Silence, closeness to nature, and freezing temperatures: for some, obstacles, for others, the ideal trip. For the latter group, Paradise Bay, in Antarctica – the world’s coldest continent – is an excellent alternative holiday destination. All the charms of the freezing waters of the South Pole attract several cruises through the region for the contemplation of walls of ice and exuberant landscapes.
The tour boats offer visits of six days and five nights, with itineraries that are completely unusual: instead of the customary on-board casinos and nightclubs, they offer contact and learning about ecology and the environment, with information about fauna and flora, besides local history and oceanography.
All of this while navigating on calm waters, since there are no waves in the Errera, Danco, Cuverville and Lemaire channels, truly water mirrors. Even with below zero temperatures – the reason for the small population of only about one thousand inhabitants – the trip to Paradise Bay is heartwarming for those who have always dreamed of seeing whales, seals, penguins and sea lions, among other animals, such as petrels, skuas and Antarctic pigeons. And all of them surrounded by a snow and ice covered landscape, plus icebergs and majestic glaciers.
In Paradise Bay tourists have the opportunity of seeing the midnight sun, that is, the incidence of sunbeams even at night time, a phenomenon that occurs between January and February. The Nature Reserve is flawlessly preserved – in spite of the harmful effects of global warming – ever since the regulation of tourism there in the mid-fifties, when the International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators (IAATO) established a series of rules that are followed by travel agencies and visitors.
How to get there: the main way is by sea, on boat excursions that leave from the south of Patagonia, both from Ushuaia, in Argentina, and Punta Arenas, in Chile. And how much does all this cost? A trip to Paradise Bay isn’t cheap: the cost of the cruise is, on average, US$5000 per person, on excursions in the summer months, from November to March, so tourists can enjoy more hours of sunlight and temperatures that are less extreme.