SEDNA'S ROUTE

THE PRINCIPLE SECTIONS OF THE VOYAGE

After sailing around the Falkland Islands and spending nearly a month with the unusual wildlife of South Georgia, Sedna IV will sail to the formidable Cape Horn en route to the last continent - Antarctica. In the wake of the great explorers: Scott, de Gerlach, Amundsen, and Shackleton, the crew will sail their three-masted schooner through the menacing ice floes that surround the Antarctic Peninsula.

The crew will take advantage of the relatively mild Antarctic summer to approach the frozen continent whilst conducting their scientific mission. By visiting the research bases of several countries operating in these latitudes, crewmembers will meet with scientists from all over the world to better understand the impact of changes that are now taking place. Although most of researchers pack their bags and head home before winter sets in, our dedicated crew will stay behind, to face the challenges of an Antarctic winter.

The expedition: 17 September 2005 through 15 December 2006

Total time span of filming: 60 weeks broken up into three chunks:

Ferrying Sedna IV to the frozen continent: six weeks
17 September to 30 October 2005: six weeks

Events:

Port visits to the Azores, Cape Verde and Búzios, Brazil
Presence of SEDNA IV at the Summit of the Americas, held in Mar del Plata, Argentina, during the first week of November
Transit to the Falklands-Malvinas
Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) and South Georgia: eight weeks 28 October through 22 December 2005

Events:

Shoot jousting elephant seal males during mating season
Emergence of animal life: macaroni penguins, king penguins, Magellanic penguins, chinstrap penguins, southern caracara, fur seals, albatross, etc
Historic sites and monuments (whaling stations)
The cemetery where Sir Ernest Shackleton is buried. A visit to the Bird Island scientific station (United Kingdom)
The "Students on Ice" contest for students leaving for Antarctica
Christmas and New Year's day in Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego

Antarctic Peninsula: 11 weeks
6 January through 25 March 2006

Events:

Breathtaking Antarctic landscapes
Visits to scientific stations: Palmer (United States), Jubany (Argentina) and Rothera (United Kingdom)
Adelie penguins (chinstrap and gentoo penguins)
Leopard seals: fearsome predators of the Antarctic
Whales and other marine mammals
Underwater filming: discovering the sea floor
The arrival of the Argentine icebreaker with enough food and fuel to last SednaIV’s team through the winter

Wintering and the return to Ushuaia: 38 weeks
25 March 2006 through 15 December 2006
Events:

The long Antarctic night
The southern lights
Melchior's abandoned research station
Life on board and such things as the anxiety that goes with it
Storms and blizzards
The NASA research protocol, monitoring the mental health of the crew
Scientific work (two doctoral and two post-doc projects)
Skiing expeditions
The explorers' return to Cape Horn, last difficult leg before the return home