Antarctica travel – information and tips

I have the dream (or bucket list) of visiting some of the remote places on earth. At the beginning of this year, I realised that there was no progress at all on that list!! I was traveling a lot but mostly to standard places. Antarctica was at the top of the list of remote places, and I decided to visit. Also, the visit to Antarctica enabled me to ‘tick’ all continents though it was not the primary reason for Antarctica. This post intends to provide information and tips on Antarctica travel.

 

It is uncommon to hear in India of someone going to Antarctica. I think there are a few reasons for that.

• Expensive – It is going to be the most expensive trip. Travel to Europe or the USA looks very cheap in front of it.
• Distance – Antarctica is very far from India. It takes an enormous amount of time to get to that continent.
• Not easy – It is not a luxury trip. It demands a lot of dedication from a person. The ship rolls a lot in Drake passage, temperatures are low, fluctuating weather and activities for the whole day.
• Lack of advertisement – Antarctica is not advertised much when compared to the USA, Europe, or Southeast Asia.

Lesser visit from Indians means lack of information specific for Indians. In this post, I would like to put in some practical information about planning a trip to Antarctica.

About Antarctica

Antarctica is the southernmost continent bigger than Europe and Australia. Ice covers 98% of the continent with an average thickness of 1.9 km!! That’s a lot of ice. It has the highest average elevation compared to all continents and it holds the record for the lowest temperature on earth (-89°C). Geographic South Pole is in Antarctica.

Reaching Antarctica

There are no roads, railways, towns, or restaurants in Antarctica. In fact, regulations prohibit taking food out of the ship into Antarctica!! Even nature calls cannot be attended inland!! The shoes have to be cleaned before leaving the ship!! These rules are basically to ensure that Antarctica does not get impacted by outside factors. The only possibility of seeing Antarctica for a normal person is from a ship where you can land at specific places. There are now flights to some airstrips in Antarctica. That would help you to enter into Antarctica but, still, you need boats to roam around.

Best time to travel

Antarctica has only two seasons – summer and winter. For six months of the year, it is completely dark. The sun never sets in summer. With this situation, it is only possible to visit Antarctica in the summer months between October and March. Antarctica is in Southern Hemisphere, and hence the seasons are opposite to that of northern regions.

Starting point

South America. Ushuaia, in Argentina, is the nearest place to Antarctica. During summer months, ships leave for Antarctica every day. Few ships leave from Punta Arenas in neighbouring Chile. It is possible to travel from Australia or New Zealand, but the journey is along and very expensive.

Visa requirement

Antarctica is not governed by any country, and hence visa is not needed. The international treaty allows people from any country to travel to Antarctica for peaceful purposes. But you would need either Argentina or Chile visa depending on the port of embarkation. Argentina has a complex visa process when compared to Chile. More on that in another post.

Choosing the cruise operator

This will be the most important part of planning the Antarctica trip. With so many operators, it is hard to search for them and chose. Few points need to be considered while choosing the cruise ship.

• The number of people on board: The rule in Antarctica allows only 100 people from a ship to land in Antarctica at any given point of time. The landing opportunities decrease for people in a ship having more than 100 travellers. Landing is not allowed for any ship above 500 passengers!! Fewer people means lesser crowd during landing. This is the most important point to consider.
• Itinerary: Trips are ranging from 10 days to 25 days to Antarctica. Most cover the Antarctic peninsula, but few of them cross the Antarctic circle. Some trips cover Falkland and South Georgia islands also. You can decide based on the interest and amount of money you can spend. Note that Falkland and South Georgia have additional visa needs as they are governed by the UK.
• Luxury: The ships can be categorised into luxury and expedition. As expected, the expedition ship costs less and is more geared towards Antarctica landing. Some operators provide an option of a day trip to Antarctica overflight. It is expensive and does not include any landings. Few are now offering to fly and then take a cruise.
• IAATO: It is important to check whether the operator is part of IAATO (International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators)

It will be a difficult task to find the ships and itineraries. But there are aggregators like polar cruises who help on this matter. They provide the list of ships, itineraries, availability, and  pricing information.

Antarctica on budget

Antarctica is very expensive. But there are few ways to reduce the cost a bit.

• Book early. The Antarctica trips get booked more than a year in advance. Planning early will give you more options and deals.
• Go in the shoulder season of October and March. The cost is very less during that time. But also note that the amount of daylight in Antarctica will be less at that time. There is also the possibility of ice sheets blocking entry into Antarctica. In my personal opinion, it is not the best time to travel.
• Look for last-minute deals in Ushuaia.

If you search for budget travel to Antarctica, you will see that the third option is very popular. Come to Ushuaia and cruise operators having empty slots are desperately waiting for people!! Not any more. As I said earlier, it is very hard to get seats during the peak season in the last moment. Some seats do get available but the price is not very cheap when compared to booking in advance. Also, indefinitely waiting in Ushuaia is not an option for Indians due to visa constraints. Argentina allows only one month to stay.

My experience

I started looking at the cruise operators at the beginning of this year. I chose M/V Ushuaia based on my needs, availability, timing, and budget. Instead of going via travel agents or aggregators, I contacted the company directly over email. The responses were quick and positive. My main concern was about vegetarian food. They promised to take care of it. I had to transfer 30% of the amount at that time and the remaining 3 months before travel. Since it was an international money transfer, I could not do it online and had to visit the bank branch. The process was straightforward though it involved a bit of paperwork. I was happy that all transfers were done before the rupee plummeted against the dollar. That saved a significant amount of money.

 

Antarctica is a remote place and any medical emergencies require air evacuation which can be extremely expensive (above 50 lakh rupees) and many times not possible. So, health insurance with medical evacuation was compulsory.

I booked the air ticket to Buenos Aires 5-6 months before the travel. Air France via Paris provided the best fare then. Ushuaia, the southernmost point in the country is about 3,000 km from Buenos Aires and Air travel was the most practical option. I booked via Aerolineas Argentina. Online booking was a bit tricky though. The website did not show India in the country list. I chose the US. But the payment was rejected with the reason that my credit card was not from the US. I tried selecting the EU and it worked!!

Is it worth?

It depends on the individual. Some get satisfaction by investing in properties or bank deposits. Few people like to watch a movie in a mall or eating out each week. Similarly, travel brings joy to people who look at investing in the experience. Coming back to the point, the trip to Antarctica was fully worth though it was expensive. The kind of experience I got in Antarctica was completely different. Antarctica is huge, and I saw a minuscule part of it, but I must say the experience exceeded all my expectations.

 

Other posts on Antarctica:

• Crossing Drake passage
• A typical day in Antarctica
• Lemaire Channel
• Deception Island – landing in midnight