You’re a long way from anywhere once you
reach the Weddell Sea. This remote body
of water lies off the seldom-visited eastern
coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. To call it
magical would be no understatement: it’s a
silent, almost dreamlike world of glaciers,
ice floes and alpine peaks — a binary world
of blue sky and white that stretches to
the horizon in all directions, making for
unforgettable sailing.
Ponant’s 11-night Weddell Sea and Larsen
Ice Shelf expedition cruise showcases this
most spectacular of regions to unrivalled
effect. The Larsen Ice Shelf, on the edge of
the Weddell Sea, has produced some of the
largest tabletop icebergs ever seen. It also
marks the ship’s ultimate destination, and
as the vessel heads into deep Antarctica,
those on board become immersed by the
great white continent.The ship departs from Ushuaia, in
Argentina’s southern Tierra del Fuego region,
before sailing across the fabled Drake Passage
via the far-flung South Shetland Islands.
Over the next week and a half, as well as
history and wildlife lectures from Ponant’s
team of expert naturalists, passengers have
the chance to kayak between ice floes, ride
on hovercrafts and electric snowmobiles,
try scuba diving and even rise above the
Antarctic landscape in a hot air balloon.
Numerous shore visits in rigid-inflatable
boats provide the ideal opportunity to see the
region’s extraordinary wildlife up close, from
leopard seals and wandering albatrosses
to Adélie penguins and humpback whales.
Few voyages can lay genuine claim to being
the trip of a lifetime, but visiting the Earth’s
lower-latitudes on an intrepid, educational
expedition is emphatically one of them.A new cruise on one of Ponant’s high-tech, state-of-the-art
ships promises close encounters with the Weddell Sea and
Larsen Ice Shelf in one of the most remote areas on the planetTERRITORY
UNCHARTED
ABOVE: Pleneau Bay, Port Charcot
RIGHT: Emperor Penguins IMAGES: PONANTPARTNER CONTENT FOR POLAR ROUTES