When You Go
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When You Go
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Planning: The excitement starts with the planning for your Antarctica experience. The first step is to define your desires for type of transport, length of time, amount and type of exploration, etc. There are many resources to assist in designing your desired trip. The web sites listed below provide a good first-round source of information on trips and companies that provide adventure tour offerings in Antarctica.
| We were extremely pleased with Orient Lines and the Marco Polo. The
cruise ship offered a very experienced crew; excellent service, food, and beverages; and
skilled guides and lecturers. Our air transportation was arranged from Miami to Buenos
Aires with return from Ushuaia via Buenos Aires to Miami. You may visit Orient Lines
directly on the Web (below). In our case we used American Dream Cruises of Carmel Valley,
CA to plan and book our adventure. ADC, owned by Susan Trapp, can be contacted at
1-800-549-3473, email [email protected],
or web site www.adctravel.com.
Useful resource materials for Antarctica are the video, IMAX – Antarctica: An Adventure of a Different Nature, in DVD or VHS format, and the guidebook, Lonely Planet Antarctica (2nd Ed.). |
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Fast Facts: Antarctica is the fifth largest of the earth's seven continents, located almost entirely within the Antarctic Circle. The Antarctic Peninsula reaches out toward South America, providing the most accessible region. During the winter Antarctica doubles in size because of the large amount of sea ice that forms at its periphery. Antarctica is more than 95% ice covered and contains 90% of the world's fresh water. It is the highest continent, averaging 5,000 ft. in altitude because of its thick ice cover. The true boundary of Antarctica is not the continent itself but the Antarctic Convergence, which is a sharply defined zone where the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific oceans’ warmer waters mix with the colder waters flowing north from the Antarctic (Southern) Ocean. Seven nations have announced territorial claims to parts of Antarctica. Since the Antarctic Treaty of 1961 these claims have been held aside in the interests of international cooperation in scientific research.
Useful Web Links:
Antarctica Cruise ship companies can be found with DestinationSeek.com.
www.expeditiontrips.com:
good source for smaller ship cruises, 50-100 passengers.
www.iexplore.com/qdmap/Antarctica:
National Geographic site with many trips.
www.wildernesstravel.com:
also offers a cruise to Antarctica.
www.orientlines.com:
Orient Lines web site.
www.antarcticconnection.com:
Source for information, maps, books on Antarctica.
Return to Antarctica Adventure article.
