2027 “Antarctica, South Georgia and The Falklands” departing 31 October 2027 27 days – Open for bookings!

Depart Australia for Buenos Aires.

A free day to rest after your long flight and explore the city with your escort and other members of the group before enjoying Dinner & Tango Show at the historic La Ventana.

After breakfast and check out we enjoy a private half-day tour of the city including Centro, San Telmo and colourful La Boca before our transfer to the airport for our flight to Ushuaia, the world’s southernmost city where we will meet our fellow expeditioners.

Enjoy breakfast in the hotel and have the morning free to explore Ushuaia before returning to the hotel and departing for the Ushuaia Cruise Port to embark Heritage Discoverer.  The captain and expedition team will welcome you on board and you will have time to settle into your accommodations and familiarise yourself with the ship. You are invited to join the expedition team in the Observation Lounge as we set our course for the Falkland Islands and our adventure begins. The official start of your Heritage Discoverer South Georgia cruise as we sail out the Beagle.

Learn more about the biology and history of the Falkland Islands through a series of lectures and presentations and ease into ship life as we cross the South Atlantic Ocean. Scan the sky for Black-browed Albatross, countless Prions and Shearwaters, and look for Orca and Sei Whales during our day at sea.

We have two days to explore the pristine wilderness of the Falkland Islands as we navigate East and West Falkland Islands and their remote satellite islands. This stunning landscape spanning more than 700 islands, quiet villages, white sandy beaches, spectacular towering cliffs and grassy fields of wildflowers is a birder’s paradise and home to five species of penguin – Gentoo, Southern Rockhopper, Magellanic, King and Macaroni– and the world’s largest Black-browed Albatross colony. History buffs will look forward to exploring colourful British outpost and Falklands capital the ‘city’ of Stanley where nature preserves meet maritime exploration, hilltop memorials to the 1982 Falklands War, the Jubilee Villas and the opportunity to enjoy a pint with the friendly locals.  Our adventures may see us stretching our legs on Carcass Island where Southern Sea Lions, South American Fur Seals and Southern Elephant Seals can be found lazing on the beaches and among the tussac grass.

At sea en route to South Georgia, there’s time to unwind after the adventures of the Falkland Islands. Look for cetaceans, Wandering and Southern Royal Albatross, Sooty Shearwater, Antarctic Prion and Soft Plumaged Petrel, join a lecture or catch up on your photos and journaling. On the afternoon of Day 7 we plan to ship cruise the 150-million-year-old Shag Rocks.  Despite their inhospitable appearance, this collection of six, wind and wave carved jagged islets rising up to 75 metres out of the Southern Ocean, are an important seabird breeding site, in particular the South Georgia Shag after which the rocks are named.

We have 4 days and a flexible itinerary to explore the astounding wildlife sanctuary that is South Georgia, also known as the ‘Serengeti of the Southern Ocean’ – for reasons which will quickly become apparent. Here, among the rugged, unrestrained beauty of towering, ice-capped mountains, glaciers, endless beaches, grasses and the clear emerald water of this British Overseas Territory resides one of the world’s wildlife hot spots. Our voyage is timed to coincide with the start of breeding season, when it is believed South Georgia has more wildlife per square metre than anywhere else on Earth, a defining stretch of any South Georgia cruise’s itinerary.  The sheer spectacle and numbers are mind-boggling: more than 60 million seabirds including White-chinned Petrel, Diving Petrel and 50 million Antarctic Prion, 1 million King Penguins (the world’s largest population), 3.5 million Antarctic Fur Seals (more than 95% of the world’s population) and 400,00-plus Southern Elephant Seals (half the worlds’ population). Other wildlife to look out for with our guides include Macaroni, and Gentoo Penguins; Wandering, Black-browed, Grey-headed and Light-mantled Sooty Albatross; South Georgia Shag, South Georgia Pipit, Pintail Duck, Weddell Seals and, occasionally, Leopard Seals. While Humpback, Blue and Southern Right Whales are also known to visit these waters. Despite the abundance of wildlife, Antarctic Fur Seals were once hunted to almost extinction for their fur in the early 19th Century, and the settlement of Grytviken was once a productive whaling centre. Although the historic whaling station is still a feature, Grytviken’s legacy is now the final resting place of heroic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton, where we plan to pay our respects. Like the Subantarctic Islands below New Zealand and Australia, South Georgia was also an important stopover during heroic-era Antarctic expeditions, and we look forward to sharing this history with you.   

Soaring albatross and petrels circle the vessel as we steam southward through the cetacean-filled Scotia Sea. Our lectures will now concentrate on Antarctica and there is some good whale watching to be enjoyed. Look out for our first iceberg, these otherworldly frozen cathedrals will become part of our daily adventures, each one a unique natural sculpture as we enter the realm of more than 20-hours daylight!

Early season Antarctica is an especially magical time pairing long clear days with an abundance of wildlife and spectacular lighting. Even the most novice photographer can’t help but take exceptional photos with the low hanging sun creating epic sunrises and sunsets, washing icebergs, ice, sea and sky in vivid colours. Our voyage is timed to coincide with the arrival of the breeding season, when Antarctica’s wildlife converges in full force and mating behaviours at chaotic penguin cities can be observed. Icebergs, frequently clad with Chinstrap and Adélie Penguins, are also at their most captivating. Landings here are frequent, maximising the long daylight hours and the opportunities they present, eventful, occasionally unexpected and always exciting. We have 6 days (note 2026 voyage spends 5 days in Antarctica), each with more than 20-hours of daylight, to explore multiple historic and wildlife rich landing sites, hidden bays, quiet coves and walk on the ice and snow of the Seventh Continent.  Prepare to be dwarfed by nature as we discover alien landscapes and elaborate icescapes of unimaginable beauty carved by wind and waves. Look for, and walk among Gentoo, Chinstrap and Adélie Penguins; Weddell, Leopard and Crabeater Seals; in the water Humpback and Minke Whales fill these important feeding grounds along with Orca.  While specific landings cannot be guaranteed, they could include the following, and many other exciting opportunities: Elephant Island It’s hard to believe this hostile environment of mostly vertical rock and ice cliffs sustained 22 crew from Shackleton’s Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition/Endurance Expedition for four-and-a-half months after their ship Endurance sank in the Weddell Sea. Elephant Island, part of the South Shetland archipelago, is also the starting point of Shackleton’s legendary rescue mission which would see him, and five of his crew, sailing the small lifeboat James Caird to South Georgia followed by a 36-hour hike to Stromness.  Cuverville Island combines a stunning, ice-capped landscape where steep cliffs and a boulder-strewn beach meet Antarctic Peninsula’s largest Gentoo Penguin population (home to some 14,000 birds), while its shallow bay features astounding monolithic grounded icebergs perfect for Zodiac exploration.  Paradise Bay, once the anchorage site for whalers’ floating factory ships, is now considered one of Antarctic Peninsula’s most stunning locations delivering the ultimate, unrestrained, iconic and pristine Antarctic wilderness experiences just north of the legendary Lemaire Channel.

En route to Ushuaia we cross the legendary Drake Passage and experience one of the world’s great ocean crossings. Take time to rest after the adventures of Antarctica, look for whales and enjoy shipboard life.

Early this morning we will arrive in the Ushuaia Cruise Port. After a final breakfast, we bid farewell to our fellow voyagers and take a coach transfer to Ushuaia International Airport for our flight to Buenos Aires.

Note: During our South Georgia, Falklands & Antarctic Peninsula Cruise, circumstances may make it necessary or desirable to deviate from the proposed itinerary. This can include poor weather and opportunities for making unplanned excursions. Your Expedition Leader will keep you fully informed.

A free morning until our departure to the airport for our evening flight home.