The steep streets of Ushuaia, the world s southernmost city, overlook the green waters of the Beagle Channel with a spectacular backdrop of rugged mountains and glaciers. Most cruises depart or arrive here. In 1578 Sir Francis Drake, aboard the Golden Hind, reached 57 South, and the 500 miles of open water have carried his name ever since. This notorious section of the Scotia Sea is roamed by albatross, Blue-grey Prions and Storm petrels. Here you cross the Atlantic Convergence, a unfixed biological barrier where cold polar waters dive beneath the warmer oceans to the north.
Productivity increases as the waters are mixed, exchanged and recycled.
Both Livingstone and King George support large rookeries of Chinstrap, Gentoo and Adelie penguins. At Elephant island Ernest Shackleton finally found land and from here he set out on his epic journey in an open boat to South Georgia, returning 132 days later to rescue his men. Sail into the flooded caldera at Deception , an active volcano and one of the world s most perfect crater islands. Steam rises from the black sand beaches along its shores where there may be opportunities to swim. Up the slopes of Half Moon Island is one of the oldest research stations on the Peninsula, and Chinstrap Penguins tend their young.