, glaciology and marine biology (to name but a few).

We work hard to conserve and protect the polar regions and their fragile ecosystems. We are members of IAATO – the International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators and are fully compliant with their rules and guidelines. All our trips are run under strict regulations that ensure the environment of Antarctica remains in a pristine state. Being a member means that we actively support and contribute to the environmental and scientific work being carried out there. Encounters with wildlife are also controlled by a responsible code of conduct.

Our expedition vessels are much smaller and less imposing on the polar environment than the bigger cruise ships and our passenger to crew ration is 1:8.

People

The places we visit in Antarctica have no permanent residents other than researchers who live there seasonally or overwinter at their research stations. There’s a strong relationship between the researchers at these stations and our expedition staff. We also take the research staff with us on board if they need to be transferred back to South America or vice versa. They share their knowledge and stories and passengers can even join them for a beer or vodka at their bar.

Travelers are welcome to book pre and post tour accommodation with us. We’ll always do our best to secure rooms at family-run bed and breakfasts or hotels. Our travelers will also be given local restaurant recommendations, so that money is put back into the Argentinian economy. As this trip starts and finishes in Ushuaia, we encourage our clients to buy souvenirs from local vendors and discourage the purchase of endangered animal products or items unduly taken from the environment.

We also support the Mawson’s Huts Foundation which was established in 1997 to conserve the Mawson’s Huts at Cape Denison in East Antarctica. Since then, it has funded over 10 major expeditions to the historic site with further expedition planes.