SEVENTH HEAVEN

Antarctica, the so-called last continent, is a distant destination to which even the highest-resolution photos fail to do justice, with a famously violent sea-crossing before you arrive. Fortunately, there are now alternative ways to get there

By Chris Dwyer

Sipping a local glass of carménère in a Santiago bar, we were suddenly hit by the dizzying realisation of the magnitude of the adventure we were about to embark on: an Antarctic expedition cruise. The trip had been almost a year in the planning—Antarctica is categorically not somewhere you rock up to on a whim. Heading to the end of the Earth begins with a 48-hour journey from Asia—and that only gets you to Patagonia, which is still 6,000km from the final destination. Guests usually embark from Ushuaia in Argentina or Puerto Williams in Chile on a 48-hour crossing of the notorious Drake Passage, a terrifying 800km stretch of seriously turbulent seas, featuring waves that can measure up to 12 metres, with stomach-emptying results. Some will tell you that crossing…

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Tatler Hong Kong (Digital) - 1 Issue, March 2025

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