Fly to Antarctica?

[HDS]

Can anyone tell me about cruises for which passengers fly from Punta Arenas, Chile to South Shetland Islands and return, thus saving time and avoiding potentially rough crossing?

 

Have recevied an email from Chimu Adventures offering this option on Ocean Nova for Jan 2011.

[OCTravelerGene]

www.ALVoyages.com has some alternatives re: flights to/from Antarctica. gene

[greatam]

The flights to/from Antarctica are some of the MOST canceled flights in the world.

 

I fly all over the world for business (well over 100,000 miles per year). I wanted to go to McMurdo after I passed up a chance to work there many years ago. I was told over and over that I may be waiting days and days to get on a flight. Have you ever seen the movie-"Eight Below". That heavily documents the problems of flying to Antarctica.

 

I know for a fact that the cruise ship flights to Antarctica are canceled frequently-the Infinity in 2006 tried two days in a row to get their flights off the ground-no go. LOTS of p'od passenger. And Princess cancels 3 out of 4 flights.

 

I finally took a 31 day cruise semi circumnavigation that MADE SURE I got to McMurdo.

[HDS]

Thanks Greatam and Gene for your input.

 

I haven't explained the cruise/air package clearly. The entire complement of (78?) passengers is flown from Punta Arenas, Chile to South Shetland Is where they board the Antarctic cruise ship Ocean Nova for a seven (approx) day cruise of the islands and Antarctic Peninsula, then fly back to Punta Arenas. Some cruises return to or depart from Ushaia, when the boat needs to refuel or restock I guess.

 

So this is a 1 or 2 hour flight instead of a 1 or 2 day sea crossing of Drake Passage, a money and time-saving, nausea-avoiding tactic.

 

Our major concern was the weather delaying flights, as Greatam warns. One of us is a GA (light aircarft) pilot, we fly often and vouch for the saying: "Time to spare? Go by air."

 

A few internet travel agents are offering this air/ship package 2010-2011 (according to Google) so hope someone who takes one will share experiences.

[donaldsc]

Can anyone tell me about cruises for which passengers fly from Punta Arenas, Chile to South Shetland Islands and return, thus saving time and avoiding potentially rough crossing?

 

Have recevied an email from Chimu Adventures offering this option on Ocean Nova for Jan 2011.

 

The rough crossing was a real high point on my trip. In fact, we had 60 mph winds off Cape Horn. My wife would disagree with me on how wonderful the waves and storms were, however. In fact, she demonstrated it at dinner one night.

 

DON

[mygreyhound66]

Hi, i was interested in the Ocean Nova also, based on saving the drake passage, however, i was advised that the flight is FREQUENTLY cancelled.

This was my second trip to Antarctica, so I knew that I didn't want to risk a cancelled flight/cruise, so we chose the Polar Star and we were more than satisfied. Take some meds, view the Drake as your 'tax payment' to get to the splendour of Antarctica!!!! Does the Drake get rough? yes sometimes, and many times the fear of the passage is really in our minds!!!