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Day 1 – Thu., Nov. 13, 2003                                                        Meals aloft
Depart for Chile
          Expedition members will depart on an overnight flight to Santiago, Chile. Pre- and/or post-expedition travels may be added to this itinerary. Contact TravelQuest International for details on special flights, rates, and add-on excursions, (800) 830-1998,
 mail@tq-international.com. 

Day 2 – Fri., Nov. 14                                                                   Meals aloft/D
Arrive Punta Arenas
      Arrive in Santiago this morning in time for the connecting flight to Punta Arenas. Upon your arrival at the airport in Punta Arenas a member of our staff will meet you and transfer you to our hotel. Our accommodations are centrally located, just steps from the city’s main plaza. The balance of your day is free.

Overnight: Hotel Austral, Punta Arenas (two nights)

Day 3 – Sat., Nov. 15                                                                  B/L/D        
Punta Arenas
      Punta Arenas, the capital of Chile’s Magallanes region, sits alongside the Straits of Magellan. In the 17th century, J. Byron discovered this location on the Brunswick Peninsula and named it “Punta Arenosa” (Sandy Point). The city of Punta Arenas, founded in the mid-1800s, grew into a center for commerce and culture that spread its influence over the entire region.
      This morning we will enjoy a tour of the city. This evening, you are invited to join us for cocktails and an Antarctic briefing with our guides, including an update on the eclipse.

      At 66.5° south latitude we will cross the Antarctic Circle. Along this circle the Sun doesn’t set on the austral summer solstice and doesn’t rise on the austral winter solstice. Farther south, these Antarctic days and nights lengthen until, at the South Pole, the Sun rises and sets only once a year!
      Continuing our flight south, and if the skies are clear, we may see tabular icebergs and the ice shelves from which they calve. Some of these bergs can be the size of a small country and become a method of transport and a home for penguins and seals.
      Our first sight of the Ice Continent will appear at the Princess Astrid Coast, 70° south latitude. This area of Antarctica lies between the terminus of Stancomb Wills Glacier at 20° west and the Shinnan Glacier at 44° east. Flying just a little farther south we will see the spectacular landscape of the Wohlthat Mountains and the stark peaks of Dronning Maud Land, whose name was given for Queen Maud of Norway when the Norwegian Captain Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen discovered it in 1930. A thousand miles from the South Pole, 1,200 miles from Patriot Hills Base Camp, and 2,600 miles from South Africa (the closest continent), Dronning Maud Land is one of the most stark, beautiful, and remote places on Earth. The landscape looks as though it was created in a fairytale — great rock pillars, tooth-like peaks, and jagged spires pop up from the flat white landscape. Passing by the range, our runway comes into sight.
      Our aircraft will land on an area of blue ice that is 3,300 ft. (1,000 meters) above sea level. The blue ice remains clear of snow due to the katabatic winds that tunnel down from the mountains with great force.
      We will be met and transferred to our awaiting chartered DC3 and Twin Otter aircraft for the short hop to our specially selected campsite within the path of totality. (The exact location of this camp will be determined based upon weather conditions prior to our arrival on the ice.) Welcome to our Total Solar Eclipse camp at Eclipse 1, Antarctica!
      An introduction to the staff is followed by a tour and orientation of the camp and the surrounding area.   

Overnight: Eclipse 1 Base Camp (seven nights)

The chartered Ilyushin 76 transport jet landing in Antarctica

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