A Quark Expeditions passenger standing on the deck looking at the Antarctic landscape

Quark Expeditions · Ocean Explorer · 11 days

Antarctic Explorer: Discovering the 7th Continent

Ushuaia to Ushuaia, with the hotel night in Ushuaia and the transfers included. Sailings from November 2026 to March 2029, planned with you by Antarctica Cruise.

Call 1300 187 630

Ice floes and snow-covered mountains in Antarctica, seen from the deck of a Quark Expeditions ship

11 days, Ushuaia to Ushuaia

The Peninsula, the classic way

Eleven days from Ushuaia, the Drake Passage both ways and four full days among the South Shetland Islands and the Antarctic Peninsula: this is the voyage Quark Expeditions calls its classic, and the natural first voyage to the continent. The route is a sample, not a schedule. From the places below and others like them, the expedition team picks each morning what the ice, the wind and the wildlife allow: a walk inside the flooded crater of Deception Island, the gentoo colony and the post office at Port Lockroy, a climb above Neko Harbour, the eleven kilometres of the Lemaire Channel if it is clear, and Zodiacs idling in Wilhelmina Bay, where humpbacks feed late in the season.

Quark has sailed the polar regions since 1991. Ocean Explorer carries 138 guests and fifteen Zodiacs, built to get everyone off the ship quickly, and we know her decks and cabins from the inside: which cabin to take for the price, and which weeks suit the way you want to travel, deep snow and courting penguins in November, chicks in January, whales in March. We shape the rest around you: the cabin, the flights from Australia to Ushuaia, the nights either side, and the offers we hold for Antarctica Cruise guests. An Antarctica Cruise specialist and the team behind them stay with you from the first conversation until you are home.

Ushuaia, return
4 days of landings
11 days

On the route

Six places on the way south

Quark publishes its landing sites as a sample, not a schedule; the expedition team chooses each day from these and others like them, by the ice, the weather and the wildlife.

Deception Island

A flooded volcanic caldera entered through the narrow Neptune’s Bellows: black sand, steam along the shore at the right tide, the rusting remains of the whaling station, and one of the few places on the route for a long walk.

Deception Island

Day by day

Eleven days, in outline

The ice and the weather decide the days on the Peninsula. The outline below is the shape of the journey; the full programme comes with the proposal we write for you.

Arrive in Ushuaia, with the airport transfer and the first night in a hotel included. On day 2 your luggage goes ahead to the ship, embarkation is late afternoon, then down the Beagle Channel.

Aboard Ocean Explorer

Ocean Explorer carries 138 guests, with a Polar Class 6 ice-strengthened hull and an X-BOW built for rough water, and a fleet of fifteen Zodiacs. Scandinavian-style cabins, almost all with a veranda; a gym, a sauna and two outdoor jacuzzis; a lounge for the daily presentations, and a two-storey library in the bow. Quark runs her as an expedition ship first: the team leads every outing and lands every guest.

Ocean Explorer

A sauna aboard a Quark Expeditions cruise ship

The sauna

The main dining room

Discovery library aboard the Ocean Explorer, a Quark Expeditions ship cruising to Antarctica

The Discovery Library

The gym

Studio Veranda Suite Cabin aboard the Quark Expeditions' Ocean Explorer, which sails to Antarctica.

A Studio Veranda Suite

We want to make your journey as easy as possible

As Quark publishes it for the 2026 to 2027 season: one night in a hotel in Ushuaia before embarkation with breakfast, group transfers from the airport to the hotel, from the hotel to the ship and from the ship to the airport, your cabin aboard Ocean Explorer, all meals, snacks, soft drinks and juices on board, select beer, wine and cocktails during bar hours and at dinner, coffee, tea and cocoa around the clock, all Zodiac outings and shore landings led by the expedition team, presentations by the team and guest speakers, a Quark parka to keep and waterproof boots on loan, basic Wi-Fi on one device, a photographic journal of the voyage, and port charges and ship service taxes.

International flights, passports and visas, some government arrival and departure taxes, meals not listed as included, travel insurance (baggage, cancellation, interruption and medical), excess baggage fees, the waterproof pants required for Zodiac outings, laundry, spa treatments and other personal charges, premium Wi-Fi, gratuities, extra hotel nights, transfers not listed, and the optional activities: camping, paddling excursions and sea kayaking, each booked in advance.

Quark’s fare begins and ends in Ushuaia. We arrange your flights from Australia, the connection to Ushuaia and any extra nights before or after, so the whole journey is one booking and one point of contact.

Further Exploration

Other Antarctic Peninsula itineraries

The Peninsula can also be sailed with Ponant from Ushuaia, or with Atlas Ocean Voyages across the Antarctic Circle. Each voyage shows its from price in the currency its operator publishes, Australian or US dollars; our specialists help you choose the one that suits the way you like to travel.

All expeditions