My brother Rick and I traveled to Patagonia and Antarctica in late January and February of 2026. When we planned this trip, Antarctica was the goal and we added Patagonia as a “might as well”. Rick found a travel agency that specializes in Antarctica and Patagonia called Swoop. I’m so grateful that he found a specialist because we have truly been able to experience and explore both Patagonia and Antarctica in ways I never imagined I didn’t realize when we first started planning that most cruise ships don’t let you actually set foot on land. Antarctica has a multitude of rules about making landfall including no more than 100 people at a time on shore. This regulation is to maintain the pristine environment that is Antarctica. This rule makes all the larger cruise ships off limits for making landfall. I’m grateful that Swoop booked us on an expedition ship with only 162 passengers from 40 different countries. This meant that not only could we landfall at the Falkland Islands and South Georgia Island, we could make landfall on the continent of Antarctica and truly experience the environment and wildlife. 

Outside of days at sea, each day off the coast of Antarctica was organized into two zodiac rides per day to either make landfall or cruise. We were divided into the red group and the blue group so that we would never have more than 100 people on shore. Our first zodiac ride in Antarctica was in Mikkelson Harbor. We landed on an island that had a colony of Gentoo penguins. Gentoos are super animated and run or slide across the snow rather quickly making them adorable. They are utterly fearless and will walk right by you towards whatever their destination might be. We had to try and keep 15 feet away but they are so quiet and active, it can make it difficult to stay the minimum distance away. The bay we landed in was full of bergy bits and growlers (small icebergs) so the shore was strewn with large ice chunks.  There were also several whale skeletons on the beach as well and hundreds of Gentoos milling around in and out of the water. 

The next morning, we had tremendous weather with blue skies and no wind (unusual for Antarctica). The expedition guide, Marcel, had told us to be up at 5:30 AM to watch our ship, the Hondius, navigate the narrow Lemier Channel. Rick and I went up to the observation deck to see this magnificent channel with mountains and glaciers on both sides and hundreds of pieces of sea ice and icebergs floating on top of the clear, reflective water. It was absolutely surreal and picture perfect as we floated through the narrow channel, sometimes breaking through ice. The glow of the sunrise, the mist in the peaks of the mountains and the reflection on the ice strewn water was absolutely magical. It definitely will be one of my fondest memories of the trip.

We went for a zodiac cruise through the Iceberg Graveyard. There were hundreds of house size or bigger icebergs run aground. The icebergs calve off one of the many glaciers or sea ice and can’t move very far because it’s so shallow. If only 10% is above the water line, you can imagine how deep the icebergs go. There was one formation which had a hole in it making it look like it belonged in Arches National Park. When it’s perfect weather like we had, you can see all the shades of blue and green in the ice. The whole landscape looks like cool whip and ice cream and all of that bright white reflecting off the icebergs and glaciers can be blinding but wonderous. 

Each of the drivers on the zodiacs are also experts in one particular area of interest such as geology, penguins, ice, whales, history and seals. It’s a random assignment when you get on a zodiac but on this one day in Antarctica we had Pierre as our guide who is an expert on whales. It was fortuitous. We saw several humpback whales taking a nap which is a bizarre sight. They hover on the surface and make growls when they let out their air. These immense beings lying on the surface as we hover around in the zodiac. The most surprising thing was a group of Orcas (killer whales) swimming together in a pod. We could see the long dorsal fin of the male with several smaller whales with him. According to Pierre (who was super excited), they only see Orcas in Antarctica once a season.  Apparently, they swim so quickly they are hard to get a glimpse of. It felt very special that we were able to see this pod together and, at times, swimming under our zodiac which I found unnerving. I had hoped they didn’t want me for lunch.

On another zodiac cruise, we saw several varieties of seals lying on ice flows. It was like looking at a dog snuggled up next to a blanket except it was a seal snuggled up to the ice. We saw Weddel seals, crab eater seals and leopard seals during our various zodiac rides. These varieties of seals seem to be more solitary and we almost always spotted them on their own.  This is opposed to the fur seals which are in huge gangs playing together in the water as if in a swimming pool with their buddies. 

When we were on South Georgia Island there were half a million King penguins together on one shore line, in Antarctica, the penguin’s colonies are much smaller.  The shy little Adelie penguin is very small and timid. The entire group of Adelies was no more than twenty and they are completely black except for a white ring around their eye and a white abdomen. At our last landing, we saw a bunch of Gentoos swimming together and congregating on shore together. I’ve seen so many penguins on this trip that now I can identify each of the seven species that I’ve seen.

Our last stop was actually on the Antarctic continent. In previous landfalls we had been on islands and not on the mainland.  In this zodiac ride we went to Nekko harbor and set foot on what for many was their 7^th continent. It was for Rick but not for me (I still need Asia and Australia). It’s momentous to stand on this white continent with all its beauty, wildlife and stunning landscape. It’s not easily achieved but it sure was worth the effort to experience this pristine, breathtaking landscape.