Penguins or Polarbears, north or south.... when we are hibernating in the northern winter in Iceland there is lots of activity with expedition yachts in the southern hemisphere. The town of Ushuaia on the northern shores of the Beagle Channel in southern Argentina has long been a base for boats exploring the Cape Horn area, Chilean channels, South Georgia, Falklands and the Antarctic Peninsula. When I received an offer to join the Australian yacht "Spirit of Sydney" as mate with skipper Ben Tucker for a trip to the Antarctic Peninsula I didn't hesitate long to give a positive answer.
We were two crew and four guests and we left Ushuaia for a short sail down the Beagle channel to the town of Puerto Williams in Chile. There we tied up at the Micalvi - the southernmost yacht club in the world - based in a grounded old coaster. We then continued towards Cape Horn, but decided to wait for improvements in the weather in the small village of Puerto Toro. Then we headed out past Cape Horn with course set for Deception Island in the South Shetlands, 500 nautical miles away.
After Deception we explored the Antarctic Peninsula south to approximately 65 1/2 degrees stopping at locations such as Enterprise Island, Paradise Harbour, Cuverville, Neumayer Channel, Port Lockroy, Argentine Islands, Hovgaard, Lemaire Channel, Palmer Base, Melchior Island etc etc.... enjoying the magnificent landscape and the varied wildlife.
We had pretty much all variants of weather from calm, cold, sunny days to pouring rain to howling gale off Cape Horn.
Attached here are a few photos from the trip.