Standing on the continent with penguins and fur seals galore!

Great holiday

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The crew and expedition team made sure that we were trained up on safe entry and exit of the zodiacs. They made appropriate calls on the 'swells' and changed landing sites or cruise by sites according to the sea conditions and 'marine deck' safety.

Very knowledgeable and friendly. All the expedition team had the skill sets in their 'discipline' and lectures were enjoyable and informative. The geology lecture might have been my favourite (only because I'm a geologist).

Having never been on a cruise before, I really had no preconception on what to expect. It was a great ship, our cabin was very comfortable with ample space for our gear and clothing. I was surprised at how much luxury there was for a ship of this size. The food was TOO good (gained 6 lbs as proof)! The selection, freshness and quality of the food was top notch - eating in a 5 star restaurant every day. I would definitely choose this ship again.

To maximize the experience, choose the smaller ships like the Island Sky (less than 100 passengers) so that everyone can do landings at once. Only 100 people were allowed on shore (S. Georgia and Antarctica wildlife/treaty rules) at one time so the entire ship could be 'ashore' for several hours. Also, the ability of the smaller ship to get into areas the large ships cannot made 2 landings/zodiac cruises per day practical. Be mindful of what wildlife you want to see and at what stage of their breeding/behavior - for us the King penguins were highly concentrated on the beaches (perfect!) because they were in 'catastrophic molt' (waiting for their new feathers to finish off). Still in beautiful plumage but not going anywhere (S. Georgia). Certain species of seals, whales and birds (penguins) are not found everywhere. There are no King penguins on the Antarctic peninsula.

We are such a small 'speck' on the vastness of our oceans - we should all respect and be mindful of our actions on this planet. Reduce, recycle and reuse (has been my motto my whole life) became MORE reinforced.

There were some areas that could have used more clarification for the particular ship. For example, the jacket sizing was 'off' for a lot people and a 'jacket swapping' occurred on board to get the right fit. The Island Sky provided a trekking pole while ashore but because it wasn't clear there were 'enough' we took our own poles which we didn't use. Having seen the variability of the weather, sea, wind and wildlife conditions, I see that the itinerary writeups are appropriate with terminology as to 'may land', 'possible number of landings' as to where, when and number of landings will be done. Being a very 'scheduled' type of person I had to 'let go' and take each day as it came and the expedition leader managed to pull off almost ALL the landings that he had in mind.

I was well prepared in terms of the gear. On reviewing - there was very little in terms of items that were not used. The guide to 'what to bring' was very helpful. I was extremely excited to be going BUT totally stressed out when Polar Latitudes sent the email about the Covid 19 testing. It was not clear what were the consequences of testing positive. So the period from that notification until we tested negative the day before sailing was brutal. As it turns out - Polar Latitudes has a 'soft isolation' policy' which allowed for personal zodiac landings, room service for meals and lectures streamed to the TV in the cabin - allowing for a positive tester to still have the experience.

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