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If your aim is for an active vacation set against the backdrop of the world's most exotic and beautiful locales, then these journeys offer a range of choices to suit all exercise levels.  Whether it be skiing to the across Antarctica to the South Pole, or Hiking through the Costa Rican Rainforest, we can help find the adventure in you.

Morning begins, as the evening before had finished with twenty-four hours of sunshine, affording us enough time to explore, climb and camp in this rugged terrain and to ski out beyond the mountains where the horizon remains unchanged for a thousand miles across the heart of Antarctica.

Antarctica is our fifth largest continent, double the size of Australia. It is an island continent, east of the sun, west of the moon and south of everything else.  It is covered by an ice cap whose size is such that the sheer figures are hard to grasp: 5.4 million square miles of solid ice so heavy that part of the underlying land is forced down below sea level.  The surface is wrinkled into mountains, smoothed into flatland, wind-whipped and chizelled as if by some creative ice sculpture - it is a land of incredible beauty and irresistible mystery.

Down the centuries this harsh continent has attracted men of many sorts: explorers, adventurers, sealers, whalers and scientists, all sharing the same characteristic: they were prepared to face danger in their attempts to uncover its secrets. Deep cold, pack ice, storms; scurvy and the long polar night have acted like a magnet. Antarctica's inaccessibility has been an enticement rather than a limitation.

The Antarctic Odyssey program is designed to offer a smorgasbord of Antarctic experiences in one package, including snow shoeing, snow-mobiling, hiking, light climbing, camping trips and a breathtaking flight in the local area.  Experience Antarctica your pace and enjoy all that Mother Nature has held captive from the rest of the world.

The Antarctic Odyssey program will provide you with skills to enable you to discover the beauty and magnificence of this continent and undertake exciting trips out of Patriot Hills using a wide variety of transportation, i.e. foot, ski or skidoo.  These trips can be of differing lengths of time and include remote mountain summits, unique geological features, and an opportunity to live and breathe this huge continent - it’s changeable climate, its wondrous sights and an appreciation of why it draws explorers, adventurers and mountaineers.

Included in the program is a 45-minute flight around the local area in our Cessna 185. Wonder at this vast continent from above, at a landscape that is unending where you will experience Mother Nature at her finest.

This remarkable cruise will give participants the opportunity to learn about Sir Ernest Shackleton the man, the explorers he traveled with and his personal life.  We will enjoy slide shows, debates and informal discussions about the journey that led up to the final crossing of South Georgia and its successful ending.

There will be plenty of wildlife to observe on South Georgia, and we will sail around the island visiting the historical sites that commemorate Sir Ernest Shackleton and his endurance in the face of despair. We will visit Shackleton’s gravesite at Grytviken, and visit the South Georgia whaling museum to learn more about the island and its history.  While the ship sails, we will take time to read from Shackleton’s diary.

During days at sea, the staff will present a comprehensive lecture series. One of the most popular areas to gather is the Navigation Bridge, which is open to passengers at most times. Watching the ship negotiate ice-filled waterways is a favorite activity. In addition, many hours of sea time can be well spent by watching for birds and whales under the guidance of the staff naturalists.

One small group of passengers will attempt to recreate the epic crossing of the island along the same route that Shackleton and his men traversed over eighty years ago.  The journey will involve detailed route finding, traveling along glaciers and crossing over several passes. This traverse took Shackleton and his intrepid team just 36 hours from Haakon Bay to Stromness, but we expect to take up to five days depending on the weather. 

Costa Rica Rainforest - Vivid and exotic beauty are the hallmarks of Costa Rica. Tropical rainforests, vast rivers, volcanic mountains and lowland coastal plains contribute to its dizzying array of biodiversity. Trees towering 150 feet into a misty sky, 850 recorded species of birds, dazzling butterflies and a variety of fauna that range from howler monkeys to jaguars to tapirs, all combine to create a nature lover’s paradise. On this eight-day adventure we meander through a generous sampling of Costa Rica’s eight distinct ecological zones, and experience the kaleidoscope of living things that inhabit each environment. 

The Galápagos Archipelago is a unique World Heritage Site. Situated on the equator some 600 miles off the coast of South America, this remote volcanic archipelago remains much as it was millions of years ago. Over the course of centuries, animal and plant life from the Americas reached the islands and gradually evolved into new forms. Many of its species are found nowhere else on earth.

The Galápagos offer you a way to magically step back in time, to visit an isolated, relatively untouched place on earth, where you can be at one with nature as nowhere else. Animals have no fear of humans — birds light on your arm, curious sea lions come to get acquainted and fur seals and penguins join you for a swim in the clear waters.

You’ll visit nurseries where young Galápagos sea lions cavort among the rocks, under the watchful eyes of their mothers and the huge male beachmaster. You’ll see elegant red-billed tropicbirds with their long plumed tails, marine and land iguanas basking on black lava rocks, parrot and pufferfish, morays and Moorish idols, and brilliant Sally lightfoot crabs. Blue-footed boobies show off their impossible feet and perform their graceful courting ritual for you. Throughout the islands are Darwin’s finches, whose unique adaptations helped lead Charles Darwin to his revolutionary theory of evolution. At the world-famous Charles Darwin Research Station on Santa Cruz, you’ll be within arm’s reach of the Galápagos themselves, the huge land tortoises for which the islands were named.