Antarctic tourism isn’t meant for anyone, except the most daring of adventurers. These people wouldn’t mind the heavy cold wind, spending weeks to cross the icy waters or sleeping in military-style icebreaker vessels. Expedition to the frozen continent was no easy tasks back then. But that was around late 20’s, when the tourism just began with the help of few enthusiasts from New Zealand (Offshore cruises existed long before that). Currently the tourism industry there, has flourished to a whole new level. Reliable mega ships and luxurious mega-yachts like Le Boreal making their debut multiple voyages each year. Still, challenging the globe’s most extreme weather in the south requires much commitment and patients.
One of this traveling operator Jacada Travel has been offering for single-day trips to Antarctica. They assure of the most unforgettable experiences in such shortest time possible. Jacada’s founder and managing director, Alex Malcolm eliminated the time-consuming frizzing icy water crossing and taking their customers by air instead. With the King Air 300 twin-turboprop plane in Puntas Arenas, Chile. This baby can make the Antarctica trip just within two hours.
After all, it is a turboprop plane that can take maximum of 8 passengers and two pilots at a time. That is why, studies and attempts are under way to get larger planes on the land of the icy continent. They are baffling about ice-sheet runway and environmental impact. Still, arriving by air is a daring endeavor. There is another traveling company Antarctica Flights, they leads daylong sightseeing flights to the continent from Australia. But for obvious reasons they never attempted landing.
Filling a day in Antarctica is easy, it is hard to compact all that touring just in a day. Still, Alex Malcolm assures of it. The first stop is at the region’s most dramatic sites, Collins Glacier. Towers and walls of blue ice are bewildering in their proportions. This site is also home to a variety of endemic wildlife. Magnificent White Leopard and Elephant Seals. Varieties of whales, and more. Then the plane takes off for one of the continent’s strangest sites, Trinity Church. It is a Russian Orthodox Institution built with wood shipped over far from Siberia! It is still running and one of two priests of the church is always there for conducting the Sunday service. Lastly, to the Ardley Island. At this attractive place you can see Gentoo, Chinstrap and the cutest Ad é lie Penguins. The tour also takes to visit Antarctica’s first settlement, Villa Las Estrellas, if enough time left on the watch.
Though the schedule of the day-trip is never fixed. As amazing it sounds, the struggle of passing through the harsh weather is as much as scary. There’s always 20% chance that the flight might get cancelled at the last hour due to weather condition. That is why Malcolm often recommends to his guests to catch a ride with Patagonia trip to the Antarctica. Though this takes a lot more than just 2 hours, rather it is about a 10-day trip but with its luxurious traveling experience. Then, Malcom would take them from the ground arriving to tour the whole Antarctica in a day.