Oceanwide Expeditions

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Ortelius departed for Oceanwide's first Antarctica voyage

The newest addition to the Oceanwide Expeditions fleet, m/v “Ortelius”, departed on 31 December 2011 for her first Antarctic voyage, including the Falkland Islands and South Georgia. The vessel was purchased autumn 2011 and was refurbished in Montevideo, Uruguay. Click here for the latest pictures of Ortelius.

Exceptional expedition vessel
Ortelius is an exceptional expedition vessel. She has the highest ice-class notation and is therefore suitable to navigate in solid one-year sea ice and loose multi-year pack ice. Apart from the existing Arctic and Antarctic programs it offers possibilities to explore new Polar Regions.  
Download here the m/v “Ortelius” 2-page brochure, including deck plan.

Ross Sea exploratory voyage
The latest most recently designed Oceanwide voyage is a unique Discovery Voyage. It is the only expedition that includes the southern Antarctic Peninsula, the rarely visited volcanic Peter I Island, the outer fringes of the pack-ice in the Amundsen Sea, Ross Sea and Macquarie Island. We will furthermore visit the landing site of Roald Amundsen, from where he gained access to the ice-shelf and finally reached the South Pole in 1911 and have the rare privilege to enter the huts of British explorers Ernest Shackleton and Robert Falcon Scott.

Oceanwide offers two back-to-back Ross Sea voyages with m/v “Ortelius”. The first 30-night voyage will be carried out from 16 January till 15 February, 2013. We start in Ushuaia, Argentina and end in Invercargill, New Zealand. The second expedition (in reverse) takes place from 15 February till 17 March 2013.

M/v “Ortelius” is an excellent expedition vessel and has the highest ice-class notation (UL1, equivalent to 1A) “Ortelius” is a great expedition vessel for 100 passengers with lots of open-deck spaces and a very large bridge which is accessible to the passengers.

Click here for our Ross Sea voyages, dates & rates and detailed itinerary.
Click here for the Ross Sea photo-gallery.

Unique cruise concept in Antarctica and Arctic: Basecamp Plancius

A new activity concept has been successfully implemented in Antarctica and the Arctic. The vessel “Plancius” operates several days at specific locations which stunning scenery to serve our active passengers as a comfortable hub to allow more time as usual for wide ranging activities. All activities are packed in one departure at no extra cost. Try out and explore the outdoors under the supervision of expert guides: field camping, kayaking, mountaineering, snowshoeing/hiking, zodiac cruising, shore excursions, photography workshop. Click here to read a report from the maiden voyage to Antarctica.

If you would like to experience our Basecamp program, on which we offer a true Basecamp for activities, all activities (field camping, kayaking, glacier walking, snowshoe, hiking, zodiac cruising, shore excursions, photography workshop) packed in one departure and those are included in the ship’s price on cruises in the Antarctica PLA28, Antarctica PLA29, Arctic PLA06, Antarctica PLA22 and Antarctica PLA30. The vessel “Plancius” will stay for two or three days at these specific locations to serve our active passengers as a comfortable hub to allow more time as usual for wide ranging activities.

Click here to download the full brochure for further information.