Photo: LA(Phot) Kelly Whybrow, UK MOD ↗THE JOURNEY IN DETAIL
The Drake Passage, hands on.
The club’s most serious route: three weeks on an expedition sailing yacht from Ushuaia across the Drake Passage to the Antarctic Peninsula and back. There is no cruise liner with a lecture theatre here: the crew stand their own watches in the Drake, pick anchorages among the ice and tie off to rocks in coves too small for anything bigger. Ten days among icebergs, whales and the penguin colonies of Port Lockroy, Neko Harbour and the Lemaire Channel.
- Two Drake Passage crossings under sail
- The Lemaire Channel and anchorages among icebergs
- Humpbacks and minkes in the Gerlache Strait
- Gentoo colonies and Deception Island
With old friends or new ones
Join a group or arrange a separate departure for your own team. Before travelling, we get to know each other, discuss everyone's experience and find suitable dates. You can also prepare together.
DAY BY DAY
Your daily itinerary.
A provisional itinerary. Weather, group readiness and local conditions may change the order and length of the stages.
- DAY 1 · Preparation
Ushuaia and boarding
Meet in Ushuaia and board the expedition yacht in the port. Safety briefing, settling in and a polar kit check.
Overnight: Yacht, Ushuaia port - DAY 2 · 25 nautical miles
Beagle Channel and Puerto Williams
East down the Beagle Channel, 25 miles to Puerto Williams. Chilean clearance, a last dinner ashore and waiting for a weather window.
Overnight: Yacht, Puerto Williams - DAY 3 · 120 nautical miles
Past Cape Horn into the Drake
Past Cape Horn and the crossing begins. First night in the ocean, three-hour watches paired with a crew member.
Overnight: Yacht, Drake Passage - DAY 4 · 150 nautical miles
Mid-Drake
Open ocean, 3–5 metre swell and albatrosses astern. Reefing with the wind and holding a course south.
Overnight: Yacht, Drake Passage - DAY 5 · 150 nautical miles
The Antarctic Convergence
Water temperature drops to 2 degrees, the first icebergs appear and an ice watch is set on the bow.
Overnight: Yacht, Drake Passage - DAY 6 · 100 nautical miles
The Melchior Islands
First land: the Melchior Islands at the mouth of the Gerlache Strait. Four lines to the rocks and the first seals on ice floes.
Overnight: Yacht, Melchior Islands - DAY 7 · 35 nautical miles
Gerlache Strait and Cuverville
Down the Gerlache to Cuverville Island and the peninsula’s largest gentoo colony. Humpbacks feeding alongside.
Overnight: Yacht, off Cuverville - DAY 8 · 15 nautical miles
Neko Harbour and a continental landing
A landing on the continent proper at Neko Harbour beneath a calving glacier. Night under the glacier in Andvord Bay.
Overnight: Yacht, Neko Harbour - DAY 9 · 12 nautical miles
Paradise Harbour
Kayaking among floes in Paradise Harbour, the Argentine Brown station and a climb up the hill above the bay.
Overnight: Yacht, Paradise Harbour - DAY 10 · 20 nautical miles
Port Lockroy
British Base A on Goudier Island, the southernmost post office, a 1940s museum and gentoos among the huts. Anchor in Alice Creek.
Overnight: Yacht, Port Lockroy - DAY 11 · 25 nautical miles
The Lemaire Channel
The narrow channel between kilometre-high cliffs, ice permitting. Anchor at Pléneau Island among grounded icebergs.
Overnight: Yacht, Pléneau - DAY 12 · 15 nautical miles
Argentine Islands and Vernadsky
The route’s southernmost point at 65° S. Ukraine’s Vernadsky station, formerly British Faraday, where the ozone hole was discovered.
Overnight: Yacht, Argentine Islands - DAY 13 · 35 nautical miles
Back north through the Lemaire
Back through the channel towards Port Lockroy or the Peltier Channel, anchorage chosen by ice. Crabeater seals on the floes.
Overnight: Yacht, Peltier Channel - DAY 14 · 90 nautical miles
Deception Island
A 90-mile passage north to the South Shetlands. In through Neptune’s Bellows into the flooded caldera and Whalers Bay with its rusting boilers.
Overnight: Yacht, Deception Island - DAY 15 · Shore day
Waiting for a window at Deception
Walk to the chinstrap colony at Baily Head and a dip in the warm volcanic shallows. Studying the Drake forecast.
Overnight: Yacht, Deception Island - DAY 16 · 140 nautical miles
Into the Drake, northbound
Departure on the first window. Westerly wind, reaching with the sea on the port side.
Overnight: Yacht, Drake Passage - DAY 17 · 150 nautical miles
Drake, second night
Full speed north. A gale is possible: storm jib, closed cockpit and hot soup by watches.
Overnight: Yacht, Drake Passage - DAY 18 · 150 nautical miles
Drake, day three
The water warms and the albatrosses return. By evening the Hermite Islands and Cape Horn are on the horizon.
Overnight: Yacht, Drake Passage - DAY 19 · 80 nautical miles
Cape Horn and Puerto Williams
In good weather a landing on Horn Island by the lighthouse and the albatross monument. Into Puerto Williams for Chilean clearance.
Overnight: Yacht, Puerto Williams - DAY 20 · 25 nautical miles
Beagle Channel to Ushuaia
The last 25 miles up the Beagle Channel. Berth in Ushuaia and a farewell dinner ashore.
Overnight: Yacht, Ushuaia port - DAY 21 · Transfer
Departure
Breakfast on board and transfer to Ushuaia airport. Weather margin is already built into the passages.
Overnight: —
Included in the estimated price
Berth on a 60–70 ft ice-strengthened expedition sailing yacht
Captain and crew with polar experience
Full board on board
All zodiac landings
Antarctic visit permits and IAATO fees
Harness, lifejacket and sea boots
Not included in the price
Flights to the meeting point
Personal travel insurance and visas
Personal equipment
Single-room supplements and personal expenses
Kitty for fuel and berthing in Ushuaia and Puerto Williams
Mandatory polar evacuation insurance
Polar clothing and a drysuit for kayaking
Accommodation in Ushuaia before and after
YOUR PREPARATION
Arrive ready for the route.
Only for those with offshore passages and night watches behind them: the Drake is three to four days of ocean with seas to 6 metres. Ivan selects participants a year ahead and prepares them for cold-weather kit, watches and heavy-weather work; MONT’s Atlantic or Cabo Verde routes are the ideal background.
Prepare with IvanROUTE QUESTIONS
BEFORE WE MEET ON THE TRAIL
What to prepare in advance
- A soft bag rather than a hard suitcase
- Shoes with clean, non-slip soles
- Sun and wind protection, and a light rain layer
- Personal essentials suited to your experience at sea
Once we choose a date, we agree on the equipment list, meeting point and transfer time. Please wait until the programme is confirmed before booking flights.