Antarctic Peninsula 2009-2010

New for the 2009-2010 season: We offer two styles of Antarctica cruising: voyages aboard the luxury vessels Corinthian II and Clelia II (capacities of 100 - 114), and aboard the research vessels Professor Molchanov, Professor Multanovskiy and M/V Plancius (capacities of 54-112 passengers).  All boats offer itineraries that visit the Falkland and South Georgia Islands and the Antarctic Peninsula.

Long before the Russian explorer Fabian von Bellingshausen crossed the Antarctic Circle in 1820 and became the first person to sight Antarctica, scholars had been trying to prove the existence of a southern continent. The ancient Greeks had developed a theory of a frigid northern landmass (Arktos) and hypothesized that this region must be counterbalanced by a frigid southern continent (Antarktos). The imaginary southern polar region was soon labelled ‘Terra Incognita’ and this conception lead to a continuous eagerness to discover the unknown continent.

When, eventually, mankind had survived the stormy southern seas and found a way through the supposed impenetrable pack-ice, human eyes were finally able to register what the Greek master Aristotle had suspected more than twenty centuries before.

A visit to Antarctica unites one with the magical elements of polar wilderness -- a place that truly dwells apart from our human-created world. And departing Antarctica leaves us temporarily confused, as it is hard to imagine that we have truly witnessed the profusion of life, colors and crystalline purity of this fascinating region.

Antarctica evokes a longing to return, time after time, and the realization that not much has really changed since scholars started to philosophize and the early adventurers made the first tentative explorations of this continent.

Join us this season and follow the path of history’s polar explorers!