Will highly recommend it to my friends. I enjoyed the trip and will highly recommend it to my friends. I highly appreciate the every day work of the expedition team and the responsibility they carry on. Usually clients used to complain... I also have only much appreciation to your hotel team and the expedition. I would like to point out some hotel team members: DR waiters Dante, Hanns, Paulo - And to our stateroom keeper Helen!!! Thank U all very very much!
ANTARCTICA, FALKLANDS & SOUTH GEORGIA This was a trip that I had wanted to do for many years, especially visiting the Falkland Islands as that is the first piece of history I can really remember growing up. Several of my friends had also visited the area and said "it was an absolute must!". For me it is also a "once in a life time" trip although I would consider returning to the Falkland Islands as I would like to see the battle fields and more of the Islands.......but we shall see!
Great trip to Western Arctic: Canada and Greenland First two days due to strong winds we were exploring unexpectedly fjord near Kangerlussuaq airport in Greenland. This affected the planned itinerary and expedition team worked hard to resolve various issues. It was a very memorable experience with 18 nights on board of Ultramarine. We have visited places where no other expedition ships have been or only visited on rare occasions. We were lucky with clear skies on the first 6 nights and the Aurora Borealis was better and better on each night. Glaciers, icebergs were nice backdrops on many photos and experiences were enhanced with helicopter flights over magnificent landscapes of Baffin island (Sam Ford fjord especially) and Greenland. Wonderful autumn colours of tundra and rock formations were explored on many hikes in addition to the visits to archeological sites. Introduction to Inuit culture and history was during visits to Itileq, Ilulissat, Uummannaaq, Nipisat island and Pond Inlet. It was enhanced by performances of local artists and visits to Inuit colourful homes. Although the wildlife of Arctic is not so plentiful as in Antarctica, we managed to have wonderful observations of numerous polar bears (12 in one day!), seals and birds. We also followed somewhat the footsteps of Franklin's expedition and reached the Beechey island where the expedition has spent the winter in 1845/46 and where are some graves of the sailors. Expedition team members presented many interesting lectures on history, geology, birds and bears. It was also a nice culinary experience of Greenlandic cuisine: Tundra to Table.
