National Geographic Explorer (it''s a pretty big ship but the scenery in Antarctica makes it look insignificant)
The ship we took down to Antarctica was the National Geographic Explorer. It’s a purpose built ship to handle travelling in the Arctic and Antarctic regions. It only carries about 130 guests which is very important in Antartica because the Antarctic treaty only allows 100 people per ship on the continent at one time.
National Geographic Explorer crashing into waves in the the Drake passage
It has ice reinforced hulls (that the Captain loves to use to break through ice) and stabilizers (which we were very grateful for in the Drake passage).
Kayaks and Zodiacs on the National Geographic Explorer
It has kayaks and zodiacs to use for landings and an ROV they use to take under water video. They have great common areas which we really only used during the Drake passage… except for the Lounge which was used daily for briefings. When we were on the antarctic peninsula there was really only time to eat, sleep, go on excursions and listen to the talks by the guest speakers. The two key speakers were the adventurer and mountaineer Peter Hillary and National Geographic Photographer Ira Block but there were also many naturalists on board there were experts in their own right. I’ll do a post more about them later.
Here are a few more pictures from around the ship.
Balcony Cabin
Balcony Cabin
Dinning Room
Dinning Room
Chair
Dinning Room
Chart Room
Life Boats
Observation Lounge
Library
Sun Deck
Lounge
Bar
Bridge
Kayaks
Bow
Mud Room
Mud Room
Food
View of the Beagle Channel from our balcony as we left Ushuaia.
View of the Beagle Channel from the NatGeo Explorer as we left Ushuaia
Tags: Antarctic, antarctic peninsula, antarctica, Beagle Channel, drake passage, Geographic Explorer, Ira Block, kayaks, NatGeo Explorer, national geographic, national geographic explorer, National Geographic Photographer, Peter Hillary, Photography, Travel, ushuaia
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