Travel to Antarctica

by Ben Garrett
(Ouerto Williams, Chile)

Our scenic route to Anarctica

We will be crossing the Strait of Magellan and continue over snow capped Tierra del Fuego Island, the Darwin Mountains and its glaciers. Islands will only compose the landscape we will be observing until we reach Cape Horn and the last rocks of the American continent.

On the way to the airport of Frei Base, to which we get in three hours time, we will already be anticipating the Antarctic with excitement. After a four-hour trip, we finally arrive at the airbase, where we will be visiting the establishments of Villa Las Estrellas (Las Estrellas Village), the wild fauna reserves, the glaciers and other attractions offered by this place.

Baleen whales, Orcas or Killer Whales, Sea Lions, Weddell Seals, Antarctic Seals and Penguins compose the fauna, which feeds on the Antarctic's rich waters.

The famous Adelie penguins are the main species, but you will also see the Papua Penguins, Antarctic Penguins and many other kinds. The harshness and variability of the weather makes an amazing contrast with the facilities of the scientific stations and most of all with Villa Las Estrellas, first site to be inhabited by civilians.

Our destination is Frei Base, established in 1980 under the name of Teniente Rodolfo Marsh, which together with the Presidente Frei Meteorological center inaugurated in 1969, is one of the main meteorological and navigational stations in the Antarctic.

President Frei inaugurated the last one and after that the air strip was extended to accommodate heavy aircraft.
There is no other place in the world as amazing as he Antarctic. This is a continent almost completely submerged by ice, which not only conceals its topography, but has also influenced its evolution.

Covering an area of around 7.000.000 sq. km the Antarctica is the second smallest continent after Australia. However, its mountains cover such a significant area that it makes it the highest, in average, of the seven continents. It is also the windiest, coldest and least populated of the planet.

The ice sheet covering almost the entire Antarctica represents the largest fresh water reserve in the world, containing around 90% of the world´s ice and 68% of its water. But precipitations in the Antarctic are very low. The annual rainfall is only 5 cm average; if we considered this fact this would be the world's largest desert.

Geographically, Antarctic includes the continent itself and its adjacent islands. According to the Antarctic Treaty signed in 1959, the Antarctica jurisdiction applies to the region between the parallel of latitude 60 and the South Pole.

The search for the Antarctic was one of the last great adventures during exploration times. It is an epic story dating from centuries ago, since the Terra Incognita (Unknown Earth) of the old explorers, all the way to the first sightings of the continent in 1820.

This continent was first discovered by whale hunters, in search of wealth; and later by the great explorers of the glorious and heroic era: Ernest Shackleton, Douglas Mawson, Roald Amundsen and Robert Scott amongst others.

So, check out the Victory Cruises website today!

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