MS ROALD AMUNDSEN ANTARCTIC season 2020/2021 #cruiseship #expitionship #antarctica #hurtigruten

For those looking to go to the end of the Earth... Didn't you ever dream to visit a different planet? Where nobody has been before. There's a ship that sails where few others dare to go. We are totally alone. Tackling nature's biggest challenges... This is the most critical part. Ice is dangerous. And revealing her biggest wonders. Do you see the waves? I'm so lucky to be here. On an unforgettable voyage to the White Continent. And this is what we do. We push the limits. For the most audacious of explorers... There's nothing more remote than Antarctica. It is a place like none other. Another world awaits. And the Roald Amundsen will get you there. This ship is made for ice, so we want to see ice. Built with an ice-strengthened hull to take on Antarctica's polar extremes... A fleet of boats bring the ship's guests ashore... When it's time to get up close and personal. Back aboard, with sleek Scandinavian design... A luxury spa... And plenty of options to feed all the senses. No one's roughing it on this expedition. When you come back from ice-cold wind and there's a hot soup waiting... It makes you feel a bit like home. The ice is clear. Clear of ice. We can take passengers where no one else could go. In command, Captain Tori Zachariasen. Everything is so big down here. It's the ice, the glaciers and the icebergs. This captain and his 144-strong crew work hard to deliver on adventure. Inspired to live up to the ship's namesake. Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen was the first person to cross Antarctica and reach the South Pole. You feel like a real explorer. Like you're going in the footsteps of Roald Amundsen. Going where no one else has been. They left Punta Arenas, Chile, two days ago. And are sailing toward Cape Horn. From there, they will cross the Drake Passage for a week of touring Antarctica. The ship will then return north, spending three days visiting the Falkland Islands, before returning to Chile. It's a 16-day voyage, covering just over 4,000 miles. We're just approaching Cape Horn now. Start to reduce speed. 10 degrees starboard. Just have to adjust it for the swell. The first stop of the cruise is a must-see, with a tragic history. Cape Horn is the end of the world. Before the Panama Channel, they had to go around Cape Horn for the shipping route. And there's a lot of shipwrecks. More than 800 shipwrecks lie off the rugged shoreline. High winds and waves spell danger, usually making it impossible to come ashore. It's only one of ten times we could actually land here in Cape Horn. Let's go for it. Time for expedition leader Stefan Biersack to step in. It's a dangerous place. For people who can land on Cape Horn, this could very well be the one-of-a-lifetime chance. All right, we're getting in the boat now. All right. Everybody got a seat? Let's go. Looks better in the bay than it looks out here, so let's just hope it stays like that. It's up to his team to lead the Intrepid, once they've decided if they're ready to roll. Hold it for a second, hold on to it. Eagle has landed. Bridge, Stefan? Yes, go ahead, Stefan. For your information, landing is a go. We have some swell here, but it seems safe and manageable. All clear. Rough waters won't stop the fun. Guests are on standby in the tender pit, ready to disembark. But choppy waves mean taking it nice and steady. On the bridge, they're working to keep the ship in place, but they don't drop the anchor. Instead, they use Roel Amundsen's Dynamic Positioning System, or DP. Engage DP. Ship is in DP. With Dynamic Positioning, the ship's propellers work together with the bow thrusters to respond instantly to changes in waves and wind. That holds them in a precise geographic position, with less than a metre of movement in any direction. The ship will automatically hold her own position, so you don't need to think about dragging the anchor or turning around the anchor. When you're a child and you look at world maps, you think, wow, will I ever get there? It's barren, but it's beautiful. Considered by some as the sailing equivalent of climbing Mount Everest, it's a real victory. One in ten landings actually get on here, and we're one of them. But all the visitors take a solemn moment to pay tribute at the Albatross Monument, commemorating the more than 10,000 souls lost in the seas between Antarctica and Cape Horn. I just can't imagine all those ships passing here. Very brave people. Well, it is the end of the world, and so many men in particular have died down here in the days of sailing ships, how they could even think of doing it. Suddenly, an urgent call to the bridge. Please let me know in which boat the stretcher will be coming. A passenger just fell climbing into the tender boat. She has some problem with her foot, so we're sending a stretcher team to shoreside. The stretcher is coming, and then we will bring you to the boat, and I'll do the x-ray. Okay, nurse is notified, x-ray machine is ready, and they will meet him at the tender pit. With the nearest hospital five hours away, and the rest of the course even more remote, the injury could spell the end of the cruise for one guest. But if we have to, we have to. So this is what happened when we are in the landing site, and the guest is going back to the boat. She's back from the ladder. Oh, the ladder, the stairs going down. Yeah, the stairs going down. And she sustained the injury. If you try to look at the injury... Oh, okay, it's... Oh, look at that. It's definitely broken. Yes, yes, sir. I'm not a doctor, but that's broken. A Chilean navy boat is en route to transport the passenger to hospital. It's just coming here in a couple of minutes, actually, you see it. Everyone is ready? They're going to transfer the patient. This sort of help will be impossible once they depart Cape Horn. They won't see civilization for another ten days. Ready to sail. Let's go. Whatever happens now, they're on their own. We are heading towards Antarctica, and we are on our own. It will take two days to cross the Drake Passage and reach Antarctica. The windiest place on Earth. Waves five to eight meters high usually make for a rough ride. But overnight, the water turns unusually calm and stays that way. I was a little terrified, actually, of getting too seasick. And I'm very happy that there's not much of a swell and the boat is cruising along beautifully. I was hoping it would be a lot rougher than this. Left with a healthy appetite. Busy, busy. Everybody's waking up. It's on executive chef Jörg Lehmann to work double time to feed the hungry travellers. Well, it just goes from one crunch time to another. We have 16 days times three meals plus the additional tea time slash afternoon treat. The most challenging part is this course, we have 25 different nations to feed. 25 different opinions, 25 different ways of seeing flavours. Hey, girlfriends! Congee tomorrow? Congee tomorrow, we do. They enjoy the variety, but they say we're gaining too much weight, can't we have something simple? So we just made every other day rice congee. You need to be on the toes all the time and just follow, follow, follow. Calm seas call everybody out. It's time to sit back, admire the view and soak it all in. For some, it's prep time. That looks very good. Going into pristine nature means coming clean. So we're talking pollen, spores, seeds, soil, everything that doesn't belong to Antarctica in terms of biological matter. Meanwhile, the expedition team double-checks survival gear, hoping for the best but prepared for the worst. Everything we need to keep 110 people ashore alive for about 48 hours and warm and safe happens sometimes, rarely, but we have to be prepared for that. You can see the line is up all the icebergs. That's when we cross the Antarctic Circle. Push! We're just crossing the Antarctic Circle. Very good. Thank you very much. You drive. Majestic. You know how much I love this thing. I don't know why you love it. God, I hate Ferrari. The search for the greatest race car. A Discovery Plus original. Three men, four wheels. Stream the full series now on Discovery Plus. It's home to 90% of the ice on the planet. And over a hundred islands lie off the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. Many of them are covered by numerous sheets of ice that are in constant motion, with huge icebergs carving off their glaciers and drifting out to sea. All the ice you see here is broken from the glacier. Captain Zachariasen is on high alert. Start to reduce speed. OK. Coming more to starboard. But he's as cool as his surroundings. I just love navigating in ice. The big ones we need to go around, but the small ones, that's no problem. This is where it starts. This is the beginning. This is only the beginning. Tonight, they're hoping to drive through the Gunnel Channel. It's notorious for getting choked up with ice. But it's also the most direct route to Stonington Island. A spectacular spot for their first landing in Antarctica. The latest ice chart. Using satellite photos to look at ice charts, the team try to predict what they're in for. The problem is, the images were taken at least 24 hours ago. Ice charts are always history. They give you a rough idea, a ballpark, but it's never precise. The ice is ever-changing. So they won't really know if they can make it through until they see it for themselves. We don't know before we actually are there in the evening. It's always a gamble. If they get stuck in the Gunnel, they'll have to reverse course and sail up and around Adelaide Island. A detour that'll cost them at least nine hours. If we have to go around, it's actually a matter of about 90 nautical miles extra. Stefan wants his guests to see as much of Antarctica as possible. Such a heavy delay would cut his first stop drastically short or force him to cancel other plans down the line. The ice can really, really change the game completely. But sometimes, against nature, even this ship has its limits. If we cannot make it through, we cannot make it through. That's the game. A few hours later, it's time to see just how they measure up. The speed is six knots. Six knots. Roel Amundsen's hull has both an inner and outer shell to protect against punctures from underwater ice. There are extra ribs in the frame at the bow and stern, and there's thicker steel at the bow. Finally, a reinforced ice belt surrounds the hull at the waterline. But even all that only protects the ship from thinner ice. So Captain Saka Riason calls on the bow thrusters to help out. There's a lot of drifting ice, so we have actually reduced the speed. We're using the bow thruster just to flush the ice away. Just push them to the side. The Gunnel Channel is one of the tightest channels in Antarctica. To get through, they're going to have to give it all they've got. Take this one on the port side and we go between them, the big ones. The captain calls on every resource he has. Radar that lays out the overall pattern of the ice. Navigational charts that indicate the centre of the channel. We just go slowly through this one and it keeps us in the track. And sonar that shows the depth of the water and how far the icebergs sit below the waterline. Depth is 20 metres. So what we can experience here is an iceberg that's grounded. In water as shallow as this, the bottom of an iceberg can reach down as deep as the sea floor. When an iceberg runs aground like that, it's impossible to move. And as dangerous as a rock. This is the most critical part of the channel. Oblivious to the dangerous game of dodge, guests are ready with their cameras, mesmerised by the spectacular backdrop. It's so beautiful. I haven't words to describe this. It's insane. When you read about it, you see the pictures, but they just don't give you the feel of how it looks like, how it feels like being here. It's absolutely different. For the bridge team, the focus is unrelenting. You see the two big ones, the next one? No, I don't see it. There's ice coming down from the other channel. Seven knots, reducing a little bit. We need to just pass the big one and go on the other side. Good spacing between them. Yeah, I think so. As night falls and visibility becomes poor, concentration is even more crucial. They need to rely on the radar and sonar technology to guide them. And a captain with more than a decade of experience navigating polar waters definitely doesn't hurt. A little bit more to port. I think we are actually through the worst now. Don't jinx it. The ice is disappearing and we're going to make it. We will be on our planned destination tomorrow morning at 7.30. Right on schedule, they make it through the ice to Stonington Island, an Antarctic ghost town so far south it's rarely seen. It's just amazing. Everything is so big. There's a big colony of penguins, glaciers and no palm trees. Nothing. Only us. We go this way. I have to check for rocks so we don't kill the propellers. I have to see if it's clear of ice. I have to look in the water if it's getting too shallow. Looking good. And here we are. How does the landing site look like? It looks okay. It's perfect. There's hardly any swell. The wind is actually not strong at all here so we are nice and protected. All good. Thank you. That's what they like to hear. Within minutes, boats are shuttling guests to shore. Welcome to Antarctica, finally. When you see the captain, please pat him on the shoulder. He did a great job. He brought us through. It's amazing. We've got a whole colony of Adelie penguins behind you. It's just really incredible. It's just gorgeous. It's breathtaking. You can't get true perspective in a photo. You need to be standing here to see this. With the dynamic positioning system holding the ship in place, Chief Engineer Jonny Jonsen watches the output of the power plant. The power curve, the load curve of the ship is always going up and down because the propellers use more power in bursts to keep the ship there. That's where innovation and batteries come in. The batteries are really good. They cut off the high peaks and they deliver the energy instead of the engine ramping up. When less power is needed, the excess energy from the engines charges the batteries. It all adds up to a 20% boost in fuel efficiency. Also charged up to fully explore. Guests have an opportunity to step into breathtaking landscapes. You have the glacier around, you have the island, you have the penguins, you have an abandoned station, you have everything here. Two abandoned bases actually. A British base, an American base, the outdoor museums, so to speak. And the guests are more than ready to dive in. Those who don't want to plunge right in can glide on top. It's a nice place to get started with the kayaks. It was one thing we wanted to do, so now we're doing it. I enjoy being out in the water, I enjoy kayaking. So to do it down here in Antarctica is really such an experience. Do you see penguins? Oh yes, I can see some penguins. Making a splash on the coldest continent on earth, you need more than dry suits and white kayaks. You need an experienced guide as well. That's my goal, just show everyone how nice it is to get down on the water level. No engine sound, just the silence. You can hear the birds and the wildlife. It's a nice way to say welcome to Antarctica. It's nice to be in a part of the world that's rather untouched by civilization. Just get away from it all. By 2pm on day 7. You see how nice it looks. There are a lot of big icebergs around. Captain Zachariasen is taking his ship about as close to the bottom of the world as any ship can go. I've never been so south as this before. We are heading as south as we can. We are totally alone. He's aiming to take Roel Amundsen beyond 70 degrees south latitude, where the Antarctic ice mass stretches out past Charcot Island. We get closer to the ice. It's a big, big iceberg just straight ahead. A really big one we have there. There are plenty more where these came from. The glaciers here are constantly shedding massive icebergs into the surrounding sea. You have to imagine a captain is a navigator, and the goal of navigating is really to go far, far and wide. Congratulations, we're just passing 70 south. 70 south. It's a major achievement. On a cruise where pushing the limits is part of the package. Very good. Congratulations. Historic moment. Who would have thought that in the beginning. And this captain isn't about to stop now. Is it okay like this? Yeah, that's going to pass behind the stern. Steering into the ice flows. He's confident that his ship can withstand the newer, thinner pieces of ice. This ship is Apollo Class 6, so we could actually do up to one meter, one year ice. Those are the white pieces close to the ship. But farther away, the ice changes. We try to avoid the blue multi-year ice, the grovelers. We go around because the multi-year ice could hurt the ship. It's like steel ice. Facing up to the enormous icebergs here definitely takes nerves of steel. At any moment, a piece as big as the ship can break off. So there's no getting close. Ice is dangerous, yes. Not all the captains or the navigators like to navigate in ice. But I love ice. That's why I'm down here. Just pinch me, pinch me. Somebody pinch me. You see there's like almost 100 seals around. It's all over. There's literally seals just everywhere. And we kept thinking, this is where we're going to turn around. This is where we're going to stop. So we just kept going. But to really seal the deal for the guests, there's a chance to venture further out into the icy unknown. There you go. We have at least a metre, sometimes a metre and a half as well. Obviously that puts the boat up and down quite a lot. Follow the lead of the guys and they're going to get you in nice and safe. It was a 19 and a half hour flight all the way from Dubai. And every single minute is worth it. Out on the water, passengers gain a whole new perspective on the vastness that surrounds them. As far as the eye can see. We had this famous saying, if you can explain Antarctica by words, that means you've never been there. One moment, sir. Okay. There you go. It's a little bit rough on the tenor pit now, but they love it even more when there's action. There you go. Wait there. You like it? Yeah. Fantastic. Turning to head back north, the crew can't help but pinch themselves at how far south they've come. You know what's funny? That they call Cape Horn the end of the world. I think this is where we are now. This is the end of the world. But it's not the end of the cruise. Roel Amundsen is paying a visit to some very special friends. And that calls for an unusual display of courtesy. Engine control. Yes, we are entering the whale area, and we will go on batteries only. Okay, Captain Dunstan, stop the engines, run on battery only. We're just entering the whale area. We're going on batteries only, or silent mode. We don't want to disturb the whales. It's just one of the benefits of being a green pioneer with a state-of-the-art hybrid energy system. You see the load here on the battery packs increasing, and the load of the diesel engine going down. It's so high-tech, even the engineers can't believe how smart it is. All the engineers get very nervous now. There's no sound in the engine. It's a little spooky feeling, for sure. They think something is wrong in the engine. It's like a blackout in the engine. So now you can see all the engines have stopped. Sir, we are now running on batteries only. Very little noise from the ship now. It only takes a few minutes for that silence to turn golden. Oh my God, you see the whales? See, they're coming, just coming down. They're diving under the ship now. This is just unbelievable. So it's basically the humpbacks and the minke whales that we see here. Nature's wonders are magnificent, and even more magical when explained. Miguel Rodriguez is one of Roel Amundsen's onboard biologists. Basically, they come here for a few months, they eat a lot, get many reserves, and then they go back north for breeding, and they hardly eat at all during the winter months when they are breeding. So fantastic. That's what came down to Antarctica for. It's great. It's a relief, they're so close. It's like it's in slow motion. Aren't they great, wonderful animals? Wonderful. I've waited so long to see. That's remarkable. And their noise, the sound they make. It's unbelievable to see it so closely. Amazing journey. I'm so lucky to be here. It's beautiful. After an hour-long spectacle, the largest animals on Earth disappear majestically into the distance. Yes, chief engineer, we can start up one diesel engine. It's time to power up and move on. While my dad was working on the Ramsey case, he kept an audio diary. New revelations. There is evidence of an intruder. Nobody wants to listen. Brand new and exclusive. JonBenet Ramsey. What really happened? Stream now on Discovery+. The next morning, dawns grey, windy and wet. After a week of delivering once-in-a-lifetime experiences, Captain Zachariasen and the rest of the crew are hoping to pull off one more mind-blowing adventure with their final stop on the White Continent. There are only two active volcanoes in Antarctica. This is the one we can drive into with a ship. They're aiming to pass through the narrow entry to Pendulum Cove for a landing on Deception Island. The bay here is surrounded by a horseshoe-shaped island formed by the upper ridge of an underwater volcano. This is the only place on the planet where you can do that. Seismologists monitor the volcano throughout the cruising season for any signs of potential eruption. But today, there's far more cause for concern above the waterline. The wind is gusting to more than 50 knots, just over 55 miles per hour. Snowing, winds. It's the Antarctic weather. It's always challenging going into Deception Island. A little bit more to the starboard. So the captain points the bow into the wind and pushes the ship off the centreline to compensate. 14 metres. 14 metres off the track is quite good. It's OK. We need to stay to the starboard side, close to the cliffs. Perfect position. After 20 minutes of tense navigation, Roel Amundsen is inside the cove. Positioning to send the boats ashore. Just keep the direction around here. Just getting the wind over to the port side. Tender garage bridge. We bring one boat out, only expedition team. Standing on the tender pit is blowing like hell. Copy that, just keep us posted. Everyone has to wait until Stefan confirms the trip to the beach is safe. Hang on to your knickers! One boat is in water. It's very rough. It's splashy, it's very windy. Hello, it's Stefan. Yes, Stefan. Bridge, go ahead. Extremely rough, but it's not unsafe here on the beach. Today they will get definitely the full Antarctic weather and the full Antarctic experience. But it's not for everyone. No, thank you. Not today. We will stay on board for this one. Rough waters and sharp winds mean each group's visit to the volcano's rim is a short one. But with steam rising off the land around them and hot water bubbling up through the beach… Quite warm. …it's a walk they won't forget. The beach is consisting of ashes and lapilli, which is a little bigger than sand. And the hot material, the heat, can percolate from bottom to top and comes out as steam. It is really the volcano speaking to us. It's a stormy ride back to the ship. But for the guests' last day in Antarctica, it doesn't get more authentic than this. Oh, that was actually my favorite landing, because that was real Antarctica. That's how the pole explorers had to do it, right? Now the pressure's on. In just 48 hours, they're scheduled to make the first of three stops in the Falkland Islands. It's the only fixed date on the itinerary, because many of the guests have paid in advance for shore excursions on arrival there. We hoped that we could arrive on time, but it depends on the weather and the waves. The infamous Drake Passage was kinder to them on the way out. But this body of water, where the Atlantic, Pacific and Southern Seas converge, is finally living up to its reputation. It takes Roel Amundsen more than 48 hours to cross. The last couple of days have been quite windy, high waves up to five meters. We had a Drake shake last night, so now it's a little bit more Drake Lake again. The ship is approaching Stanley, capital of the Falkland Islands archipelago. It's the only port we're going alongside. To guide the ship to the dock, they'll need a little help. Pilot boat approaching. Good afternoon. Good afternoon, pilots. Malcolm Jamieson is one of only two full-time harbour pilots in the Falklands. There is a sort of strong belief that the Falklands weather can be quite unpredictable. Some expectation to be quite gusty, squally. We know. We're expecting sort of southwest 20, 25, gusting 30, but it's probably even going around more to the west just now. Yeah, I think so. As they approach the pier, it's not the wind that's the problem. The wind is stable. It's the shallow part, actually, so it's very hard. Roel Amundsen's thrusters and propellers are churning to push the ship sideways. But with less than a metre of clearance under the keel, there's nowhere for the water between the hull and the dock to go. It's tricky today because it's so shallow. We have to use a lot of power just to get her moving. Just moving slowly, close to the pier now. With a little persistence, Captain Zachariasen brings his ship alongside. Despite a rich cultural history, there's no mistaking British influence here. And in Stanley, this local version of a British classic proves a hit. It's local fish. Yeah, it's Grenadier. Deep sea. It's absolutely beautiful. I love it. It's really nice. Then there's the dramatic view. I've never had the chance to see them from above. Just to sit here and from above see the rocks, see the lakes, see the creeks. You would never see from that perspective. See the loneliness of the place. It's just amazing. The Falklands don't fail to deliver on the rugged beauty they're known for. On Carcass Island, an orthanologist guest takes in the native wildlife, spotting a rare striated caracara. Never seen one before coming here today. They were killed by a lot of sheep farmers because they would kill the lambs and peck out the eyes of ewes. So there's only 500 breeding pairs of them. And on West Point Island, there's wildlife in every direction. But just three hours after arriving here, the notorious Falkland winds pick up. We are now having 45-50 knots wind. We also have more swell coming in to our starboard side. It looks like it's getting worse. Copy that, bridge. OK, I will initiate. The ship is forced to call time on their final stop. They only have an hour to get everyone back. So, who's ready to go? Go! On a two-week cruise where all Amundsen's crew have often had to be at nature's mercy, they're used to being quick on their toes. Going to the Antarctic is never a routine voyage. As Captain Zachariasen steers his ship back towards South America. The waves are maybe six, seven, maximum eight meters now. It's a heavy swell coming from the open sea. It looks like his guests have grown to share his fearless heart. The guests are just loving it. Embracing the rougher seas of the entire voyage without batting an eye. What more do you want? You've got the sea coming over the boat, you've got whales, you've got massive flocks of albatross. What an amazing trip. It's just been one thing after another. We want people to do crazy stuff, but never irresponsible. So that means they push their own limits, and we encourage them to do that, we inspire them to do that, and we protect them while they're doing that. On this cruise, Roel Amundsen's crew members have done more than inspire their guests. I'm so lucky to be here. They push themselves and their ship to new limits to discover the great unknown. Didn't you ever dream to visit a different planet? That's what you do when you go to Antarctica. To see it really, really rumble and be wild. This changes you.