The panorama was magnificent – the jagged mountains of black and
green rock and glittering snow slopes of Trinity (peninsula) towering
besides, above us the clear sky, below us blue-black water and icebergs
– everything frozen and still, black and blue-black and black-green and
glittering white – Captain Sir George Hubert Wilkins MC & bar.
These words could have been uttered by any modern airborne explorer
of the Antarctic, flying low over the frozen wilderness of the great
southern land.
For decades now, explorers and scientists have been flying to
Antarctica on resupply missions, remote field studies and even aerial
mapping.
Any reader could be forgiven for thinking these observations came
from one of these recent flights aboard a turboprop C-130 Hercules or
Orion, but no – in 1928, an almost forgotten Adelaide-born explorer
and aviator, Sir Hubert Wilkins, made these remarks as he and pilot Ben
Eielson created history as the first to successfully deploy an aircraft.
Today, visitors to Deception Island off the coast of the Antarctic
Peninsula can visit the site of Wilkins’ runway where these history
making flights took place.
And sure, modern travellers can now get aboard a chartered 747 and
gaze longingly down on these same icy wastes laid out before them. But
what would it be like to actually land and explore?
In 2003, the specialised air-cruise company, ANTARCTICA XXI,
conducted the first commercial combined passenger flight and cruise
expedition. Flying from Punta Arenas in Chilean Patagonia across the
Drake Passage to their base at Antarctic Station President Eduardo Frei
Montalva, guests were able to experience the rare thrill of flying to and
landing in Antarctic as well as the popular cruise among the spectacular
vistas and icebergs described by Wilkins 85 years ago from his tiny plane.
Travellers arriving at Antarctica Station Frei will transfer from the
perfectly suited BAE-146 70-seat, quad-jet aircraft to the MV Ocean
Nova, a Danish-built vessel expressly constructed for sailing in icechoked
polar seas.
The cruise program is typically 4-6 nights, with a special ‘Polar Circle’,
8-night departure on New Years Day. These itineraries are several days
shorter than comparable cruises offered by the major operators, only
because they eliminate either or both crossings of the notorious Drake
Passage and devote valuable time to sight-seeing among the placid
waters of the Antarctic Peninsula.
The week-long “Classic Antarctica Air Cruise” avoids both ocean
crossings and spends time sailing from the South Shetland Islands to
the western coast of the Antarctic Peninsula, taking in all the splendour
and glory of such locations as Paulet Island, Hope Bay, Port Lockroy,
Petermann Island, Paradise Bay, Deception Island, and the famous
Lemaire Channel.
Each day passengers go ashore to explore the alien terrain and visit
penguin, seal and bird colonies in the company of experienced and
knowledgeable guides.
One of the deterrents to Antarctic cruising is the time required to
devote to the exercise, not to mention the potential discomfort to
delicate tummies when traversing ‘the passage’. Now with the timesaving
comfort of an exciting jet aircraft transfer, travellers can enjoy the
Antarctic experience within normal holiday time periods – and not wait
until retirement!
For details and bookings on ANTARCTICA XXI flights, find your local
Cruiseco agent at www.cruising.com.au.
