What is the Drake Passage? The 500 miles between Cape Horn and Livingston Island (part of the Shetland Islands) is the shortest distance from Antarctica to another landmass. The powerful Antarctic Circumpolar Current squeezes water through this small gap towards the Scotia Sea and South Atlantic Ocean, and as you cross over to Antarctica, you’re […]

Each different Antarctic Expedition is different, with the weather, wildlife, conditions and expedition members all playing a huge role in creating a successful and exciting adventure.  This Journey South had each unique element come together to create an epic adventure with amazing adventures each and every day .Typically we spend 2 1/2 days sailing each […]

It’s very very busy the day we return to port in Ushuaia. We have to Get the current passengers ready to disembark Get their baggage off the ship Re-provision the ship with fresh supplies Meet the incoming staff and say goodbye to any offsigning staff. We (the staff) then get a few hours ashore before […]

Weather rules all – 100% in the mountaineering world. The plan had been to go up a short but spectacular rocky ridge but low cloud and snow storms meant that the terrain would not have been suitable for us to use. Instead we hiked along the beach past the toe of the ridge and around […]

After travelling north to Foyn Harbour, the next Mountaineering team had an adventure of a different kind. Ice climbing again but this time we hiked to the top of the cliff first and then had to be lowered to the bottom before climbing back up. Before we could do this however, we needed to actually […]

With snow storms threatening but holding back around the N of Ronge Island we made our landing at Ketley Point, donned our snowshoes (of which we were all experts at doing now) and began our walk up towards the start of the glacier. We all negotiated a short narrow section well above one of the […]

Our 3rd Morning ashore was held on the low slopes of Danco Island where our guides quickly climbed a short steep section of ice about 300m away from the main landing of Danco Island to set up 3 different tope ropes. These ropes were set up with increasing difficulty and everybody soon got to get […]

Jabet Peak is one of the more technical ascents we make on the Basecamp trip and requires a small team of experienced climbers – well versed in the use of crampons and pitched climbing. It is normally a 6 – 7 hour climb getting the small team + guides to a height of 550m above […]

The increasing winds on the morning of the 21st meant that out first major plan change occurred when we shifted to Neko Harbour for the afternoons shore activities. Neko provides a long gentle rise to a high view point over the ocean below. Plancius started to look like a small toy ship and the passengers […]

21st AM– Georges Point After a series of changes to PLAN A, (which gave a hint of the weather to come) the Mountaineers made a landing at Georges Point. Our Team had their first experience of snow shoes on a short hike up the glacier to the point where we roped up and started our […]

Its been a hectic few days since leaving Wanaka as Trevor Street and I travel south to meet up with the rest of the Oceanwide Team aboard MV Plancius. Tomorrow morning we will head down with the other new onsigners to Plancius and then get quite busy. Reporovisioning of the ship, shifting passengers bags onto […]

Its time for the final Journey for the 2016/17 season to the Antarctic Peninsula to start again.  I’m currently sitting back in Hotel Rosa de Los Vientos waiting for the MV PLANCIUS to arrive tonight / tomorrow. The remainder of the expedition staff arrive tonight and we will board early in the morning to get […]

We seem to be in the middle of an incredible spell of fine calm and clear weather. The seas have been glassy with essentially no wind and clear over night ( not much ‘night’ though ) gave us a great freeze We were able to get a small team teasingly close to the summit of […]

To say today was incredible is both a cliche and an understatement. Late last night as we approached the peninsula the sea glassed off – no winds and glassy still water. Waking up this morning as we approached Georges point was simply stunning. Again we had no wind – the seas were calm and the […]

We”re now into our second day of the Drake Crossing. This is now my 5th crossing of the drake and it is by FAR the calmest and warmest I have seen. Yesterday we had squalls and rain with the occasional flurry of snow and the bow spray would occasionally freeze before it slammed into the […]

We’re now back in the amazing port town of Ushuaia – I ‘ve got the chance to do a few updates with high res images before we head south again in a few hours with a complete set of new pasengers.   The last few days have been pretty good with some amazing climbing – […]

We’ve completed our first trip south to the peninsula and are now on the way back to Ushuaia to pick up more passengers to do a quick turn around and come down south again. The ship has changed from a being a hot bed of frenetic activity, with the crew staff and passengers moving about […]

Our Voyage down was reasonably calm with only a moderate swell and NW winds. The Plancius arrived in Antarctica during the early morning of the 20th. By the time the passengers were up and awake we were sitting of Couverville Island – a small outcropping on the edge of the Antarctic Continent. Snow conditions at […]

The Plancius has set sail from Ushuaia. After taking on new stores and provisions, bunkering ( refuelling process) and embarking the new passengers, the Planciusleft Ushuaia at approx 6 pm We’ve now left the Beagle Channel and are out in the Drake Passage and enroute to the Antarctic Peninsula The weather is pretty good with […]

This is the tracking page for the Antarctic Expeditions – however it has also been added to the main expedition page as well.  You can either bookmark this page or follow the link below to the main page where all the expedition updates will be shown. MAIN ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION PAGE

To pass the time waiting for flying guys,  here are a few images from last years  trip that have been turned into paintings. I’m currently sitting in the Domestic Terminal in Buenos Aires waiting for the flight to Ushuaia where I will join with the MV Plancius Enjoy

With NZ currently in the grip of a strong disturbed westerly flow its feeling good to be re-gathering after returning from Nepal and the Cholatse Expedition rather than rushing back into the mountains to work.