Beyond the Polar Circle with Andrew Daddo | PONANT

[Music] this is my final time on the ice too quickly we've reached our last day and to be honest i'm surprised at the effect this cruise to the antarctic has had on me the brilliance of the icebergs and snow-covered mountains the sheer joy of so many penguins the whales and seals and the light and silence like you've only imagined interrupted by true nature it's like some kind of magic an utterly overwhelming experience that does take your breath away when i stepped aboard laborio a little over two weeks ago i had an inkling of what was coming but i was wrong antarctica is surely beyond the imagination of those who've not seen it it is a dream and it's a dream that came true i'm on the precipice of one of life's great adventures and it raises the old question what is better the journey or the destination both of which promise to astound and delight and most definitely challenge you see i'm headed to the antarctic leaving ursuwaya this is the last big city at the bottom of the world and i know it's not the stuff of shackleton aboard the endurance but it's not meant to be it's meant to be life-changing and it will be because everybody says it i'm just busting to find out how join me on one of the world's greatest high seas adventures cruising in luxury in true french style we're heading south deep south exploring the white continent antarctica a magical place teeming with incredible wildlife this is the earth's largest greatest and most fragile wilderness this is a bucket list odyssey to excite all the senses i invite you to join me as we journey beyond the polar circle [Applause] [Music] with ushawaya shrinking behind us it's down the infamous beagle channel and on to the southern ocean to fully appreciate the wonders of the antarctic we are going all out 16 nights at sea 3 500 nautical miles north east to the falkland islands in south georgia before heading south to the south shetland islands as we make our way to the antarctic peninsula and finally weather and ice permitting will cross the polar circle and officially enter antarctica no guarantees of course but then that's all part of the adventure florence calper is our expedition leader by her own definition she is both adventurer and explorer surely this is her happy place so the first place we go to is the falkland islands a place that is not so often visited so as over 700 tiny islands with all these wildlife with penguins albatrosses as this is an expedition cruise if there's a chance to get ashore it's taken whenever we set anchor the ship drops the fleet of zodiacs and the naturalists make sure all is safe before setting out for adventure this is one thing that separates ponnet's expedition cruisers from the rest of the crowd it's two days sail northeast of ushawaya to the falkland islands a remote and rugged south atlantic archipelago it's home to windswept sheep farms fishes and for us abundant bird life this first stop is grave cove and our first sighting of gentoo penguins in the wild i was sort of pre-warned that the penguins are quite funny they are funny creatures [Applause] [Music] we then walk across this rugged island to a beach i was mesmerised at the bountiful wildlife [Music] we saw a pod of hourglass dolphins making it two firsts in the one morning [Music] a short trip to another landfall west point so many ports of call just loving it [Music] our expedition leader florence is always first to greet us and always with a smile each day she briefs us with terrific facts on each and every adventure so this is west point the ship is more just outside this cove and it's a 2k walk to a colony of albatross intelligently i swap from the lighter jacket to the heavy one sun's come out quite hot it's farming land beautiful yet unforgiving and definitely rugged you can't help but notice the wind this is like just a living sculpture and it's it's calm today but you can just imagine what it would be like the rolling walk is a good chance to stretch the legs with the promise of something both unique and stunning it's always nice when promises are kept across the bluff on the edge of a sea cliff a colony of black brown albatross this hatchery is huge the harder and further you look the more you find including a few interlopers like the aptly named rockhopper penguins aren't they just adorable i'm not sure many of us have seen a show quite like this the albatross spend most of their 50-year lives gliding the winds only coming to earth to breed and this tiny speck in the south atlantic happens to be one of their favorite nurseries this is the highest sea cliff in the falkland islands the adult albatross are huge birds they swoop into their chicks who cry out constantly the scene was mesmerizing alas home videos and a head full of memories will have to suffice let me try and put this ship laborious into perspective imagine being rich not just rich but tycoon rich like my dad left me a media empire kind of rich you know the type of course you'd have your own private mega yacht and that yacht would look and feel a lot like this pond's laborio is 11 000 tons and 142 meters of luxury all wrapped up in a stunning new environmentally friendly design [Music] isn't it funny how it feels like there's nothing happening then all of a sudden it all happens together this is shag rocks quite famous for just being in the middle of nowhere 240 kms from south georgia uh discovered i don't know 250 years ago by spanish um i was gonna say pirate but he wasn't he was a sailor called shag no named after the shag birds and there's been whales all around us for the last 15 minutes and then i saw a seal swim by day six and it's another stunner snow-capped mountains crowd the horizon then a seal comes in right under my balcony the scene is most definitely set the view is excitingly different to anything we've seen as of the sounds it's penguins not tens or thousands but hundreds of thousands of them king penguins to be sure [Music] this is south georgia zodiacs have dropped in conditions assessed then travelers are sent off it's a roster system with everyone getting ample time on shore and the idea is really simple less people more nature so everyone's a winner it seems ridiculous to call something a highlight before you've actually seen it but i fully expect south georgia to be a major highlight and there's [Music] welcome to salisbury plain enjoy the penguins enjoy the first seals let them approach you i hope you guys appreciate how lucky we are to be here it's really an incredible place that we don't get to visit often our guides instruct us to stay five meters away from the wildlife the problem is the wildlife doesn't always obey the same rules from an albatross nursery to what feels like the garden of eden souls reclaimed is a wildlife wonderland and if you've seen happy feet you'll have an inkling of what this place looks like they're like puppies it's like you haven't got my daughters here seriously how do you choose between the baby seals and the king penguins obviously you don't well so it's as much as i want to humanize the penguins and the fur seals especially the cubs were like little puppies and so they're standing around in groups just chatting and talking about each other someone's had too much fish the sounds that you hear are actually parents looking for offspring for food and for safety and some gossip as well surely surely they're going oh have you seen margaret someone found a good bit of krill today tonight [Music] see it looks like an old man he's got a hairy chest and you know he's not that's the baby one okay mate i'm truly astounded at how many penguins this coastline can hold like the beach at salisbury plain a three-day itinerary in south georgia is absolutely packed for tuna bay saint andrews bay brit vicken cooper bay and finally drygalski fjord if salisbury plain was mostly about the king penguin fortuna bay is a seal lovers paradise specifically the pups [Music] looking at them now it's hard to imagine but the fur seals were almost hunted out of existence there are days now when it's hard to find a spot to land given the numbers this is one of nature's great rebound stories and a very good sign what's happening here with these with the seals it's obviously it's a colony yeah so basically it's almost like a seal nursery where we are now so this island and all around south georgia is a really important breeding ground for the antarctic fur seal these guys so it's the biggest population in the world and this time of year as you can see the pups are here funny aren't they they're so funny and their mums are out feeding so they're just causing trouble really chasing the ducks chasing us watch out we're gonna get you all right just excuse me for a photo opportunity mate [Music] so you can see if you step backwards that's what they like they like to chase you [Music] what what are the chances of us seeing a a white one albino exciting slim but exciting yeah so about one in a thousand uh not albino though they're blonde so it's great yeah so they're not albino yeah if you get close enough you'll see they've got normal eyes they're just basically got blonde hair so they're locustic is the technical term your leukistic seal challenge accepted one eye out for a lookistic seal one eye on what's in front of me [Music] it's hard to tell because some of the older ones have white on them but there's a there is a white one there's a one in one thousand shot right there and there's the cutest oh my god hi how are you good day where's mum getting some dungeons yeah she'll be back soon as for the leucistic seal it's a case of plain old-fashioned good luck [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] inquisitive gorgeous cute [Applause] moment a shutterbug's blessing [Music] day seven we're heading to saint andrews bay a short sale southeast from fortuna bay ah sunshine this is home to the largest king penguin colony in south georgia [Music] it just it gets better access isn't always possible and this stream is the main culprit for often it's running much faster and it's too difficult to cross today with a little help there's no issue at all well not for us anyway [Music] the king penguins loitering by the river are there for fresh water they wouldn't have eaten for up to two to three weeks because they're molting and they can't swim when they lose their feathers because they need them for insulation luckily their layer of fat provides energy until the malting season is over it's a festival to be sure fur seals king penguins it's a place to find your inner kid and set it free [Music] you see the ceiling in the middle of the thing oh you bugger [Music] well that's enough horseplay i now have to reach the top of the hill there's something slightly strange about this particular spot and it's that there's no king penguins they've been everywhere all the time which makes me think this is the calm before the storm [Music] oh my god i'm astounded to think this isn't the largest king penguin colony in the entire world it's the second largest but what a privilege it is to witness this site that is more than 100 000 pairs so it's quite a lot yeah why here why in south georgia because they don't have let's say you know a lot of space to to to breed all these king penguins they live in sub antarctica ireland because they feed they get their their food from the southern ocean so they need a place for breeding no it's such a privilege to be surrounded by all this animal in in peace and it's amazing yeah you can find that in africa but in africa if you go out of your of your car you have a lion try to kill you you know there is ample time to take the wonder of it all in before we stroll back down to shore i'm almost certain i'll never witness sheer numbers of wildlife like this again this is the stunning king edward cove the water is like something you'd imagine on a beautiful tropical island at the end of the cove you'll find an abandoned whaling station [Music] more seals another seal paradise though these pups are a little bigger with their own interesting table manners [Music] [Laughter] [Music] a bit of living history here and a lot of seals this is the old whaling station of brit victon it all began here in 1904 the first year they slaughtered 195 whales and it finished in the mid-1960s but not because they said whaling's bad and it's not something we should be doing but because they literally ran out of whales and it was no longer commercially viable so they just packed up as you can see and they left and they left it like this it is as close as you'll get to a true ghost town effectively snap frozen the moment the station was abandoned in december 1966 it is spectacular and definitely sets the imagination running the rusted relics of the whaling industry are literally everywhere from complete ships to tenders to the giant rusting whale oil tanks thankfully this is an industry that's been left behind i mean this is this whole place is amazing it's literally like and they did literally just left and i mean this is a whale bone and they're dotted all along the shoreline so you see different parts of the anatomy and the size and the scale and boats the anchors it's just it's like a little spooky but then quite fantastic as well [Music] a small wooden church was built especially for the whalers who from most accounts didn't care for it kristin lochen their only pastor left in 1914 but there was a day in 1922 when the people did come from everywhere it was for the final farewell of one of the true heroes of the antarctic explorer sir ernest shackleton his is one of the great survival stories of all time it was from grit viking that shackleton organised the rescue of 28 of his men from elephant island on the edges of antarctica's south shetland islands shackleton and five others sailed the southern ocean to south georgia in a 22 and a half foot lifeboat 1300 kilometers 16 days dying from a heart attack in 1922 at the beginning of another antarctic expedition his wife knew his heart lay in south georgia [Music] 64 souls are buried in grit victim cemetery they're all oriented to the east except for this one and this is earnest henry shackleton and his head is oriented to the south because that's what he loved and that's actually why he's buried here and it's a great memorial to one of the great men of the area and maybe one of the great men of the world and he lived by his motto that difficulties are just things to be overcome and he certainly did that near the southern tip of south georgia just to the north of cape disappointment is dragowski fjord it is a mile wide knockout surely this gives a sense of what's to come as we work our way along the antarctic peninsula the vista one of soaring mountains amongst the glaciers has the ship excited a visual knockout extending deep into south georgia's interior it is impossible to describe the scale of what we're seeing and the colors juxtaposed against the slabs of rock is a harbour that beggars belief chunks of glacial cast off float by as the shutters and the phones try to capture the essence of the majesty before us drogowski fjord is truly or inspiring and we all know it [Music] south georgia had one final surprise a massive iceberg that literally dwarfed us over a kilometer long it was like the ice wall from game of thrones winter was definitely coming not to be outdone southern right whales frolicked near the ship as seabirds fought for their share of the krill again and again and again seriously this just gets better [Music] day nine we awoke to something of a welcome party or maybe it was more like sentinels giving us an official welcome to antarctic waters hey this is pretty great just having breakfast at crossland because everything's french and i've looked outside i thought is it raining it's snowing but it's getting like seriously antarctic now this is great watching the zodiacs drop is a sure sign we're headed for sure a highlight for everyone aboard half moon island is a harsh yet quite beautiful chance to stretch the legs [Music] it's better than telly it's two seals here just practicing for later [Music] oh a third one's coming in bugger off you too i'm getting used to this it feels like being dropped into a nature documentary hey mum's feeding the pup half moon island is dominated by the chinstrap penguins these ones are malty and so this situation has been described to me like this imagine you're on laborio you've got the beautiful food but you can't eat it you can't go in the restaurants that's what it's like for them they're not waterproof while they're melting so they can't get into the sea and they cannot feed they stand here and they wait and they dream and their time will come [Music] one of my antarctic dreams was to swim in the southern antarctic ocean but it's literally 0.4 of a degree the outside temperature is 2 degrees that's not why i won't do it the reason i won't is because we're actually not allowed so instead i found another option pool party [Applause] [Music] there's nothing more liberating than swimming in a heated pool amongst the antarctic mountains i'm sure more people would be here if it wasn't below freezing the tourist season for antarctica is relatively short and only 50 000 people visit every year not many in the scheme of things but it is a growing tide and given what we're seeing that's hardly surprising nico harbour is our first chance to land on the antarctic peninsula given the ice and snow it's often difficult to park up and set foot here but like the weather luck is on our side and we have our guides who have a habit of making sure things work out [Music] the continent of antarctica a very good morning to you if i was gay or inclined or maybe both i could continue walking for a couple of months all the way to the south pole but obviously that's not happening [Music] touch my first iceberg nico harbour a landscape dominated by glaciers crowding in and penguins of course [Music] look at all these penguins coming over look at them still funny still the most entertaining our constant and delightful companions always with us on this voyage of discovery [Music] punctuating the sound of penguins is the cracking of ice in the glaciers occasionally you'll get the thunder it's fantastic the sound of glaciers carving thousands of tons of ice shearing away from the walls is both beautiful and dangerous huge waves can seemingly come from nowhere [Music] so a whole chunk of that ice wall just fell down putting a perfect right hand wave all the way along this beach and then behind there's a whale just sitting there and a seal or penguin next to it see the whale that's like [Music] hey [Music] [Laughter] wow is this the best yet well quite possibly for a complete assault on the senses nico harbour is hard to beat onward for whilst this is unquestionably good there's still stacks more to come incredibly it's not all about the whales for the seals impressed too so that is the crab eater seal the thing to remember specifically about the crab eater is it doesn't eat crabs it's krill it's got a dog face it's cute it's one thing to see them on the beach or on the rocks but like this well this is stunning they look like they're chilling without a care in the world which surprises me because there is something sinister lurking close by particularly this one looking almost prehistoric is a fearsome leopard seal not exactly how we'd expect to see one these predators look like they're just lazing around on an ice floe so content and indifferent to us but if they spotted a small seal or a penguin close by they'd be in the water in a flash those razor sharp teeth are the most lethal on the ice [Music] oh so you can see how he moves now so it's quite unusual to see these guys hanging out together like that because normally the crab eaters they're all feeding on krill doing their thing the leopard seal is off feeding on usually different things sometimes also krill but he's very solitary because he is a predator he will eat baby crab eaters they're not exactly friends so it's pretty cool to see them hanging out together like that nicknamed the kodak gap the lemare channel is a true stunner the entire 11 kilometer passage is a genuine photographic opportunity at its narrowest the passage is just 1600 meters wide as such it's prone to being blocked by ice the zodiac is lowered and at the ready it's a matter of minutes before we're off to explore the historic port chaco [Music] everybody welcome to pork chocolate perfect conditions today we'll have a lovely time on shore and the lovely zodiac cross the coast the iceberg enjoy it [Music] i'm following in the footsteps of the locals the trick is not to get lost either physically or metaphorically [Music] none of this feels real it's literally eight o'clock in the morning and the weather is sublime and i don't know it feels like we've been dropped in the himalayas in a postcard in a painting by some [Music] 17th century realist painter this is just beyond words [Music] geez i hope these photos before heading back to la boreal there's time to see a frozen art exhibit it's known as the iceberg garden it is nature's sculpture gallery [Music] the colors are hard to comprehend so many different shades of white and then there's blue as well all difficult to digest as for the scale spires and arches and massive icy blocks drift silently by icebergs that have broken away from antarctica's ice sheets are shunted here before heading north into the southern ocean so welcome everybody this is what we call the glacier garden because as you can see we're just surrounded by all of these beautiful glaciers and it's quite a unique place keep an eye out in front of us while i'm talking in case that whale pops back up as i mentioned before there's a couple of different types of ice you get here you get the shelf ice from when this whole bay freezes completely over in winter and then you get the glacier ice that's carving off the sides here where all those glaciers are these moments have me reassessing lots of things not the least of which is our place in the world and on the planet it's also pure and pristine and perfect and we're so very fortunate to be able to experience it just like this a moment to check ourselves no question this is a moment to digest there's more ice on the water and our guides show due respect sliding into the bay it's another beautiful vista on another beautiful day welcome everybody you're here peterman island the other wintrage of charcoal this place seems to be a holiday destination for our feathered friends they seem a little lethargic maybe it's nap time or playtime or just all around having fun time on peterman island marianne this is it is like maybe one of the best views we've seen of the whole trip yeah absolutely so here you can have the super view on those icebergs a view you you see once but if you come the next day it would be a different one okay actually if you look especially on this arch this iceberg looking at archie well an hour ago it was just behind this one just in front of me so in an hour that's moved 100 meters absolutely and other ones have come in absolutely so you'll never get never get this you'll think you'll get something but you can get something yeah something else exactly and it's never going to be bad never it cannot be it's always beautiful always watching this iceberg fly past and we are stationary shows how quickly things can change it's no wonder these early adventurers found themselves iced in and it's still a very real danger even today do you guess your captain speaking so we are now crossing this famous polar circle antarctic polar circle and we are proceeding to detail whilst we are definitely cruising the antarctic peninsula for the purists the antarctic doesn't truly begin until crossing the polar circle 66 33 44 degrees south [Music] getting there is no mean feat and as already mentioned it's not guaranteed from one voyage to the next weather and ice both play their part as does the captain and his crew it's a tense time on the bridge for good reason our captain has to be sure not to make a wrong move okay please look at halter close to port come to come to 180 350. 350. detail island were we saving the best for last or is it the most unexpected without question it's a big finish from below the polar circle hey welcome to detail folks detail is literally a snapshot of what it was like to live and work here as a scientific researcher back in the 1950s like a woolly mammoth preserved in the ice detail is a small timber hut that's literally so hard to get to very few have been lucky enough to see it it is a true and genuine time capsule of retro antarctic life furniture clothing instruments even food the only communication with the outside world was through morse code to the falkland islands everything was left exactly as it is today when the british research team abandoned the base at short notice to be honest it looks set up like a display but i promise you it's not this is literally how it was left in 1959 at the end of their third summer the ship came to collect the researchers but the bay was completely blocked with ice faced with the prospect of a third long winter sleds were packed and the men hiked 50 kilometers to a harbor that was clear of ice that was it for detail enough was enough [Music] see this is pretty cool fly you've got your old-fashioned panoramic oh yeah so you know no iphone back there no just yeah would i put the fireplace together to be here is a treasure that's obvious but florence puts it all in perspective it's so amazing that we can be here i've heard so much about this space for five years this is true expedition cruising i mean you know like so with like this is a true expedition and if you're seeing it for the first time then it's must be you know we can't appreciate how special it is until we talk to you and see your eyes just you know light up like a you know 11 year old in the candy shop yeah i think i guess that's true yeah no this is true expedition yeah just seeing how it works with the ice you saw it this morning um it wasn't necessarily easy and then we get here and then we've got these these wind gusts not easy again there's a lot of ice here yeah it's absolutely expedition and adventure good job you've done a great so much thank you so much and for flow it really is a revelation again her passion gives us an idea of how truly special this is it's like the homemade scrabble board as well absolutely you know god it would have been hard obviously i think it would oh my god well let's just but imagine this you're a scientist you're young yeah and you love your topic nobody has ever done any research here a young you like adventure yeah and you're here for three years yeah two three summers two winters so all men and their magazines that's the thing yeah i'm sort of open here on the tick bit page which literally says tit bits [Laughter] now that we're at the end i come back to the first question was it the destination or the journey and i think it has to be both i mean to come to the antarctic circle with panant the world leader in luxury expeditions has been extraordinary i thought i knew what it would be like i thought i had a feeling but every step's been surprising and gloriously surprising it's the animals it's the wilderness it's the fragility it's just everything will it change my life most probably but it'll take time for that to happen time to sit back and think about the stories and see the photos and it's hard enough to remember a morning once you get to the afternoon there's so much going on but a brilliant brilliant life experience in one of the world's great places by the numbers if we were checking things off in a list there really isn't much left to see and yet it really does feel as if we've barely scratched the surface moving even one step or two offers a whole new perspective so seeing antarctica once can only mean the first time for seeing at once is barely seeing it at all [Music] so [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: PONANT Cruises

Views: 10,997

Keywords: ponant, cruises, cruise, luxury, french, voyage, travel around the world, lifestyle, french cruise, french cruises, travel, travel and leisure, beyond the polar circle, andrew daddo, antarctica, expedition, expeditions, polar expedition, antarctic expedition, le boreal, south georgia, falkland islands, australian, australia, new zealand, antarctic peninsula

Id: W0onLehM-w0

Length: 43min 48sec (2628 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 14 2021