Antarctica and South America cruise 18/12/25-09/01/26 (2 Viewers)

[Andrew Whitehouse]

I'm thinking fairly seriously about doing a cruise around southern South America and Antarctica over Christmas/ New Year. Specifically, the one I'm thinking of is this Holland America cruise:

22-DAY SOUTH AMERICA & ANTARCTICA HOLIDAY

www.hollandamerica.com

The basic price is currently £3129 and the tour runs from Buenos Aires on 18th December to San Antonio (Santiago, Chile) on 9th January. I'm looking for one other person to share a room with (I guess they should probably be male!) to help keep the price down (price is almost double on my own). This will also help reduce the cost of any shore-based guiding/ car hire/ taxis that we arrange. If more than one person wants to join then this is okay too, as it could reduce the cost of shore-based stuff further. I realise that the dates might not be great for everyone but would emphasise that it's the only time I can do this kind of trip because of work.

The itinerary should produce a lot of seabirds. I reckon well over 100 species of seabird are possible: basically around a quarter of all the world's species. It should be very good for marine mammals too. There are quite a lot of stops in Argentina, Uruguay and Chile and a stop scheduled in Port Stanley. This should add quite a lot of terrestrial birds too. I'm also thinking of doing about 4-5 days in central Chile at the end of the trip to see the specialities there, which anyone would obviously be welcome to join in with.

If you're interested in joining, post here or send me a message.

 

[denisparkes]

I'm thinking fairly seriously about doing a cruise around southern South America and Antarctica over Christmas/ New Year. Specifically, the one I'm thinking of is this Holland America cruise:

22-DAY SOUTH AMERICA & ANTARCTICA HOLIDAY

www.hollandamerica.com

The basic price is currently £3129 and the tour runs from Buenos Aires on 18th December to San Antonio (Santiago, Chile) on 9th January. I'm looking for one other person to share a room with (I guess they should probably be male!) to help keep the price down (price is almost double on my own). This will also help reduce the cost of any shore-based guiding/ car hire/ taxis that we arrange. If more than one person wants to join then this is okay too, as it could reduce the cost of shore-based stuff further. I realise that the dates might not be great for everyone but would emphasise that it's the only time I can do this kind of trip because of work.

The itinerary should produce a lot of seabirds. I reckon well over 100 species of seabird are possible: basically around a quarter of all the world's species. It should be very good for marine mammals too. There are quite a lot of stops in Argentina, Uruguay and Chile and a stop scheduled in Port Stanley. This should add quite a lot of terrestrial birds too. I'm also thinking of doing about 4-5 days in central Chile at the end of the trip to see the specialities there, which anyone would obviously be welcome to join in with.

If you're interested in joining, post here or send me a message.

Looking at something very similar for a year or two later so would be really keen to hear how you get on, particularly any logistics on the land-birding. Meantime, good luck!

 

[Paul Chapman]

Just to say that this looks like a cracking trip & it probably goes to show how good it would be that having just returned from something similar (without the Antarctic element), I would be tempted to replicate it:-

https://ebird.org/tripreport/342786

Two quick practical elements.

I see that a number of the landings are marked as "water tender". The speed of getting off the boat & the priorities will affect land-based birding opportunities so have Plan Bs & Plan Cs depending on the time available & make sure that your land-based operators are primed for that. They will be used to cruise ship logistics. You will also be affected by any delays in arriving at port & immigration checks or similar. Maybe worth asking about disembarkation in advance so you have a bit of leverage. It frustrated me that someone who needed an hour on shore to look at something would trump those for whom returns were directly proportionate to the time available - their priority was because their excursions were booked through the cruise operator. (The cruise operator will also leave some locations without you if you are travelling independently & you are late getting back. At some locations, the immigration authorities have more leverage.)

Secondly, have a think about the logistics of the boat & where will provide the best opportunities for seawatching from the boat. Preferably towards the front & with a decent view. Also understand in what weather conditions your preferred seawatching position will be closed for access & what back up arrangements are available.

Have fun.

All the best

Paul

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

Just to say that this looks like a cracking trip & it probably goes to show how good it would be that having just returned from something similar (without the Antarctic element), I would be tempted to replicate it:-

https://ebird.org/tripreport/342786

Two quick practical elements.

I see that a number of the landings are marked as "water tender". The speed of getting off the boat & the priorities will affect land-based birding opportunities so have Plan Bs & Plan Cs depending on the time available & make sure that your land-based operators are primed for that. They will be used to cruise ship logistics. You will also be affected by any delays in arriving at port & immigration checks or similar. Maybe worth asking about disembarkation in advance so you have a bit of leverage. It frustrated me that someone who needed an hour on shore to look at something would trump those for whom returns were directly proportionate to the time available - their priority was because their excursions were booked through the cruise operator. (The cruise operator will also leave some locations without you if you are travelling independently & you are late getting back. At some locations, the immigration authorities have more leverage.)

Secondly, have a think about the logistics of the boat & where will provide the best opportunities for seawatching from the boat. Preferably towards the front & with a decent view. Also understand in what weather conditions your preferred seawatching position will be closed for access & what back up arrangements are available.

Have fun.

All the best

Paul

Thanks Paul. Very helpful, as I've not been on anything like this before.

 

[Jos Stratford]

A tempting trip

 

[kb57]

Agree with Jos, this does look really tempting, although for me personally the Christmas / New Year period isn't possible. I'm wondering if something like this doesn't deliver a high proportion of what a birder wants from the Antarctic, without the £10-12k cost of a small ship 'expedition cruise', plus the chance of some great pelagic birding around South America - as amply attested by Paul's recent year list and trip report.

I've never been on a large cruise ship before (unless you count a converted troop ship sailing to Iceland and Norway with a load of school kids on board...a very frustrating experience for a 13 year old birder, not enough time in each place), and in normal circumstances it would be pretty close to a nightmare of a holiday, the antithesis of independent travel. But I guess it provides a stable observation platform, even compared to smaller ferries, and you can also go listen to tribute bands in the evening if that's your thing ...

I guess the key - again as Paul says - is getting the shore trips lined up, and adding on some decent land birding at start and / or finish (Jujuy province for rufous-throated dipper would be high on my priority list).

 

[DMW]

Apologies to Andrew for hijacking his thread I'm quite keen to do a similar trip to the one Paul did, and if anybody is interested, let me know!

Vacationstogo has a departure on the Sapphire Princess on Nov 16, 20 nights Los Angeles to San Antonio, Chile for $1,798, or LA to Buenos Aires 36 nights for $3,914.

My analysis is that these are the best bang-for-buck pelagics on the planet, basically combining 3 of the most bird-rich oceans in a single trip.

I've never been on a big cruise ship, and I suspect the experience is very different from a typical expedition ship cruise, but at the end of the day they are just a big seawatching platform with a hotel attached.

One thing I would say is that the expedition cruises are often very heavily discounted from the brochure price (50% or more), especially early and late season cruises. If you have some flexibility over dates, it's well worth checking for "bargains".

 

[Tanager]

Hi,

Don’t know if this is any help but, if stopping in Stanley, Falkland Islands there will be taxis waiting at the dock. If you’ve got the time get them to drop you at Cape Pembroke lighthouse, you can then bird back into Stanley, or if short on time get the cab back. That’ll get you a lot of the land based species.

Mark

 

[Paul Chapman]

Apologies to Andrew for hijacking his thread I'm quite keen to do a similar trip to the one Paul did, and if anybody is interested, let me know!

Vacationstogo has a departure on the Sapphire Princess on Nov 16, 20 nights Los Angeles to San Antonio, Chile for $1,798, or LA to Buenos Aires 36 nights for $3,914.

My analysis is that these are the best bang-for-buck pelagics on the planet, basically combining 3 of the most bird-rich oceans in a single trip.

I've never been on a big cruise ship, and I suspect the experience is very different from a typical expedition ship cruise, but at the end of the day they are just a big seawatching platform with a hotel attached.

One thing I would say is that the expedition cruises are often very heavily discounted from the brochure price (50% or more), especially early and late season cruises. If you have some flexibility over dates, it's well worth checking for "bargains".

This is the Sapphire Princess. It has an open bow (Deck 8 accessed from the promenade Deck 7) which provides the best seawatching location. You can adjust to either port or starboard to get a bit more shelter depending on the weather conditions. It is the first area that is closed in poor conditions. In such circumstances, Deck 7 at the bottom of the stairs at the front becomes the second option. If/when Deck 7 is shut (& there is ordinarily a timing difference between the appearance of yellow tape to duck underneath & being removed from the area by the crew), Deck 15 being an open air smoking area on one side & another open air area on the other are the third choice. These were never closed.

Open areas can attract seabirds to the lights overnight. Personally, I found Buller's, Sooty & Wedge-tailed Shearwaters as well as Black & Ringed Storm-petrels & saw White-bellied, Band-rumped, Leach's, Elliott's, Wedge-rumped & Markham's Storm-petrels found by others.

As discussed upthread, I would get a clear view on the seawatching options of any vessel before booking a trip. I did over a 100 hours of seawatching & in addition to the seabirds from Buenos Aires to Los Angeles, I had c15 species of cetacean including 10 Whale species, Turtles, Hammerhead Sharks, various seals/sealions, Rays, Flying Fish, etc. A few selected personal seabird totals:-

Species	Vernacular Name	Buenos Aires to Santiago	Santiago to Los Angeles
6293​	Long-tailed Skua	1​	8​
6296​	Arctic Skua	10​	11​
6298​	Pomarine Skua		119​
6302​	Chilean Skua	35​	3​
6303​	Brown Skua	3​
6320​	Cassin's Auklet		4​
6372​	Scripps's Murrelet		2​
6375​	Craveri's Murrelet		1​
6555​	White Tern		2​
6592​	Sooty Tern		39​
6860​	King Penguin	400​
6863​	Gentoo Penguin	700​
6878​	Humboldt Penguin		27​
6880​	Magellanic Penguin	166​
6886​	Southern Rockhopper Penguin	4​
6894​	Northern Royal Albatross	56​
6895​	Southern Royal Albatross	62​
6897​	Snowy Albatross	6​
6900​	Antipodean Albatross	5​
6907​	Waved Albatross		22​
6908​	Laysan Albatross		4​
6909​	Black-footed Albatross		5​
6914​	Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross	64​
6917​	Grey-headed Albatross	3​
6918​	Buller's Albatross		3​
6924​	Salvin's Albatross	37​	1​
6925​	Chatham Albatross		4​
6927​	Black-browed Albatross	842​
6934​	Wilson's Storm-Petrel (including Fuegian & other cryptics)	583​
6939​	Pincoya Storm-Petrel	52​
6941​	Elliot's Storm-Petrel		105​
6945​	Grey-backed Storm-Petrel	1​
6946​	White-faced Storm-Petrel		27​
6953​	White-bellied Storm-Petrel		26​
6973​	Ringed Storm-Petrel		88​
6974​	Leach's Storm-Petrel		111​
6977​	Townsend's Storm-Petrel		2​
6985​	Band-rumped Storm-Petrel		23​
6992​	Wedge-rumped Storm-Petrel		61​
6995​	Black Storm-Petrel		39​
6997​	Markham's Storm-Petrel		125​
7002​	Least Storm-Petrel		1​
7008​	Southern Giant-Petrel	76​
7009​	Northern Giant-Petrel	11​
7016​	Southern Fulmar	6​
7029​	Kermadec Petrel		7​
7044​	Soft-plumaged Petrel	43​
7056​	Juan Fernandez Petrel		294​
7058​	Galapagos Petrel		38​
7066​	Cook's Petrel		451​
7067​	Masatierra Petrel	15​	501​
7074​	Stejneger's Petrel	19​
7092​	Slender-billed Prion	63​
7105​	Tahiti Petrel		43​
7113​	White-chinned Petrel	424​	86​
7115​	Parkinson's Petrel		21​
7116​	Westland Petrel	6​
7124​	Pink-footed Shearwater	593​	201​
7126​	Great Shearwater	233​
7128​	Wedge-tailed Shearwater		376​
7131​	Buller's Shearwater		2​
7132​	Sooty Shearwater	22,506​	58​
7135​	Christmas Shearwater		7​
7136​	Galapagos Shearwater		5​
7139​	Manx Shearwater	741​	1​
7153​	Black-vented Shearwater		2​
7182​	Peruvian Diving-Petrel	7​	16​
7193​	Magellanic Diving-Petrel	3​
7233​	Magnificent Frigatebird		112​
7241​	Great Frigatebird		1​
7254​	Red-footed Booby		25​
7261​	Cocos Booby		111​
7265​	Masked Booby		10​
7271​	Nazca Booby		80​
7274​	Blue-footed Booby		84​
7278​	Peruvian Booby		1,247​

Full details at the eBird trip reports listed elsewhere already. These are personal tallies. I missed various birds & a few aggregates in addition to these species totals.

All the best

Paul

 

[Frank van Drogen]

I did over a 100 hours of seawatching & in addition to the seabirds from Buenos Aires to Los Angeles

Thanks for detailed description Paul -- I was just wondering, what was more useful o, scope or bins? On you posted photos here, I only see bins, but that might just be a snapshot.....

 

[Paul Chapman]

Thanks for detailed description Paul -- I was just wondering, what was more useful o, scope or bins? On you posted photos here, I only see bins, but that might just be a snapshot.....

People used scopes. I think that if you were less concerned with photos that was probably the way to go but actually most things that were called, I was happy with bins views.

A seat is sensible but it needs to be tall enough to see over the rail. Mine was too short. Also a flask & a container for snacks. Plenty of buffet food options to grab cookies or savoury snacks & easy to take a quick break for the loo or to grab a pizza slice. All things considered a very pleasant experience & you travel between different maritime environments - depth, temperature, etc - so you have changing groups of seabirds every few days. Generally, species were seen multiple times & if you are less OCD, it would be sensible to target say until 11.30am & from 4.00pm each day especially if travelling with a non-birding partner. I suspect most on this thread though are thinking about using it as a more hard-core birding experience.

Occasionally, it felt as if the pterodromas & the albatrosses came in to bow ride. 5 different pterodromas & 4 different great albatrosses attached.

All the best

Paul

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

Thanks to everyone for their thoughts and advice. As far as I can tell, the Oosterdam ship (the one used on the cruise I'm interested in) has pretty good viewing from various places, including a promenade deck fairly low down and viewing areas over the front and rear on the higher decks.

In terms of possible seabirds, all of the species that Paul saw between Buenos Aires and Santiago should be likely. There are a few other species that Paul missed that I think might be possible in the Atlantic e.g. Sooty Albatross, Grey Petrel, Atlantic Petrel, Cape Verde Shearwater. Some of the Pacific species that Paul saw north of Santiago might also be possible on this cruise e.g. Juan Fernandez Petrel, Buller's Albatross, Humboldt Penguin.

This trip also includes Drake's Passage and the Antarctic Peninsula. Species this adds include Antarctic Tern, South Polar Skua, Adelie Penguin, Chinstrap Penguin, Macaroni Penguin (maybe a very outside chance of Emperor), Light-mantled Albatross, Black-bellied Storm-Petrel, Snow Petrel, Antarctic Petrel, Blue Petrel, Antarctic Prion, and Antarctic Shag. This section will also add a lot of sea mammals.