IAATO Launches New Website

The International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO) has launched a new website, providing a wealth of new information for prospective travelers to Antarctica. The new site also features an expanded Media Center for journalists and enhanced features for IAATO members.

"The familiar URL www.iaato.org remains the same, but the similarity stops there," noted IAATO Executive Director Steve Wellmeier. "The new site provides much better graphics and navigation tools, including a search function and site map. One of our goals is to provide accurate information for the Antarctic traveler, particularly in the area of environmental stewardship, guidelines for visitors, and answers to the many questions they might have."

Not all plain sailing in wild Antarctica

Cool fun: Australian adventurers James Castrission and Justin Jones in the Antarctic Source: Supplied

THE weather is perfect. The sea is calm, the sky a dazzling blue. The day seems to challenge the common assumption that the frozen continent is almost always rainy.

I'm not saying my trip of a lifetime is all plain sailing. Our feisty little ship pitches through choppy seas while crossing the Drake Passage, south of Ushuaia - the Argentine tourist town from which most cruises to the icy land depart.

Read Full Story at The Daily Telegraph

Qantas The Australian Way: Go with the floe

Photo essay and article by Peter Robinson and images by Peter Eastway from Qantas The Australian Way, October 2011

Open publication 

Historic Antarctic expedition

One Ocean Expeditions ship Akademik Ioffe in Antarctica.
A cruise voyage will take place to South Georgia in November to bury
the ashes of British explorer Frank Wild next to Ernest Shackleton. Picture: Supplied

photo of Sir Earnest Shackleton (L) and
Frank Wild in Antarctica. Picture: Anthony Reginato

IT WAS his final wish to be buried next to Ernest Shackleton and 90 years after their last expedition together, Antarctic explorer Frank Wild's request will finally be granted.

Wild, considered one of the great Antarctic explorers, will be buried beside his former boss in Antarctica this year after an exhaustive search for his long-lost ashes.

Four of his Australian descendants will be among the passengers taking part in a commemorative cruise with One Ocean Expeditions to South Georgia in November to take his ashes to their final resting place.

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AKADEMIK SERGEY VAVILOV TO JOIN ONE OCEAN EXPEDITIONS FLEET

In what is seen as the most exciting development of the year for the expedition cruise industry, One Ocean Expeditions (OOE) has announced that the highly regarded Akademik Sergey Vavilov will join Akademik Ioffe as its second polar expedition vessel with effect from November 2012.

The Vavilov has been described by OOE's competitors as 'one of the finest expedition ships to sail the polar seas' and is sister ship to the Ioffe, which OOE currently operates exclusively under a long term charter agreement.

Both vessels were built in Finland in the late 1980's for the Russian Academy of Science. Both undertook hydro-acoustic research and consequently are extremely quiet, fast and stable. They are widely acknowledged as the best expedition vessels for difficult polar waters.

One Ocean Expeditions was founded in 2006 by Canadian Andrew Prossin, a 20 year veteran of Antarctica and the Arctic. Known for his innovative approach to expedition cruising, he has worked extensively with both vessels and it was an obvious fit for his new company to bring these vessels into the fold.

"This addition to our fleet was both necessary and timely for OOE", he said. "It is necessary because our 2011/12 season has almost completely sold out and we definitely need a second vessel. It is timely because the opportunity to take the Vavilov now puts us in a leading position with the two best expedition vessels in the world".

With a capacity of 105 passengers, (but limited by OOE to 92) the Vavilov will initially be deployed in Antarctica, followed by the 2013 Arctic season. But first, the ship will be extensively refurbished. "The Vavilov is a great ship, and with the forthcoming improvement program we will have no trouble bringing her up to the high expectations of One Ocean Expeditions' clients", said Prossin.  "This is a terrific platform where we can offer an innovative expedition product and continue to hone the high levels of onboard guest services our clients have come to expect from us." A major renovation is planned, including redecorated cabins, enhanced, modernised public areas and a wellness centre.

For further details contact Active Travel on 02-9264 1231 or visit www.activetravel.com.au

East Antarctica: Frozen Folly

A trip to East Antarctica is anything but a walk in the park. Our Adventure Cruise Guide editor follows gingerly in the footsteps of Sir Douglas Mawson. Words & Photos: Roderick Eime

“Beyond the Roaring Forties there are the Furious Fifties and Shrieking Sixties, for the storms that ravage these regions become more and more severe as one proceeds further south.” – Herbert Ponting, 1921

Who in their right mind would willingly subject themself to this kind of discomfort? And to call a voyage to Antarctica a ‘cruise’– especially if you’re venturing beyond 70 degrees south – is a serious misrepresentation.

If your idea of a cruise is sitting on a deckchair beside a pool with a pina colada in one hand and a Jackie Collins potboiler in the other, read no further. Deep Antarctica is one of those places, like the moon, that is just so distant and unreachable that to travel there is almost the stuff of fiction.

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Rod travelled with Heritage Expeditions

SMH: In Memory of Mawson

On parade ... the MV Orion approaches the Antarctic continent.
Photo: Louise Southerden

A century after the explorer embarked on his expedition, Louise Southerden steps ashore on Australia's Antarctica.

You've spent days crossing the Southern Ocean from New Zealand, found your way through pack ice, seen your first house-sized berg. Now, here it is: the Antarctic continent, a wall of ice with a sloping brow, filling the southern horizon.

Nothing prepares you for that first glimpse of this alien land and the simple vastness of it. The South Pole is still, incredibly, 2630 kilometres further south, across all that ice, some of it four kilometres thick. All you can do is stand and stare.

Then, out of the whiteness, a rocky point appears: Cape Denison, on Commonwealth Bay. This is one of the few places in east Antarctica, due south of Australia, where the largest ice sheet on the planet kneels down to meet the sea, allowing you to step ashore. It's also where a timber hut built by Douglas Mawson and his men in January 1912 still stands.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/travel/activity/cruises/in-memory-of-mawson-20110601-1fg2w.html#ixzz1WVn4vPzw