Not to be confused with Contiki Tours, the adventure travel company for young people, Kontiki Expeditions is launching this December with what they’re referring to as “neo-luxury” small-ship expeditions for the environmentally conscious. Taking only 18 guests, these wee ships will start with two eight-day itineraries, both wending along the coast of Ecuador starting and/or ending at Guayaquil and Manta, showcasing the country’s flora, food and fauna—think blue-footed boobies, sea lions and howler monkeys.

The Toquilla Expedition and The Spondylus Expedition deliver the “road” less travelled, taking in little towns and historic sites, forest and wetland, beaches and eco-reserves. Both sailings include Machalilla National Park & Beaches and Isla de la Plata.

BIG IDEA: ECUADOR INTERIOR

These 40-metre Kontiki boutique yachts have nine luxury staterooms each, a sundeck, a salon, two outdoor lounges, a bar, a Jacuzzi and a small gym. This is all watched over by 10 crew, including two local experts dedicated to sustainable travel guidelines, a local chef and a wellness professional. Sanitization and health protocols are paramount and elaborate, as you can imagine.

Kontiki Expeditions is touting sustainable, conscious marine travel, supporting the local communities the ships visit, all very authentic and beautiful. The tab is US$7,245 per person, based on double occupancy, everything included (except likely booze). Start planning.

KONTIKIEXPEDITIONS.COM/EN

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Launched in 1991 and based in Monaco, Star Clippers operates three ships—Star Clipper, Star Flyer and Royal Clipper. Just right for sailing enthusiasts, these vessels are the perfect escape, whether you lend a hand with the rigs, climb the mast, or just stare out to sea, awaiting drop-anchor. Speaking of which, researching Star Clippers ports of call thoroughly will help make the most efficient use of your time on land. Here are a few highlights on what to do in the Western Mediterranean and what to bring back.

PALMA DE MALLORCA (SPAIN)
Must-Do: The Cathedral of Santa Maria of Palma—or La Seu—is an imposing Gothic masterpiece dating from 1601. The nearby Royal Palace of La Almudaina was originally a 13th-century Arabian Fort. Both are the centrepieces of a tranquil Old Town dotted with shops, cafés and boutique hotels, and very popular with visitors.
Take-Home: The soil, climate and sea breeze work miracles on Mallorca’s centuries-old olive trees, which produce some of the finest extra virgin olive oil in the world.

MAHON, MENORCA (SPAIN)
Must-Do: Wandering is the order of the day here—along the shops of Carrer de ses Moreres and Carrer Hannover, and on through to the restaurants along the waterfront. Wander through the marketplace at Claustre del Carmen, a former convent beside the Carmen Church.
Take-Home: Menorca is famous for its shoe industry—in particular, the traditional leather sandals known as avarcas, an icon of the island. As well, gin has been made here since the British occupation in the 18th century and they have the recipe down pat.

BONIFACIO, CORSICA (FRANCE)
Must-Do: Make the trek up to the Old Town, a maze of narrow streets and medieval five- and six-storey walkups, all encircled by the ancient citadel walls. For a real workout, take the King Aragon Steps down the limestone southern cliff wall. These 187 steps were carved by monks creating a path to and from an underground well.
Take-Home: Corsican honey comes in a variety of strengths and tastes, from the fruity, caramel and cocoa flavours harvested in May to the aromatic, bitter and strawberry varieties gathered in summer and fall.

CALVI, CORSICA (FRANCE)
Must-Do: The port citadel and beach are de rigeur, but try to get out of town and take a winding tour up the nearby mountains to visit the tiny villages of Sant’Antonino, Cobara and Pigna to the northeast. Stop at the nearest fresh-squeezed lemonade café you find.
Take-Home: Napoleon once said he could smell his homeland before he could see it. He was referring to the aromatic plants and trees—cedarwood, cypress, juniper, rosemary, thyme and many more—whose scents fill the air. Essential oil distillers use both wild and cultivated plants to make natural beauty products and perfumes.

TROPEZ, PROVENCE-ALPES-CÔTE D’AZUR (FRANCE)
Must-Do: After you’ve climbed up to the citadel and before you find the perfect café table at the marina to ogle the millionaire yachts, stop in at the Annonciade Museum, a converted 16th-century chapel. This tiny space is noted for the collection of modern art it has been amassing since 1922, and for championing artists such as Paul Signac, who introduced many painters to St. Tropez on his arrival in 1892.
Take-Home: The while town’s famous pastry the Tarte Tropézienne can’t be packed in your suitcase, you can buy the cookbook and DIY.

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On a nine-day small-ship journey with UnCruise, an adventure travel outfit from Seattle, I toodle around the bays and islets off Panama’s Pacific and Atlantic coasts on Safari Voyager with 40 or so other intrepid travellers.

“We are the antithesis of the big ships,” says UnCruise owner Dan Blanchard. “Everything we do is not about the boat, it’s about what’s off the boat—the nature and wildlife. Essentially, the boat is a floating lodge we ‘hub and spoke off’ all day, the tool to get us to the places we can’t get to otherwise.”

Spot the boobies. I rarely get excited about boobies. But then I spot my first blue-footed boobie—and I’m mesmerized. On an inflatable skiff looking through binoculars, we see their cliffside bird colony on Little Pacheca Island in the Gulf of Panama. My boobies aren’t alone: I also see cormorants, pelicans and more, each commanding their own particular real estate around their wee island rookeries.

Find your tribe. Further down the Pacific coast, we spend an afternoon at an Indigenous village in the Darién province, communing with a tribe of welcoming Emberá villagers still living the same traditional jungle life that goes back centuries. After a formal welcome and a bit of ceremonial dancing, we buy crafts—beaded pendants, woven baskets, carved wooden dishware—and taste raw sugar cane.

WHERE TO STAY: IN PANAMA CITY

Kayak the mangroves. Existing before humans, the salt-tolerant coastal vegetation of the sub-tidal zones is its own ecosystem, filtering the salt out of the tree roots. Paddling through the mangroves yields an exquisite sense of peace and an arresting realization that I’m visiting a place few people ever get the chance to visit. We languish in the approaching sunset, drinking in the silence, watching the pelicans dive-bomb for fish in the estuary. No wonder these poor creatures go blind from this daily grind.

Traverse the Panama Canal. Tick.

Find a desert island. On the Atlantic side, we make for the Indigenous province of Guna Yala, a grouping of 360 picture-postcard islands, all white sand, palm trees and thatched roofs. We snorkel, paddleboard, kayak some more, eat, play volleyball and shop for molas, the colourful embroidered tapestries the locals have brought to our island-for-the-day.

THINGS TO DO: CASCO VIEJO

When you go. Uncruise Adventures offers seven- and 10-night trips around Colombia and Panama in October, December and January, and July and August. Pack the linen.

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Antarctica is all about zipping through icy bays on pontoon boats, hiking up glacial hills, kayaking or just plain penguin-watching. And a Quark Expeditions cruise through the islands of the Antarctic Peninsula is the perfect bucket-list adventure for anyone—thrill-seekers, nomads, romantics.

A quick Google search of “things to do in Antarctica” turns up “survive” as one of the main activities. The explorers that started arriving in the early 1800s can attest to that. The real activity, of course, is the journey itself—and this will likely be the furthest you will likely ever get from your house. Most cruise lines will have you landing in Ushuaia the day before you set sail. It bills itself as the City at the Bottom of the World—just a few kilometres from famous Tierra del Fuego National Park. (Weirdly, it used to be a prison colony.)

Pack your summer stuff. You will spend a few days in Buenos Aires first, where it will be full-on summer. You would be remiss not to take advantage of the weather, even for a day or two. 

Pack your ski stuff. While daytime temps in Antarctica’s “summer,” from December to February, hover around -2ºC, you’ll find yourself outside a lot. As well, ship corridors in this part of the world generally aren’t exactly toasty.

Get your awe on. Nothing can prepare you for the beauty of the giant walls of ice, frosty clouds rolling in low with full sun behind them, shimmering vistas across icy bays. Some of the ice we were looking at was thousands of years old.

ARCTIC ADVENTURE: IN GREENLAND

Spot the critters. Despite being a big deep freeze, the Antarctic archipelago has its fair share of wildlife. You will see different kinds of penguins (including the Gentoo, Adélie and Chinstrap) and seals (including the Weddell, Leopard and Crabeater) and soon be able to tell them all apart. All feed on krill, an algae-eating form of crustacean. Keep an eye out for whales. You will also see birds flying alongside the ship, nesting in rocky crags or feasting on krill at the shoreline: blue-eyed shags, Antarctic terns, brown skuas, snowy sheathbills and numerous varieties of petrels. On-board experts share their knowledge of ornithology, marine biology, zoology and geology with talks during downtimes.

Say yes to camping. At an overnight camping trip at Rongé Island, those brave enough not only survived but actually slept.

Take the plunge. On Deception Island, many brave souls stripped down and ran screaming into minus-one-degree water, part of a polar plunge. From my dry spot on the shore, this all looked very invigorating.

Don’t forget anti-nausea medication. The first and last legs of the journey are the most wobbly: crossing the notorious Drake Passage. We noticed the hooks under our dining-room chairs that would allow us to attach ourselves to the floor if need be. I remember one particular dinner where servers spent more time replacing utensils that slipped off the tabletops than they did delivering plates.

Be patient. It takes about 100 hours of sailing (not including touring around the peninsula itself), 30 hours of flying and four hours of taxicabs to get to Antarctica and back—truly the trip of a lifetime.

Quark Expeditions

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