Antarctica Bridge Fly-Cruise on Silver Explorer

Fly across the Drake passage then enjoy five full days exploring the Antarctic onboard the luxurious Silver Explorer. Discover this mesmerizing region on immersive zodiac tours, kayaking adventures led by Silverseas expedition team and back onboard attend riveting lectures and workshops presented by world renowned naturalist and polar explorers.

1. Fly to Santiago

   Fly to Santiago and connect for Punta Arenas

2. Days 1-2: Punta Arenas, Patagonia, Chile

   Arrive into Punta Arenas and transfer to your hotel, spend the afternoon exploring Punta Arenas, a small and charming city close to the southernmost tip of Patagonia.Later today there will be a welcome meeting and informative expedition lecture.

   Accommodation: Cabo de Hornos Hotel (1 night)

3. Days 2-3: Punta Arenas, Patagonia, Chile

   On arrival transfer to your hotel then spend a final afternoon exploring Punta Arenas.

   Fly from Punta Arenas to Santiago  the next day.  

   Accommodation: Cabo de Hornos Hotel (1 night)

4. Days 3-9: Antarctica

   Accommodation: Silversea Silver Explorer (6 nights)

   View Highlights

   • Day 1 : Fly to King George Island

     Transfer from your hotel to the airport then fly high over the Drake Passage to King George Island where your ship awaits. Arriving at this iconic destination by plane and descending onto the South Shetland Islands affords you a unique first glimpse of the landscapes that await. Please note that flight schedules are dependent on weather.

   • Day 2 : Antarctic Sound

     Travelling south across the Bransfield Strait you enter the Weddell Sea and the Antarctic sound. The strong clockwise current brings cold, ice-filled waters, the landscape of the Sound differs to elsewhere and takes in waters full of vast tabular icebergs, sea ice and Adelie penguins who thrive in the colder waters. While the route will be determined by the ice and weather conditions, you may have the opportunity to discover a varied ecology, history and astounding geological formations.

   • Day 3 - 6: Antarctic Peninsula

     As you approach the Antarctic Peninsula, a ripple of excitement is likely to run through the ship. This is a landscape that almost defies description, and your first glimpse of it will show why. Over the course of the next few days this otherworldly terrain will become more familiar as you attend lectures given by the Expedition team on the geology, wildlife and history, and make regular land excursions in a Zodiac. Using their knowledge of the region, the team will work around the weather and ice conditions, as well as wildlife opportunities, to create daily schedules that maximise your understanding and experience of the Antarctic Peninsula.

     Zodiac excursions are available each day. Travelling in Zodiacs you can get closer to the bays to explore their wildlife and landscapes, including large chinstrap penguins, fur seals and elephant seals. Basaltic turrets covered in yellow and orange lichens rise from the pebble beaches, vast glaciers calve into the harbour with a thundering crack, and gentoo penguins and Weddell seals rest on the beaches.

   • Day 4 : South Shetland Islands

     Windswept, raw and with a volcanic landscape rich in abundant flora and fauna, the Shetland Islands are covered in mosses, lichen, and meadows of flowering grasses, with gentoo penguins, chinstrap penguins and southern giant petrels. Weddell seals and chinstrap penguins can often be spotted on the beach near Cámara Base, the Argentina research station on Half Moon Island, and as you sail through Neptune’s Bellows on Deception Island you enter a theatrical landscape, with equally dramatic wildlife. Hot Springs and the flooded caldera are inhabited by kelp gulls, Antarctic terns, brown skuas and south polar skuas, while the abandoned whaling station of Whalers Bay offers shelter to Wilson’s storm petrels and black-bellied storm petrels.

   • Day 6 : Disembarkation and fly to Punta Arenas, Chile

     Disembark at King George Island in the South Shetland Island and take the two-hour flight across the Drake Passage to Punta Arenas in Chile.

5. Fly home from Santiago

• Antarctic Peninsula

  Travelling through Antarctica takes you through a landscape unlike anywhere else on earth. Your time here introduces you to this evocative landscape, with trips ashore and onboard presentations providing an understanding of the scenery and its wildlife.

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• Antarctic Sound

  Sailing towards the Antarctic Sound brings you to a dramatically different landscape, rich in Adelie penguins and little-travelled waterways. Largely covered in sea ice for much of the year, the region offers a wealth of flora and fauna to discover.

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• Disembarkation and fly to Punta Arenas, Chile

  As you reach the end of your Antarctic expedition, you disembark the boat and cross the Drake Passage once more, flying back to Punta Arenas.

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• Exploring the Lemaire Channel

  Boasting some of the most spectacular mountain scenery and icebergs, the Lemaire Channel is a truly beautiful part of the Antarctic Peninsula to explore, both on your ship and on Zodiac excursions.

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• Fly to King George Island

  Fly from Punta Arenas to Antarctica and you cross the legendary Drake Passage in just a few hours, arriving into the South Shetland Islands to meet your ship at King George Island.

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• South Shetland Islands

  Sailing around the South Shetland Islands offers an opportunity to observe some of the continent’s most iconic wildlife species and a landscape of spellbinding beauty.

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• Spectacular South Georgia

  Longer Antarctic expeditions include time exploring South Georgia, arguably the highlight of your cruise. With breathtaking scenery, huge congregations of king and macaroni penguins and amazing birdlife, there is so much to discover here.

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• The Drake Passage

  The stretch of sea between the southern tip of South America and Antarctica is the Drake Passage, an often turbulent stretch of sea that marks the beginning and end of your journey south. Take in the midnight sunset and watch albatrosses fly alongside you.

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• The Falkland Islands

  With clear skies, seamless horizons and large numbers of penguins and albatross to be found on white sand beaches and amongst tufts of vibrant tussock grass, The Falkland Islands are rich in natural beauty and a visit here is culturally fascinating too.

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• Visiting Port Lockroy

  Port Lockroy is a British-built research station situated on Goudier Island and restored into a museum about the early explorers in 1996. A fascinating place to explore, and plenty of gentoo penguins outside to entertain you, too.

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• Whales & Seals

  Whilst most visitors find the penguins the primary draw in terms of Antarctic wildlife, the marine life includes numerous species of seal and whale. Species include humpback whales, orcas, elephant and leopard seals, and Antarctic fur seals.

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Santiago, Punta Arenas, Antarctica