On November 24, 2003, Quark Expeditions became the first and only operator to lead a total solar eclipse cruise in Antarctica. On Monday, December 16, to commemorate the achievement, they announced that they were reuniting experts from the original cruise to join a couple of new Antarctic eclipse sailings in 2021.
Any given point on Earth experiences a total solar eclipse approx every 400 years and is only visible along a path about 100 miles wide named "the path of totality." The next total solar eclipse in Antarctica is expected to occur on Saturday, December 4, 2021, and the point of greatest duration will be lying at the edge of the Antarctic Continent, in Weddell Sea.
Distinctive passengers on the Antarctic Eclipse journeys will feature NASA’s “Mr. Eclipse,” Fred Espenak and Babak Tafreshi, a world-famous National Geographic photographer, both of whom took part in the original 2003 cruise.
The two experts will be accompanied by American Eclipse author David Baron. Quark Expeditions' team will be conducting a planning summit in May next year where Expedition Leaders, head of guest experiences, and special guests will come together to discuss key learnings from the 2003 voyage, as well as how to use those learnings in order to ensure the ultimate passenger experience on the 2021 voyages.
The Antarctic 2021 Solar Eclipse cruises include:
- 17-day Solar Eclipse 2021: Totality in Antarctica with South Georgia on World Explorer (1 departure - November 26-December 12, 2021) from US$16,995 pp.
- 20-day Solar Eclipse 2021: Totality in Antarctica, with South Georgia and the Falkland Islands on Ocean Diamond (1 departure - November 25-December 14, 2021) from US$16,995 pp.