"Wouldn't want to live here!"

The strained voice of a colleague, crackled over the two-way radio clipped to my red life-jacket.

White-capped, salty waves whipped up by bone-chilling katabatic glacier winds, slapped the bow of our twelve-passenger rubber zodiac, as I piloted the motorized craft through surging grey seas, towards forlorn and inhospitable... Elephant Island! Situated some 240 kilometres east of the Antarctic peninsula in the frigid Southern Atlantic Ocean, inky black, jagged volcanic peaks towered over us in the overcast skies, as seabirds swooped and plunged around us, in search of their next meal.

Steeped in history and iconic beauty, we had come to see the colourful, nesting Rockhopper penguins, renowned for their distinctive bright yellow eyebrows, "singing" elephant seals, and ferocious duelling fur seals that inhabit the craggy shore. It was here, that famous British explorer Ernest Shakelton and his crew escaped to, marooned for several months in 1916 after their two wooden ships became trapped, and were ultimately crushed by pack ice in the Weddell Sea.

The tour starts in the secluded and lively Chilean harbour town of Punta Arenas - the historical base for many of the 20th century's famous early expeditions to Antarctica. Heading south through the dreaded Drake Passage, we explore the mountainous, snow-covered Antarctic Peninsula, visit Brown Bluff's boisterous Adelie penguin colonies, and cautiously steam past gigantic and mesmerizing tubular icebergs, that drift aimlessly in the Weddell Sea. Then we land and are amazed by the rugged grandeur of Elephant Island, with its inhabitants of fur seals and penguins.

Next, the trip heads north to the Falkland Island archipelago, with extraordinary vistas of the fauna, flora and bird life that inhabits the sandy terrain of Sea Lion Island and Saunders Island. Be charmed by fluffy, feathered battling King penguin chicks, surfing Magellanic penguins, and roaring bull elephant seals! A stop at the rustic village of Port Stanley rounds out the voyage.

Featuring all new imagery from seven expeditions, this is a sequel to my first acclaimed travelogue - The Ethereal World of Antarctica.

So join Voyageurfred for the adventure, as he presents the history, beauty, natural wonders and stories of Wild Antarctica and the Falkland Islands, in this entrancing 90-minute presentation.

Created and produced by
Montreal adventure photographer and raconteur

Frederic Hore
Not to be missed!