After breakfast the morning is free to explore this end of the world outpost before the transfer to the cruise port to board the ship. The captain and expedition team offer a warm welcome; settle into your stateroom or suite, learn your way around, and gather in the observation lounge as course is set for the Falkland Islands.

The first day at sea eases you into shipboard rhythm, with educational sessions on the biology and history of the Falkland Islands. Black browed Albatross, prions and shearwaters shadow the ship, and the South Atlantic offers a real chance of Orca and Sei Whales.

Two days are spent among the more than 700 islands of this remote archipelago, a birder's paradise of white sand beaches, towering sea cliffs and wildflower grasslands. Five penguin species breed here, Gentoo, Southern Rockhopper, Magellanic, King and Macaroni, alongside the world's largest colony of Black browed Albatross. The endemic Falkland Steamer Duck is a target, with luck perhaps the elusive Cobb's Wren, among Black crowned Night Herons, Long tailed Meadowlarks, Two banded Plovers and Upland and Kelp Geese. Plans may include stretching your legs on Carcass Island, where sea lions, fur seals and elephant seals laze among the tussac, and, if the weather is kind, remote Steeple Jason, where more than 200,000 breeding pairs of Black browed Albatross, some seventy percent of the world's population, crowd the ridgelines. In the capital, Stanley, maritime history, memorials of the 1982 conflict and a pint with the friendly locals round out the picture. The flora is remarkable too, with some 417 plant species including the Dog Orchid and Vanilla Daisy.

Two restful days on passage to South Georgia, with lectures, journals and photographs to catch up on, and Wandering and Southern Royal Albatross, Sooty Shearwaters, Antarctic Prions and Soft plumaged Petrels for company. On the afternoon of day 7 the ship cruises past Shag Rocks, six jagged islets carved by wind and wave that rise 75 metres from the Southern Ocean. Named for the South Georgia Shag that breeds here, these krill rich waters near the Antarctic Convergence are superb for whale watching.

Four days and a flexible programme are devoted to South Georgia, often called the Serengeti of the Southern Ocean, and with reason. Arriving at the start of the breeding season, the island is believed to hold more wildlife per square metre than anywhere else on Earth: more than 60 million seabirds, a million King Penguins, three and a half million Antarctic Fur Seals and over 400,000 Southern Elephant Seals, half the world's population. High on the wish list are Salisbury Plain, St Andrews Bay and Gold Harbour, where King Penguins blanket the beaches in one of the greatest gatherings in nature. Macaroni and Gentoo Penguins, four albatross species, the endemic South Georgia Pipit and Pintail, and Weddell and occasionally Leopard Seals all reward a sharp eye, while Humpback, Blue and Southern Right Whales patrol offshore. At Grytviken, once a whaling settlement and now a windswept monument to that vanished industry, the group pays its respects at the grave of Sir Ernest Shackleton, whose story is woven through the whole voyage.

Albatross and petrels escort the ship south through the whale filled waters of the Scotia Sea as the lecture programme turns to Antarctica. The first great tabular icebergs drift past, frozen cathedrals that will soon be daily companions, and the ship enters the realm of more than twenty hours of daylight.

Early season Antarctica is a photographer's gift: long clear days, low golden light and wildlife arriving in force for the breeding season. Five full days are spent among the islands and channels of the Peninsula, with frequent landings, Zodiac cruises and walks on the snow of the seventh continent. Gentoo, Chinstrap and Adelie Penguins throng the rookeries, Weddell, Leopard and Crabeater Seals haul out on the floes, and Humpback and Minke Whales feed alongside Orca in these rich waters. Overhead ride Cape, Storm and Snow Petrels, Antarctic Skuas and the curious Snowy Sheathbill. Specific landings can never be guaranteed, but possibilities include the following. Elephant Island. A wall of rock and ice that somehow sheltered 22 men of Shackleton's Endurance expedition for four and a half months, and the launching point of his extraordinary open boat rescue voyage to South Georgia. Brown Bluff. Sheer stone ramparts and ice capped peaks in the Antarctic Sound frame a large and busy Adelie Penguin rookery, with Gentoo Penguins and Snow Petrels in attendance and views to the pink tinged Madder Cliffs of Kinnes Cove. Whalers Bay, Deception Island. Sailing through the hidden entrance of a flooded volcanic caldera leads to the most significant whaling era remains in Antarctica, a designated historic site complete with geothermally warmed shallows and six breeding seabird species. Cierva Cove. A Zodiac cruise among sculpted icebergs and crackling brash ice, deep beneath the 1,300 metre spine of the Peninsula, with a Chinstrap Penguin colony, regular Humpback visitors and even flowering Antarctic hair grass. Petermann Island. Barely a kilometre long, this volcanic island holds Antarctica's northernmost Adelie colony and southernmost Gentoo colony, along with relics of Jean Baptiste Charcot's French expedition of 1908 to 1910, which overwintered here aboard the Pourquoi Pas. Port Lockroy, Goudier Island. Home of the famous Penguin Post Office, the world's southernmost, together with the wartime British Base A and its museum, all shared with a thriving Gentoo colony beneath snowbound peaks. Paradise Bay. One of the Peninsula's most beautiful anchorages, where glaciers spill from towering peaks into water so still it mirrors the whole scene, watched over by whales, Gentoo Penguins and Crabeater Seals. Cuverville Island. The largest Gentoo Penguin colony on the Peninsula, some 14,000 birds, set against grounded monolithic icebergs, with a rewarding uphill walk to panoramic views over the Errera Channel.

The homeward crossing of the legendary Drake Passage is one of the world's great ocean voyages, and completing it earns a quiet distinction among sailors. Rest, watch for whales and enjoy the last days of shipboard life.

The ship berths at Ushuaia early in the morning. After a final breakfast there are farewells and a complimentary coach transfer to Ushuaia International Airport. Onward travel should not be booked before midday in case of weather or port delays. As with all true expeditions, the programme may vary with conditions. Voyages are scheduled pending final regulatory approval.