Le Commandant Charcot: The Ross Sea
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About the Le Commandant Charcot: The Ross Sea
Sailing the Ross Sea means discovering one of the most extreme and conserved universes in the Antarctic. Partially occupied by the Ross Ice Shelf, the largest ice platform in Antarctica, this immense bay located several hundred kilometres from the South Pole, is considered as "the last ocean", the last intact marine ecosystem and the largest marine sanctuary since 2016. Here, the cold is more intense, the wind more powerful, the ice more impressive, and the scenery more spectacular. In the heart of this polar Garden of Eden, where the ice shelf turns into icebergs, you will encounter prodigious fauna, as well as surrealist landscapes, with infinite shades of blue and stunning reliefs. Antarctic petrels, Minke whales, orcas and seals are at home here, as are very large colonies of Adelie and emperor penguins.
Sail as close as possible to the South Pole, in the heart of the Ross Sea, one the world's last marine sanctuaries.
Participate in outings and shore visits in Zodiac® inflatables.
Enjoy lectures and information sessions hosted by our naturalist-guides.
marvel at stunning landscapes: icebergs, glaciers, ice floes, ice shelves.
Spot unique wildlife: Adelie penguins, Emperor penguins, Ross seals, Crabeater seals, Leopard seals, Minke whales and sea birds.
Enjoy a range of included activities: Hovercraft, hot air balloon, snowmobiles and more.
Day 1: Santiago
Day 2: Ushuaia
Day 3-4: Crossing the Drake Passage
Day 5: Crossing the Antarctic Circle
Day 6: Expedition to Charcot Island
Day 7: Expedition to Peter I Island
Day 8-9: Bellingshausen Sea
Day 10: At Sea
Day 11: Siple Island
Day 13: Ruppert Coast
Day 14: Cape Colbeck
Day 15: The Ross Sea
Day 16: The Ross Ice Shelf
Day 20: Burke Island
Day 21-22: Expedition to Peter I Island
Day 24-25: Crossing the Drake Passage
Upon arrival at Santiago airport you will be transferred to your pre night accommodation.
A light morning breakfast will be served before leaving for the airport for your Santiago/Ushuaia flight. On arrival in Ushuaia you will be transferred to the port to board your ship.
Use your days spent in the Drake Passage to familiarise yourself with your ship and deepen your knowledge of the Antarctic. The Expedition Leader will first present the IAATO rules of conduct that must be observed during landings in the region and will explain everything you need to know about the Zodiac® outings. Lectures about the history and wildlife of the Antarctic will be an opportunity for you to learn more about this magical region, where every cruise is a unique experience. From the ship's bridge, you will experience exceptional sailing moments before joining the naturalist-guides on your ship's exterior decks to look out for albatrosses, cape petrels, and other seabirds flying over the Drake Passage.
Weather permitting, we'll cross the mythic line of the Antarctic Polar Circle, located along 66°33' south of the Equator. This iconic area demarcates the point from which it is possible to view the midnight sun during the December solstice. Within this circle, the sun remains above the horizon for 24 consecutive hours at least once a year. Crossing this line, an experience known to few people, is sure to be an unforgettable highlight of your cruise through the polar regions.
When he discovered this island surrounded by sea ice in 1910 from aboard the Pourquoi Pas ? as he mapped Alexander Island, Jean-Baptiste Charcot had not be able to get less than 40 miles away from it. Situated in a zone that experiences frequent low-pressure systems and regular cloud cover, the island remains in many ways an enigma. It is entirely covered in ice and sheer cliffs, with the exception of the rocky outcrops extending over a dozen kilometres in the far north-west. The ice in the narrowest part of Wilkins Sound has been cracking in recent times, thus officially detaching this island from its neighbour, Alexander Island, lying 50 km away. Very few people have landed on this largely untouched island, whose waters attract numerous seabirds, such as petrels, Antarctic terns and skuas.
Today you will head for the legendary Peter I Island. Located 450 km away from the Atlantic coast, it was discovered in 1821 by the Russian explorer Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen, who named it in honour of the Russian tsar Peter the Great. In 1909, Captain Charcot sighted it for the first time from aboard the Pourquoi Pas ?, but was unable to land there: "In the parting mists, one or two miles away, an enormous black mass shrouded in clouds appears suddenly before us: it is Peter I Island." Surrounded by pack ice and with about 95% of its surface covered by ice, this volcanic island, whose highest peak reaches 1,640 metres, is protected by ice cliffs some 40 metres tall, making any approach difficult.
Stretching from the west side of the Antarctic Peninsula to the Amundsen Sea, the Bellingshausen Sea was named after the Russian admiral and explorer who has been attributed the first confirmed sighting of mainland Antarctica, in 1820. Its waters surround, among others, two of the largest islands in the Antarctic: Alexander Island and Thurston Island. You will sail amid ice floe, blocks of sea ice and majestic icebergs. The coastal areas along the Bellingshausen Sea are home to large colonies of emperor penguins. Depending on the season, you may get the chance to observe some of these creatures in the open sea.
Spend exceptional moments sailing aboard Le Commandant-Charcot, the world's first luxury polar exploration vessel and the first PC2-class polar cruise ship capable of sailing into the very heart of the ice, on seas and oceans which the frozen conditions render inaccessible to ordinary ships. Le Commandant-Charcot is fitted with oceanographic and scientific equipment selected by a committee of experts. Take advantage of the on-board lectures and opportunities for discussion with these specialists to learn more about the poles. Participate in furthering scientific research and let us discover together what these fascinating destinations have yet to reveal to us.
This island is dominated by Mount Siple, a dormant, potentially active shield volcano rising to an altitude of 3,000 metres. Entirely covered in a thick layer of ice, the gentle slopes of this cone are said to have been climbed, but no proof has yet been found of this feat. For now, it is thus considered Antarctica's highest unclimbed peak. At the foot of this icy giant, you could have the good fortune of being welcomed by a colony of Adelie penguins and of admiring the magnificent Thurston Glacier.
This quasi-unexplored coast along Marie Byrd Land is one of the only territories in the world to have never been claimed by any country, making it a terra nullius. It was the American colonel Jacob Ruppert who made the first aerial reconnaissance flight along this coast, during the second Byrd Antarctic Expedition (1933-1935). A Soviet research station was established there in 1980, before being officially abandoned in 1990.
This ice-covered cape, which forms the northwestern extremity of Marie Byrd Land, was discovered in January 1902 by the British National Antarctic Expedition. It was named in honour of Captain William Colbeck, one of the first explorers to have overwintered in Antarctica, during the Southern Cross expedition of 1899. This majestic cape delimits the western portion of the vast bay that contains the Ross Sea, the world's largest marine protected area.
"The last ocean" is what scientists from all around the world call this deep bay that runs along the edge of Antarctica between Marie Byrd Land and Victoria Land. Since 2016, the world's largest marine protected area has been keeping this last marine ecosystem intact. The theatre of the most impressive expeditions, it was discovered by James Clark Ross between 1839 and 1843. It was then that he discovered the enormous ice barrier formed by a gigantic ice shelf extending out to the open sea and from which titanic icebergs are calved. One third of the world's Adelie penguin population lives in the area where this barrier breaks into icebergs. The currents maintain polynyas there, vast areas of persistent open water surrounded by sea ice. These give the penguins access to food. You may also get the chance to spot Ross seals, one of the rarest protected species in the Antarctic.
The southern half of the Ross Sea is dominated by the largest ice shelf in the world, with a surface area equivalent to that of France. You will be awestruck by the majesty of this ice barrier which, far from being smooth and uniform, is ridged with caves, deep caverns, ledges, bays and promontories in infinite shades of blue carved out of it by the elements. Its vertiginous walls can reach up to 100 metres above sea level and some of them are several hundred metres deep. According to Sir Ernest Shackleton, some of the cavities could have contained Le Nimrod, his ship during the expedition he led to the South Pole between 1907 and 1909.
Navigate to Burke Island today. Burke Island is an ice-covered island about 30 km (16 nmi) long and 11 km (6 nmi) wide, lying 69 km (37 nmi) southwest of Cape Waite, King Peninsula, in the Amundsen Sea.
Head back to Peter I Island for further exploration over the next few days.
If there is one place, one sea, one waterway dreaded by tourists, researchers and hardened seafarers alike, it is undoubtedly Drake Passage. Situated at the latitude of the infamous Furious Fifties winds, between Cape Horn and the South Shetland Islands, it is the shortest route to connect Antarctica to South America. Seasoned navigators will tell you that you must earn your visit to the White Continent! As the Antarctic convergence zone where cold currents rising up from the South Pole meet warmer equatorial water masses, Drake Passage harbours a very diverse marine fauna. Don't forget to look to the sky to catch a glimpse of elegant albatross and Cape petrels, playfully floating about in the wind around your ship.
Arrive back in Ushuaia at 7am.
15 Feb 2022 - 12 Mar 2022 $60411 NZD pp
Prestige Stateroom Deck 7 NZD $60411pp Contact us
Privilege Stateroom Deck 6 NZD $73432pp Contact us
Prestige Suite Deck 7 NZD $101726pp Contact us
Privilege Suite Deck 6 NZD $110211pp Contact us
Suite Duplex NZD $155484pp Contact us
Owner's Suite NZD $178126pp Contact us
Prestige Stateroom Deck 6
20 metres-squared, private balcony, private bathroom with shower and French bath products, individually-controlled air conditioning, minibar, television, iPod dock, safety deposit box, dressing table with hair dryer, direct line telephone, 110V American / 220V European outlets, WiFi internet access
Privilege Stateroom Deck 6
Prestige Suite Deck 7
40 metres-squared, private balcony, private bathroom with 2 showers and French bath products, individually-controlled air conditioning, minibar, television, iPod dock, safety deposit box, dressing table with hair dryer, direct line telephone, 110V American / 220V European outlets, WiFi internet access
Privilege Suite Deck 8
48 metres-squared, private balcony, private bathroom with shower and bathtub, butler service, individually-controlled air conditioning, minibar, television, iPod dock, safety deposit box, French bath products, dressing table with hair dryer, direct line telephone, 110V American / 220V European sockets, WiFi internet access
Suite Duplex
48 metres-squared, private balcony, jacuzzi, private bathroom with shower and bathtub, butler, individually-controlled air conditioning, minibar, television, iPod dock, safety deposit box, French bath products, dressing table with hair dryer, direct line telephone, 110V American / 220V European sockets, WiFi internet access
114 metres-squared, private balcony with jacuzzi, private bathroom with shower and bathtub, butler service, individually-controlled air conditioning, minibar, television, iPod docks, safety deposit box, French bath products, dressing table with hair dryer, direct line telephone, 110V American / 220V European outlets, WiFi internet access
Width: 28m
Draught: 10
Ice Class: PC2
Propulsion: LNG and Hybrid Electric
Shipyard: VARD
Crew Members: 190
Onboard Expedition Zodiac: 16
Staterooms and Suites: 135 (including 31 suites)
Panoramic Restaurant: 1
Grill Restaurant: 1
Swimming Pools: 2 (indoor pool and winter garden, outdoor pool)
Spa, Sauna, Fitness Room: 1
Flight Santiago - Ushuaia - Santiago
Transfers to and from port
1 pre-night 5* accommodation in Santiago
Meals as indicated
Accommodation aboard Le Commandant Charcot
Activities as outlined in itinerary
Categories: Antarctica, Le Commandant Charcot, Luxury Antarctica Cruises, Ponant Antarctica, Ross Sea, ships-antarctica