Destination Information - Antarctica
AIR INFORMATION – HOW TO GET THERE
All of our Antarctic cruises begin and end in Ushuaia at the southern tip of Argentina. Polar Star Expeditions is not able to arrange your international air but here are some details that will help you with planning. Most international flights to Argentina will arrive at Ministro Pistarini (Ezeiza, EZE), the International Airport in Buenos Aires. Please note that most flights from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia will depart from the Domestic Airport (Jorge Newbery, AEP) so please allow enough time between flights (at least 3-4 hours) to travel between airports.
The journey from Ushuaia International Airport (officially called Internacional Malvines Argentinas) to downtown Ushuaia is approximately 20 minutes.
CLIMATE
At the Antarctic Peninsula, temperatures will range between 23°F / -5°C to 50°F / 10°C. The katabatic winds, which are caused by dense, cold air that rushes down from the polar plateau to the coast, can make it feel much cooler so windproof outerwear and layers underneath are very important. Annual snowfall is minimal but blizzards can be experienced with little snowfall. It is mostly the already fallen snow being blown up and around. It is important to note that it is summer in the Antarctic which can produce some lovely sunny days and you must protect yourself from the direct sunlight and the glare from ice and snow (sunscreen, sunglasses, hat, etc.)
CURRENCY
Limited souvenirs are available at some Antarctic bases and are usually sold in US Dollars. The currency used onboard the ship is US Dollars.
EMBARKATION AND DISEMBARKATION PORT
With a population of approximately 42,000 people, Ushuaia in Tierra Del Fuego, Argentina is a fast growing city but still small enough to find your way around with little difficulty. It is the southernmost city in the world (affectionately called “the end of the world”) and is located against a beautiful backdrop – beneath the spectacular peaks of Montes Martial and close to Tierra del Fuego national park.
GEOGRAPHY
Antarctica is 14.2 million square kilometres with a coastline measuring 30,500km. It is believed that 99.6% of the continent is covered in ice and contains 90% of the world’s ice and 70% of the world’s fresh water. It is the world’s highest continent with an average elevation of 2,250m
GOVERNMENT
No country owns Antarctica but countries such as South Africa, France, Argentina, Russia, USA, Australia, United Kingdom, Chile, Japan and China have made territorial claims in certain areas.
HISTORY
The history of the exploration of the Antarctic is told through the stories of many explorers who braved the wild seas to explore this frontier. This is a selection of some of these explorers’ stories:
Bartholomeau Dias de Novaes & João Infante
In their 1487-88 expedition, these Portuguese explorers penetrated the south by sailing around the southern tip of Africa to what is now Morocco.
Vasco de Gama
In 1497, Portuguese explorer de Gama sailed from where Dias and Infante’s expedition ended – from Africa to India.
Ferdinand Magellan
On his1519-22 expedition, Portuguese Magellan discovered Tierra del Fuego at the southern tip of Argentina.
Francis Drake
English explorer Drake discovered the passage of water between Ushuaia and Antarctica now known as “the Drake Passage” during his second navigation of the globe between 1577 and 1580. He also discovered South Georgia and the Falkland Islands.
Captain James Cook
Englishman Captain Cook was the first person to cross the Antarctic Circle at 66º30’S on January 17, 1773. He crossed it an additional two times without finding land but did take some excellent recordings of the numerous whale and seal sightings he made in the area. These recordings motivated sealers in the 1800’s to head to the Antarctic where they killed hundreds of thousands of seals.
Fabian von Bellingshausen
Estonian Bellingshausen, a captain in the Russian Navy led Russia’s first circumnavigation in 1803-06 and in 1819 was sent to explore the Antarctic. He crossed the Antarctic Circle on January 26, 1820 and the following day was the first reported person to sight the Antarctic continent. He crossed the circle an additional six times and made it the farthest south that anybody had ever travelled - 69º53’S.
James Weddell
In 1819, Scottish merchant sailor Weddell led a sealing expedition to the South Shetland Islands which had recently been discovered by English Merchant Captain William Smith. On this voyage he discovered the South Orkney Islands (which had just been found by American sealer Nathaniel Palmer) and returned in 1823 where he landed on Saddle island at the eastern end of the islands. It was here that he found a new species of seal now known as the Weddell Seal. On February 20 of the same year he reached 70º15’S which was a new record. The sea in this area is now named “The Weddell Sea”.
Dumont D’Urville
This French explorer embarked on an expedition in 1838 to explore the southern regions of the Weddell Sea but did not reach as far as Weddell. He returned in 1840 and discovered land which he named Terra Adélie after his wife who is also the namesake of the Adélie penguin.
Edward Bransfield and William Smith
English explorers Bransfield and Smith are said to have discovered the South Shetland Islands in 1819 and sighted the Antarctic Peninsula three days after von Bellingshausen.
Nathaniel Brown Palmer
American Palmer was the first person to reach Deception Island during an 1820 sealing voyage to the South Shetland Islands and in 1821 discovered the South Orkney Islands.
James Clark Ross
Scotsman Ross, explored the Arctic between 1818 and 1836 and in 1839 lead an expedition to the Antarctic. On January 9, 1841 he broke through pack ice to reach what is known today as the “Ross Ice Shelf” and also discovered Possession Island and High Island (now Ross Island). On January 22 of this year he reached a new southing record of 78º09’30’S.
Henrik Johan Bull
Bull was a Norwegian businessman who embarked on an expedition to the Antarctic in 1893 to evaluate the area’s whaling potential. On this trip he went aground and was forced to return before returning in 1895. It was on this second expedition that he went ashore at Cape Adare which was said to have been the first Antarctic landing outside the peninsula.
Adrien Victor Joseph de Gerlache de Gomery
De Gerlache was a lieutenant in the Belgian Navy who lead a scientific expedition to Antarctica in 1897, during which he discovered and mapped what is now the Gerlache Strait and the west side of the Antarctic Peninsula. In March, 1858 he crossed the Antarctic Circle and became stuck in ice for 377 days before his ship was rescued. Although a time of hardship for De Gerlache and his crew, it was a very important event as it proved that humans could survive a full winter in the Antarctic.
Carsten Egeberg Borchgrevink
Part British, part Norwegian, Borchgrevink was part of Bull’s expedition to Antarctica in 1894 which inspired him to embark on a voyage of his own. His mission was to prove that humans could survive an Antarctic winter ashore. His voyage, financed by a wealthy publisher, departed in 1898 and he arrived at Cape Adare on February 17, 1899, where he erected wooden huts. Ten men from the expedition stayed behind and the ship returned almost a year later on January 28, 1900.
Robert Falcon Scott
Scott was a British naval officer who in 1901 led a British National Antarctic Expedition. On the Discovery, he crossed the Antarctic Circle in January 1902 before discovering King Edward VII Land and exploring the Ross Ice Shelf. The team made their home on Ross Island from February to November, erecting huts ashore and using the ship as accommodations. In November, an expedition team set out with a goal to reach the South Pole using skis and sleds driven by dogs. They reached 82º16.5’S before being forced to turn back. They were inexperienced at skiing and sledding and the return trip was most difficult. Reports say that the dogs became so weak that at times the men had to pull them along with the sleds.
Scott’s second expedition to the Antarctic, aboard Terra Nova, left New Zealand in November, 1910. He arrived on Ross Island in January, 1911 and spent a year setting up depots which would serve as shelters on his journey to the South Pole. On January 17, 1912 Scott and his party of four arrived at the South Pole and found that Roald Admunsen beat them by a mere 35 days. The return trip was plagued by blizzards and freezing temperatures and none of the men returned. Scott’s last diary entry was March 29, 1912.
Ernest Henry Shackelton
Irish born Shackelton was a major player in Scott’s Discovery mission until he was sent back to England early by Scott, who claimed he was unfit for the expedition. Despite these events, Shackelton vowed to return to the Antarctic and did so in 1908 as the leader of a British Antarctic Expedition on the Nimrod. Upon arriving at Ross Ice Shelf he broke a promise to Ross by setting up base on Ross Island. He had told Ross that he would find another island but ice conditions prohibited travel any further. Shackelton and his team of three companions began exploring the area and on January 9, 1909 reported that they were 156km away from the South Pole when they were forced to turn back. They reached 589km further south than Scott – all on foot and discovered almost 800km of new mountains. At the same time, three of Shackelton’s expedition members reached the South Magnetic Pole on January 16, 1909 – this was the first time it was ever visited.
In 1914, Shackelton left on his second Antarctic expedition in Endurance with an aim to sail to the Weddell Sea coast and trek from there across the continent via the South Pole. What followed has become one of the most famous stories of Antarctic exploration. On January 19, 1915, Endurance found itself stuck in pack ice and on November 21, the vessel sank. Shackelton and his crew were forced to make the pack ice their home for five months before sailing three small boats to Elephant Island in the South Shetland Islands. Finding the island uninhabited, they sailed another 1300km to South Georgia in search of whalers who could assist them. Landing on the uninhabited side of the island, they hiked thirty-six hours straight to whaling stations on the other side. Upon reaching the stations, they embarked on a rescue mission to rescue his stranded men on Elephant Island which lasted for four months. They were finally rescued on August 30.
In 1921, Shackelton returned to Antarctica and suffered a fatal heart attack onboard on January 5, 1922 while his ship was docked at Grytviken.
Roald Engebreth Gravaning Amundsen
Norwegian Amundsen, already an experienced Arctic and Antarctic explorer, sailed from Norway in 1911 for the Antarctic with a mission to reach the South Pole. Wanting to keep his exact mission a secret from Scott, he did not tell his crew where they were going until reaching Madeira. At the same time he sent a taunting telegram to Scott advising him that his ship, Fram, was heading to the Antarctic.
Upon arriving in the Antarctic he set up base on the Ross Ice Shelf at the Bay of Whales and spent the winter there with nine men and ninety-seven dogs. He left the base on October 19, 1911 with four other men, each on sledges pulled by the dogs. His expedition was extremely well planned – with back-ups of crucial items and bases set up along the route, and the team were very accomplished skiers. The team reached the South Pole on December 14, 1911 – the first men to ever do so. Before leaving for the return trip, he left a note in a deserted tent for Scott to let him know he had been there – and beat him to it.
PEOPLE
There is no indigenous population and due to the harsh elements, inhabitants are usually only based there on a temporary basis employed at research stations. In winter, the population is approximately 1200 people.
TIME
Whilst in the Antarctic, the Polar Star operates on local time in Ushuaia, Argentina which is GMT -3 hours.
WILDLIFE
Antarctica is a naturalist’s paradise and wildlife is prolific in this untouched wilderness. Below is a list of species that can be found in the Antarctic. Though not exhaustive, it does give an indication of what you may see on the continent.
Whales – Humpback, Southern Right, Sperm, Killer, Sei, Fin, Blue, Minke
Seals – Antarctic and Sub Antarctic Fur, Southern Elephant, Crabeater, Leopard. Weddell, Ross
Penguins – Emperor, King, Adélie, Chinstrap, Gentoo, Macaroni, Rockhopper, Royal
Albatross – Wandering, Royal, Black-browed, Shy, Yellow Nosed, Grey-headed
Petrel – Great, Antarctic, Snow, Cape, Great Winged, White headed, Atlantic, Diving
Shearwater – Great, Little and Sooty
Other birdlife – Sheathbill, Kelp Gull, Tern, Skua