“There are three guidelines to recollect when crusing the Southern Ocean,” stated Brandon Kleyn, expedition chief on the Diana, as we ready to depart Cape City on essentially the most uncommon route heading to Antarctica this season.

“Rule one. Be versatile. Two, present flexibility. Three, bear in mind rule one,” he stated prophetically, as a sudden sea-storm delayed the departure of our 20-day voyage – one that will finally fail to achieve Antarctica in any respect and make world headlines.

Virtually Shackleton-like in ambition, the plan was to cross your entire South Atlantic Ocean from Cape City to Cape Horn on a 6,800 kilometre journey through Tristan da Cunha and South Georgia to the Antarctic Peninsula. Antarctica is extra often reached by cruise ships in simply two-days from Ushuaia in Argentina’s Tierra del Fuego.

So why on Earth would you need to take so lengthy to achieve the frozen continent? Nicely, this was a repositioning cruise, which might supply a few of finest worth offers and most adventurous voyages on the excessive seas. Diana was being manoeuvred from the Arctic to begin its Antarctic season. This nine-deck ice-strengthened vessel was nearly full, with 177 passengers from Europe, China, Russia, and North America.

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“We booked it as a result of it was approach cheaper than different sailings to Antarctica and we needed to see South Georgia, which is tough and costly to achieve,” stated travelling mates Diane Rainsford and Anne Kramer from Oregon. “I booked it late they usually waived the only complement,” added solo German traveller, Conradin Weindl.

There was a buzz of pleasure about crusing through Tristan da Cunha: a Shangri-La of remoteness visited by few ships of any sort. It might take five-days crusing westwards to achieve the island’s 237 British residents.

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Touchdown on Tristan was no certainty although, warned Brandon. “It has a few of the angriest seas on Earth surrounding it,” he stated. Solely six of the ten cruise ships that visited Tristan final yr have been capable of get ashore, as touchdown requires a small boat tender. Certain sufficient, winds whipped up whitecaps in sight of the tin-roofed cottages of Tristan’s solely settlement, Edinburgh of the Seven Seas, but throughout a quick lull we motored over on zodiac inflatables to set foot on territory claimed by Britain in 1816.

With the looks of a small British farming group, with cows and sheep grazing across the cottages, the settlement is dwarfed by a volcano that final erupted in 1961. Islander Stan Swain gave us a fast tour round. “I used to be 13 when the volcano erupted and evacuated to Britain for a number of years. It was fairly a shock encountering so many individuals after dwelling right here amongst a number of hundred,” he recalled. He stated the islanders have been getting older and shortly wouldn’t have the ability to harvest lobsters – Tristan’s most important income.

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There was time for me to ship a postcard from the put up workplace, which the postmistress warned would take months to achieve the UK, and pop into the Albatross Bar for a swift half the place they’d cooked Tristan lobster tails to style at a price of £2.50 for 2.

The following 1,450 nautical miles of horizonless Atlantic in the direction of South Georgia strengthened the isolation. Lectures onboard ready us for an island best-known for the place Shackleton escaped to in 1916 after Endurance sank in Antarctica. South Georgia receives round 16,000 travellers every year, however no different vessel approaches it from the mid-South Atlantic. Through the 2023-24 Antarctic cruise season, avian influenza broke out and restricted landings on a few of South Georgia’s key wildlife seashores that harbour over two million penguins.

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Thus a number of days earlier than reaching South Georgia we began biosecurity preparations for the go to, scrubbing clear all exterior gear and checking Velcro for seeds that we is likely to be launched onto the island. It was round this time, Diana, a newish vessel, developed a slight juddering – though it appeared no nice deal on the time.

We disembarked at Grytviken’s former whaling station, inhabited solely by British Antarctic Survey scientists and South Georgia Heritage Belief workers who run one other put up workplace, museum, and store. The primary sufferer of the avian flu outbreak weren’t birds however elephant seals. But these half-tonne colossi weren’t worn out however have returned to the seashores. We encountered them spreadeagled amongst Grytviken’s rusting whale-oil tanks and beached harpoon vessels. They snorted lazily once I handed them strolling to the grave of Sir Ernest Shackleton, who died right here onboard Quest in 1922. Decorum dictates you toast the ‘Boss’ with a tot of whisky.

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Elsewhere, South Georgia’s wildlife abundance is as magnificent as Antarctica. A mixture of whaling’s abandonment within the mid-Sixties and the institution of a marine safety zone that’s 200 miles huge has ensured wildlife populations have exploded. Now it’s sometimes called the world’s solely ecosystem in restoration. At St Andrews’ Bay, we marvelled at 150,000 breeding pairs of golden-necked king penguins.

After 10 sea-days, the voyage’s preamble appeared over as Antarctica beckoned. We have been two crusing days away, appetites whetted by behemoth tabular icebergs floating northwards from the frozen continent whereas snow petrels, the ‘Angels of Antarctica’, ghosted by like icy spirits.

But our skipper, Captain Strømnes, had dangerous information.

We’d slowed dramatically to seven knots, and the propellor shaft (one in all two) was unfixable, he advised us: “We have now to cancel Antarctica and sail straight to Ushuaia for repairs. It isn’t protected to take the vessel south to Antarctica.”

Thus started a wounded limp west throughout an extra seven days at sea. There was disappointment onboard and passengers have been supplied compensation by the corporate, Swan Hellenic. Not sufficient in some eyes, and three Russian passengers started a starvation strike for extra money whereas different company wore rapidly drawn placards demanding a 100 per cent refund. Our voyage made worldwide – and largely over-the-top – headlines.

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“We’re disillusioned to not make it to Antarctica, however we’ve seen great issues like Tristan and South Georgia,” stated Diane and Anna. “You by no means understand how issues are going to end up down right here, it’s all a part of the journey”.

The ultimate week moved slowly in time as we grew to become essentially the most notorious cruise ship on Earth. Searching for refuge from the hullaballoo, I spent hours on the aft deck absorbing the Atlantic’s rhythmic swell and delighting on the aerodynamism of albatross and distant whale blows, earlier than we lastly reached Ushuaia.

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The epic achievement – Antarctic disappointment apart – of crossing the South Atlantic Ocean felt a little bit misplaced amid the protest and hype. This was a magnificently formidable odyssey of unpredictability and publicity to nature’s elemental forces. And as numerous nice explorers have found, Antarctica, whether or not you make it or not, is a privilege not a proper.

Learn how to do it

Swan Hellenic’s subsequent 20-night semi-circumnavigation through Antarctica onboard SH Diana sails from Ushuaia to Cape City on 7 March 2025. Costs begin from £6,380pp based mostly on two sharing, together with all meals and excursions; worldwide flights value further. In reverse, subsequent yr’s Cape City–Ushuaia repositioning departs 15 November 2025.

Mark Stratton travelled as a visitor of Swan Hellenic.

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