One of the great attractions of an Antarctic cruise is experiencing the White Continent at its most intimate. You see it from the waterline in a zodiac cruise or paddling in a kayak, and you hear the crunch of the snow underfoot as you step onto its shores. But how does it look when you pull back for a bird’s eye view? On my most recent trip south I wanted to experience a helicopter flight in Antarctica, to get a totally unique ‘flightseeing’ perspective on this incredible destination.
Helicopter operations
Only a very small number of expedition cruise ships offer helicopter flights in Antarctica. This is a tough enough place for ships to operate even before you can consider taking to the air. I sailed on Ultramarine, but Ortelius also has helicopters on board for select Weddell Sea voyages.
Flightseeing is offered once during a trip and included in the price of the cruise. As with all things Antarctic, nothing can be guaranteed due to the capricious nature of the weather conditions. Helicopters demand perfect flying conditions, but on our voyage at least we were blessed with particularly fine weather. In addition, I had opted for the trip to see the emperor penguin colony at Snow Hill – only accessible by air – allowing a bonus flight.
Both the ships offering flights have two helicopters on board. It’s an obvious safety precaution for working in what can be a very unforgiving environment, but it also gave the ability to move people to and from the landing sites so much more quickly than I had thought possible.
Avoiding noise pollution
Now, helicopters can be pretty loud, so some of us onboard were initially concerned about noise pollution. It was reassuring to learn that the helicopters on Ultramarine are the quietest in their class. It’s something that the operators take very seriously. Flying is forbidden anywhere near wildlife to avoid disturbing them. At Snow Hill, we landed a 45 minute walk away from the emperor penguin colony. Not only did that avoid the risk of disturbing the birds, but it gave us a great sense of anticipation as we walked towards them.
On top of that, to avoid the risk of disturbing anyone else’s Antarctic serenity, the helicopters aren’t allowed to operate within five nautical miles of any other cruise ship. For all this, I was still amazed that whether you were on the ground or on the ship, the sound of the helicopters completely disappeared about 30 seconds after take-off.
Inside, the helicopters took seven passengers when ferrying us to Snow Hill, but just five when we were flightseeing to ensure that everyone got a window seat for perfect views.
That’s the logistics side out of the way, but what about the actual experience?
Antarctica from above
This wasn’t my first trip to Antarctica, so I already knew what to expect. But seeing it from the air was way more extraordinary than anything I had imagined. I’ve seen tabular icebergs from the sea that have been so beautiful they bring tears to your eyes, but flying high above them gives a new definition of the word sublime.
You see the cracks in the ice. You see where the ice is formed throughout the winter, crevasses in glaciers pouring down from the mountains or long tracks that have been sculpted by the wind.
It’s one thing to stand next to a thousand penguins and feel overwhelmed by their numbers. But it’s another thing to see them from the air at a great distance as a mass of tiny black dots huddled together on the ice. You know that you’re visiting them in their home, but being able to pull back the view and see how minuscule they looked against the epic landscape was one of the most powerful and emotional moments I’ve ever had travelling.
A few days later, we did our flightseeing trip on the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula and flew around Mount Français on Anvers Island. It’s over 8600 feet high (more than 2750 metres) and entirely covered with snow, but from the air it looked like one enormous, delicious pile of cream. I wanted to lean out of the window and scoop it up in my hand.
The flightseeing trips last around 15 minutes. What we saw made it feel like an overwhelming hour and a vanishing minute at the same time. When we were done there was still the full suite of activities on offer, with plenty of landings and zodiac cruises. But being back on the waterline only made our experiences from the air even more powerful. I knew that its landscapes were epic, but taking to the skies underscored just how emotionally powerful the scale of Antarctica truly is.
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