Antarctica Expedition in November - bad idea?

I have a very narrow window (Nov/Dec) to book an expedition cruise to Antarctica this season, and the sailings I'm considering were selling out fast. I have a deposit (and cancel-for-any-reason insurance) on an early November GAP trip, but this was kind of an impulse booking (translation: no research ahead of time). Is November too early to sail Antarctica? I know there are concerns with operators sailing outside of the safe season, so is November too early in the spring? The trip departs from Ushuaia Nov 5-18.

Before I let myself get too excited about the prospect of visiting Antarctica, I want a dose of reality in terms of whether early November is a foolish idea or not?

I have a very narrow window (Nov/Dec) to book an expedition cruise to Antarctica this season, and the sailings I'm considering were selling out fast. I have a deposit (and cancel-for-any-reason insurance) on an early November GAP trip, but this was kind of an impulse booking (translation: no research ahead of time). Is November too early to sail Antarctica? I know there are concerns with operators sailing outside of the safe season, so is November too early in the spring? The trip departs from Ushuaia Nov 5-18.

 

Before I let myself get too excited about the prospect of visiting Antarctica, I want a dose of reality in terms of whether early November is a foolish idea or not?

The first ships of the season start departing late October, and you can never guarantee what the ice conditions will be at any time during the spring/summer. It is more important to decide what you want to see - penguin chicks are very unlikely, but plenty of courtship and some early eggs on nests.

Hi,

My Antarctic cruise was Nov. 29 to Dec. 9th. We saw lots of nesting and breeding but there was much more snow than normal and the penguins were nesting on snow instead of rocks. I would think that in a normal year there would be more rocky areas for the nests.

You could go on line and try to find blogs from last years trips to get an idea of what people saw in early Nov. Lindblad/National Geographic has nice "expedition reports" that they post each day. Go to http://www.expeditions.com/Daily_Expedition_Rep54.asp and do a search for National Geographic Explorer for November and pick a year (2009, 2010). That should give you a good idea of what to expect early. I know that in 2009 they had wonderful weather for the trip which started Nov. 7th.

Even though there was more snow than normal we did have good ice conditions and made it to the Antarctic Circle, the first ship of the season to get that far south.

Even seeing just nesting and breeding this trip was my best ever. Such fun seeing penguins, seals, a few whales and lots of birds.

Julie

As others have said, you're not likely to see penguin chicks, but you will see adult penguins, seals and birds - and get a good feeling for what the Antarctic environment is about. I think whales will be limited that time of year. However, I'd much prefer to go early than late in the season. If your window is small and you want to go, do it. It's a stunning trip.

There is also a blog on the Hurtigruten's Fram. You can look back at previous years in Antarctica with that ship. We went the end of Dec. through first of Jan. last year and had a marvelous trip.

http://mvfram.blogspot.com/

Happy Sails,

TXTraveler

Went to Antarctica last Christmas/New Years two weeks. Got to see King penguins incubating their eggs, yearling chicks, two week old seal pups, chicks (twin) with the chinstrap penguins. Adelie penguins on their nests. Don't know how much you will be able to see in early November. Even when we went there was ice preventing us from getting to some of the landings. Was told by the crew that by the end of January/February all you get to see are empty penguin colonies and a lot of poop. Early November is probably early to see major wildlife.

I have a very narrow window (Nov/Dec) to book an expedition cruise to Antarctica this season, and the sailings I'm considering were selling out fast. I have a deposit (and cancel-for-any-reason insurance) on an early November GAP trip, but this was kind of an impulse booking (translation: no research ahead of time). Is November too early to sail Antarctica? I know there are concerns with operators sailing outside of the safe season, so is November too early in the spring? The trip departs from Ushuaia Nov 5-18.

 

Before I let myself get too excited about the prospect of visiting Antarctica, I want a dose of reality in terms of whether early November is a foolish idea or not?

I sailed last year 7 Nov to 6 Dec.

On the Antarctic Peninsular there were plenty of nesting penquins in the early weeks. In the middle of the trip we had baby Emperors, and by the time we hit Sth Georgia in early Dec there were tonnes of week old seal pups and moulting chicks.

In regards to "major wildlife" - I think my daily count of penguins, seals, whales and birds were definitely in the "major" amounts! Certainly uncountable amounts.

I have a very narrow window (Nov/Dec) to book an expedition cruise to Antarctica this season, and the sailings I'm considering were selling out fast. I have a deposit (and cancel-for-any-reason insurance) on an early November GAP trip, but this was kind of an impulse booking (translation: no research ahead of time). Is November too early to sail Antarctica? I know there are concerns with operators sailing outside of the safe season, so is November too early in the spring? The trip departs from Ushuaia Nov 5-18.

 

Before I let myself get too excited about the prospect of visiting Antarctica, I want a dose of reality in terms of whether early November is a foolish idea or not?

I went late Nov. (Thanksgiving) and into early December. I flew to King George Island so I could spend all the ship time in Antarctica rather than 4 days over the Drake. Saw a lot of wildlife and beautiful icebergs. The Lemaire channel was open, but I understand it can be blocked with Ice and the ship will have to go around to get to Petermann Island.

It was sure hard walking in that snice.(snow and crushed ice)

Was told by the crew that by the end of January/February all you get to see are empty penguin colonies and a lot of poop. Early November is probably early to see major wildlife.

I don't know about early November, but my trip to Antarctica was in the first half of February, and we saw *plenty* of wildlife (including thousands of penguins). The chicks were almost fully grown, but the colonies were still there. I have to agree about the poop though. :p

The first ships of the season start departing late October, and you can never guarantee what the ice conditions will be at any time during the spring/summer. It is more important to decide what you want to see - penguin chicks are very unlikely, but plenty of courtship and some early eggs on nests.

What did you decide to do?

I ended up doing the early November sailing, because the price was unbeatable, and since I didn't have my heart set on seeing anything in particular. I deliberately avoided finding out much about what I could see, because I didn't want to be disappointed. In the end, this worked out great, and I had a fantastic time.

The downside of early November was that it was a bit colder, but I was expecting it to be cold, so it wasn't a big shock. Even then, it was a bit warmer than I was expecting. It was around freezing, but with the wind chill, I was glad to have some good winter gear. (Later in the season it's actually warm enough that my jacket and wool base layers would have been too warm!) The guidebooks I have clearly cater their packing suggestions to peak season travelers (they suggested lightweight base layers), and I was glad I had packed a variety, because I was definitely using my warmer options.

The other downside was that it was too early in the season to see a lot of whales. I wasn't disappointed, since I got to see plenty of whales in Alaska, but we didn't see a single orca and a few people were very sad about that.

As mentioned, early November was too early for penguin chicks, but we did see plenty of nests and a few eggs. And lots of mating penguins! :o However, on talking to some of the perennial expedition staff, they said that November was actually their favorite time of year, because their "fairytale" picture of Antarctica is penguins in snow. The thing is, the penguins can't nest until the snow melts enough for them to get to the stones underneath! Since we were early in the season, there were a few places where the colony was just standing around courting and waiting for the snow to melt. Those snowbound penguins definitely made some of the best photos, and really made for iconic Antarctica scenery.

There were some landing sites that we couldn't get to because of the ice conditions, but I found that in general, the ice was just as interesting as the wildlife. We rounded the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula and spent half a day cruising in the Weddell Sea to see all the enormous tabular icebergs, and we only found out later that GAP only tends to do that once (maybe twice) each season! Even though we couldn't get as far south or get into some of the popular landing sites, the early season trip had its own selling points.

In hindsight, my advice would be that if there's something in particular you want to see, you should plan your timing accordingly. But otherwise, just manage your own expectations, and go in with an open mind, and you're bound to have an incredible experience regardless of when you go! After all, it's Antarctica! How can that not be a fantastic adventure?! ;)

You had a great attitude going in and that, IMHO, makes all the difference.