Beyond the Antarctic Circle – In the Wake of Jean-Baptiste Charcot

Through PONANT’s alliance with The Explorers Club, this voyage will feature Dr. Britney Schmidt, Associate Professor at Cornell University and Astrobiologist, who is at the forefront of polar and planetary exploration. Dr. Schmidt leads a team developing cutting-edge robotic tools, including Icefin, an innovative under-ice vehicle that explores beneath Antarctica’s ice shelves and glaciers. Her team made a groundbreaking discovery by revealing how Thwaites Glacier’s grounding line is melting through the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration. In 2023, Dr. Schmidt and colleague Peter Davis were named as Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People and recognized as an Explorers Club EC 50 member in 2024. Dr. Schmidt has played a key role in NASA missions and completed numerous field seasons in Antarctica and the Arctic, advancing our understanding of Earth and beyond.

Equipped with specialized laboratories onboard Le Commandant Charcot, Explorers Club Science Grantees will provide invaluable firsthand knowledge, delving into their ongoing research.

With featured guest Santiago Ramirez Said, Colombian photo ambassador.

Your journey aboard Le Commandant Charcot will begin with your first look at this strikingly elegant ship, capable of navigating our planet’s most extreme environments. You are about to begin an adventure that will lead you to the edges of the Earth, on the continent that no people have ever inhabited, the Antarctic. But while these lands belong to no one, they have been the theatre of the greatest expeditions and have proven the heroism exemplified by certain men. From the Antarctic Peninsula to the Bellingshausen Sea and its unknown islets, Le Commandant Charcot will humbly take you on a 15-day exploration of the Far South, in the wake of the legendary man to whom it owes its name.

After crossing the mythical Drake Passage, beaten by the winds and home to soaring cape petrels, you will glimpse the last continent on the horizon. Jean-Baptiste Charcot led his first journey to the Antarctic over a century ago, but his exploits still resonate and his traces are tangible here. His first expedition with the ship Le Français built his legend and made a mark on Salpêtrière Bay. A little further south lies Marguerite Bay, which he explored during his second expedition. He named this mountainous and magnificent land after his wife and Pourquoi-Pas Island after his eponymous ship. At the exit of the Lemaire Channel, Petermann Island still holds memories of the wintering of this exceptional expedition.

As you sail on exploring the Bellingshausen Sea, the conditions become increasingly extreme. Ice takes over your horizon, the ice floe stretches out, and icebergs drift around you. The approach to Charcot Island guarantees intense emotions and gives you the unique feeling of being among the privileged few able to contemplate it.

Throughout your journey, our team of passionate experts will go over all the details of these historic exploits with you while sharing their in-depth knowledge of the wildlife and landscapes. You will have the chance to observe Adelie, Gentoo and chinstrap penguins and perhaps even some young emperor penguins on the edge of the ice floe. Leopard, crabeater and Weddell seals, humpback and Mink whales, and orcas also live in these southern waters that you will sail through like those men of legend did before you.

We are privileged guests in these extreme lands where we are at the mercy of weather and ice conditions. Our navigation will be determined by the type of ice we come across; as the fast ice must be preserved, we will take this factor into account from day to day in our itineraries. The sailing schedule and any landings, activities and wildlife encounters are subject to weather and ice conditions. These experiences are unique and vary with each departure. The Captain and the Expedition Leader will make every effort to ensure that your experience is as rich as possible, while respecting safety instructions and regulations imposed by the IAATO.