Antarctica, South Georgia & the Falklands (From 18 Days)

The voyage begins at Puerto Williams on Isla Navarino, the world's southernmost town and Silversea's Chilean gateway to the Drake Passage. Guests arrive on the included charter flight from Santiago and embark Silver Wind during the day, with departure in the evening. The ship sails east through the Beagle Channel as the expedition team runs the mandatory safety and Zodiac briefings.

A full day at sea crossing the open South Atlantic towards the Falkland Islands. The expedition team opens its lecture programme with talks on the seabirds, marine mammals and human history of the Southern Ocean. Guests collect their expedition parka and are fitted for loaned muck boots ahead of the first landings.

West Point Island lies off the north-west tip of West Falkland and is one of the archipelago's finest wildlife sites. A walk across the settlement's grassland leads to the Devil's Nose cliffs, where black-browed albatross nest shoulder to shoulder with rockhopper penguins. The resident farming family traditionally lays on tea and cakes for visitors.

Saunders Island holds the site of the first British garrison in the Falklands at Port Egmont. Landings at The Neck put guests within easy walking distance of gentoo, Magellanic, rockhopper and king penguins on a single sweep of beach. Albatross colonies on the ridge above give some of the closest seabird photography of the voyage.

Stanley is the Falklands' capital, a row of brightly painted metal roofs, Victorian cottages and the whalebone arch outside Christ Church Cathedral. Silversea offers a choice of shore excursions here, from the Historic Dockyard Museum and 1982 conflict battlefield sites to 4x4 runs out to penguin colonies at Bluff Cove and Volunteer Point. There is also free time for the pubs, the Falkland Islands Company store and the harbour front.

The ship turns south-east into the Scotia Sea on the long run to South Georgia. Lectures shift to Shackleton, the whaling era and the extraordinary density of wildlife ahead. Birders gather on the open decks as wandering albatross and giant petrels shadow the ship.

A second sea day crossing the Antarctic Convergence, where water temperature drops sharply and the sub-Antarctic gives way to the polar zone. Guests complete compulsory biosecurity checks, vacuuming boots, bags and outerwear to protect South Georgia from introduced seeds and spores. Afternoon briefings cover landing protocols for beaches crowded with fur seals.

The first of three days in South Georgia, an island of glaciated peaks rising straight from the sea and the greatest concentration of wildlife on the planet. Landings are chosen daily by the expedition leader from sites such as Salisbury Plain, Fortuna Bay, Right Whale Bay and Gold Harbour. King penguin colonies here run to hundreds of thousands of birds, with elephant seals and fur seals along the shoreline.

Exploration continues with two excursions available, typically a morning landing and an afternoon Zodiac cruise. Grytviken is the usual highlight: the restored whaling station, the South Georgia Museum and the whalers' church, with Shackleton's grave in the small cemetery. The South Georgia visitor fee and visa are included in the Silversea fare.

A final day working the island's fjords and bays as weather allows, with Zodiac cruising beneath tidewater glaciers and among icebergs. Light-mantled sooty albatross, macaroni penguins and South Georgia pipits are all possible. The ship departs in the evening for the run south towards Antarctica.

At sea crossing the Scotia Sea towards the Antarctic Peninsula. Lectures turn to sea ice, glaciology and the heroic-age expeditions whose routes the ship is retracing. Watches on the bridge wings begin picking up the first tabular icebergs.

A second full day at sea as Silver Wind pushes south. Photographers work with the expedition team on ice and wildlife technique in preparation for the Peninsula. Whale sightings — fin, humpback and minke — become increasingly frequent.

Elephant Island is the bleak, ice-capped outpost where Shackleton's twenty-two men survived under upturned lifeboats for four and a half months. Conditions rarely permit a landing, so the visit is normally a ship cruise and Zodiac operation off Point Wild, where a bust of Captain Pardo of the Yelcho marks the rescue site. Chinstrap penguins pack the narrow shingle spit.

Antarctic Sound, at the tip of the Peninsula, is known as "Iceberg Alley" for the vast tabular bergs that calve off the Weddell Sea ice shelves and drift through it. Three excursions are scheduled, with possible landings at Brown Bluff beneath its rust-red volcanic cliff or on the Adélie penguin rookeries of Paulet and Devil Islands. Zodiac cruising among the bergs is the signature experience here.

The first of two days on the Antarctic Peninsula proper, working the sheltered waterways of the Gerlache Strait and its side channels. The expedition leader selects from sites such as Cuverville Island, Neko Harbour, Paradise Bay and Danco Island, mixing continental landings with Zodiac cruises. Gentoo penguin colonies, crabeater and leopard seals on ice floes, and humpbacks feeding on krill are all in play.

A second Peninsula day with three excursions available. Possible calls include the flooded caldera of Deception Island, the historic British base and post office at Port Lockroy, and the Lemaire Channel if ice allows. Silversea's 24 Zodiacs and roughly one-to-eleven guest ratio keep landing groups small and rotations short.

The South Shetlands form the outer arc of the Peninsula and hold some of the region's largest chinstrap and gentoo colonies alongside working research stations. Landing sites include Half Moon Island, Yankee Harbour and Aitcho Islands, with fur seals and elephant seals hauled out on the beaches. This is the last landing opportunity before turning north.

Silver Wind recrosses the Drake Passage towards Cape Horn and the Beagle Channel. The expedition team closes out the lecture programme and the photographers present the voyage slideshow. The captain hosts a farewell reception and settlement of accounts takes place through the butler.

The ship arrives back at Puerto Williams and guests disembark after breakfast. Transfers connect to the included charter flight north to Santiago, where a day-use hotel room is provided for those on same-day departures. Silversea's included transfers run through to the airport.