Description
Sail the Drake Passage, the most storied ocean crossing in the world, with albatross for company. Then fly out of Antarctica, landing in Patagonia. The crossing is the point. The flight is the exit.
With 36 guests, six Senior Polar Guides, and four Zodiacs in the water at once, all guests reach the Peninsula together, with the time and space to go further.
This voyage combines what neither format alone can offer. The Drake Passage south from Ushuaia: two days at sea across open ocean, Cape Horn astern, wandering albatrosses tracing the swell, the continent building on the horizon. Four full days on the Antarctic Peninsula. Then a 2.5-hour charter flight from King George Island to Puerto Natales, arriving in Patagonia with a farewell night at Weskar Lodge rather than two more days at sea.
Somewhere around the second day, the water changes.
You cross the Antarctic Convergence, the line where warmer subantarctic water meets the cold, nutrient-dense Southern Ocean. Sea temperature drops several degrees within hours. The air sharpens. Bird numbers increase. It’s the moment the ocean tells you you’ve reached Antarctic waters, well before the ship does.
Aureum’s ice-class hull and fin stabilisers are built for this crossing specifically, sustained Southern Ocean swell, not sheltered coastal water. The result is a safer, steadier crossing.
Nine days total. The Drake Passage as an experience, not a delay. Patagonia as a landing, not a transit. 36 guests throughout.
