Adventure Options
Optional Activities available on Adventure Ships
Kayaking is offered on our Adventure Ships in the Arctic and Antarctic. Additional adventure options, camping, cross-country skiing, mountaineering and are offered in Antarctica. Please inquire about the per person cost of each option.
What is it like to camp in the Antarctic?.
Past campers tell us that they spent most of the night outside their tents absorbing the silence. They reluctantly communicated in whispers, as they found speaking intrusive. During the few hours of darkness that fall they are tempted to reach overhead, because the stars seem near enough to touch. Campers from the Northern Hemisphere find the constellations unfamiliar, adding to the other-worldliness of the experience. All participants report that camping deepens their understanding of Antarctica in countless ways.
What is it like to cross-country ski the Peninsula?
Antarctic cross-country skiers often talk about the anticipation that builds as they gear up for the trail, and the anticipation – the twisting of the upper torso into the direction of a turn when skiing – that will soon follow. Skiers tell us that the moment that feeling and action coincide is sublime, pure and intense, like the landscape they are exploring.
What is it like to climb an Antarctic mountain?
The elemental nature of the activity lingers with Antarctic climbers: heart beats, stretched muscles, and wind whistling through the lines. They speak of hand holds formed by ancient rocks, and steep ice-covered slopes overhead, forcing a scramble, before the advance continues. And finally, with humor, they tell of the glissade, that last descent on the return that turns each of them in to children for one brief moment as they slide.
What is it like to kayak in the polar regions?
There is a lot to do within the first few moments of entering a kayak. Once you are settled and have a feel for the paddle in your hands, you will turn your attention to the surroundings. That is the moment, so our kayakers tell us, when you will truly understand that the experience of of paddling in Antarctica is like no other. Crystal clear water supports the hull. Elemental sounds of water lapping and the drip of resting paddles are a counterpoint to the cry of penguins and the cracking of ancient ice. Dwarfed by the immensity of the landscape, for a short while you drift in awe.