Enfi & Bras Travel co.

The more than 90% of Antarctic cruises that visit the Antarctic Peninsula sail from Ushuaia, Argentina and across the Drake Passage, 1000km of ocean between South America and Antarctica. The crossing is generally accomplished in two days – sometimes faster, sometimes slower. Smooth seas are known as the ‘Drake Lake’; their opposite is called the ‘Drake Shake, ’ also referred to as ‘paying the Drake Tax.’ Once your ship is in the calm waters of the South Shetlands or the Peninsula, nearly all uncomfortable motion ceases.

The very infrequent voyages to Antarctica from Australia, New Zealand or South Africa require a longer voyage, meaning a greater chance of experiencing heavy weather. But there’s also more time for bird-watching, stargazing and possibly seeing the aurora australis.

Crossing the Southern Ocean confers a psychological benefit to your Antarctic journey, for it makes manifest the continent’s remoteness and isolation. The passage provides time to prepare for Antarctica, to look forward to it. Antarctica is not attained by a homogenized plane ride: instead, it is unveiled gradually. En route, you’ll experience the open sea circumscribing the horizon, then your first amazing iceberg, then many icebergs, then an island. Finally, the snow-capped peaks of Antarctica itself shimmer ahead on the horizon.

The Falkland Islands/Islas Malvinas are a popular addition to many Antarctic voyages – usually in conjunction with a visit to South Georgia – but they’re well worth seeing on their own for their spectacular populations of penguins, seals and albatrosses. Surrounded by the South Atlantic and by centuries of controversy, the islands lie 490km east of Patagonia. Two main islands, East and West Falkland, and more than 700 smaller ones cover 12, 173 sq km, about the same area as Northern Ireland or Connecticut.Since the advent of large sheep stations in the late 19th century, rural settlement in the Falklands has consisted of tiny hamlets built near sheltered harbors where coastal shipping could collect the wool clip. Shepherds usually lived in ‘outside houses, ’ which still dot the countryside, as do 700, 000 sheep, which outnumber Falklanders by 200 to one.