Blog | Oceanencounters

S2603 Exploration of South America and the Antarctic - Leg 1, Southampton, England to Buenos Aires, Argentina

28th – 30th January 2026 – Southampton A big cruise to start the 2026 cruising season for Ocean Wildlife Encounters, the South America and Antarctica round trip, titled “A Grand Voyage”, filled the OWE team with great expectations for a fantastic wildlife filled route! However, it didn’t quite start as planned!! But spoiler alert – it did get much better!! The first of five OWE teams of two to relay throughout the cruise, Christine Murdie and Clare Gower, boarded Borealis wi

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May 2922 min read

S2603 Exploration of South America and the Antarctic Leg 3, Punta Arenas, Chile – Callao, Peru.

4th March 2026. Punta Arenas Harbour Punta Arenas was the second changeover port for the OWE teams on Fred Olsen’s epic Exploration of South America and Antarctica cruise. Anno and Mikey departed Borealis early in the morning with James and Jean arriving onto the ship at lunchtime. Once we had settled in and sorted out various onboard logistics, we ventured out around the Punta Arenas harbour for a quick look. We started seeing some classic southern Chilean species including

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May 2623 min read

S2603 Exploration of South America and the Antarctic - Leg 5 St John's, Antigua-Southampton

St John’s, Antigua St John’s was the final change-over port for the OWE teams. Mark and Martin arrived around mid-day just in time to meet with Jeff and Pete as they left the ship. The hot sunshine was a far cry from the cold of the UK they had just left behind; time to unpack and get a cold drink! A few familiar faces from previous cruises also greeted us, but I think we rather stood out as the new wildlife guides; binoculars and a pasty British complexion betraying us as th

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Apr 208 min read

T2606 - Islands and Coastlines of Scotland at Easter

Most of the images used in this blog were taken during the cruise. Click on the images to view them at full size. Whilst some of the OWE had been able to participate in the Antarctic and South America voyage, those who had other commitments were able to join the MS Bolette in Liverpool for the first of several UK based cruises. Paul, Julia, Christine and Lorraine met up on 31st March for T2606: Islands and Coastline of Scotland at Easter. The OWE Team for T2606 (from left to

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Apr 116 min read

S2603 - OWE off-piste Matute forest, Colombia 28 March

An overnight stop in Cartagena de Indias gave the OWE team (Peter Howlett and Jeff Clarke) the chance to take an early morning trip into the dry forest of Matute. Our guides from Matute Birding, Adriana and Israel, would give us a first-class tour of this dry forest area. Biodiversity is rich in this part of South America and even people with previous experience of any given area will always find much that is new to them. We spent the first couple of hours walking rough roads

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Apr 107 min read

S2603 - OWE Off-piste Panama 26 March

Having spent a productive day in Costa Rica following our transit of the Panama Canal we returned to Colón, where we once again met up with Rafa outside the port gates and were quickly on our way to Castillo de San Lorenzo. We tried a few forest stops with limited success, although we did get some cracking views of a Cocoa Woodcreeper, but in contrast the area around the ruins of the fortification was buzzing with birds. Crested Oropendolas were immediately obvious, and their

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Apr 104 min read

S2603 Exploration of South America and the Antarctic: The Totals!

Our various teams are now back from this amazing cruise and are currently preparing their respective blogs. Five teams each covered one leg of the cruise: Leg Start Finish Leg One Southampton Buenos Aires Leg Two Buenos Aires Punta Arenas Leg Three Punta Arenas Callao Leg Four Callao St Johns Leg Five St Johns Southampton The tables below summarize the Cetacean and Seabird sightings during the cruise. The species in the Seabird tables are listed in the latest order, followi

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Apr 91 min read

S2603 - OWE Off-piste Panama 23 March

Borealis arrived in Amador, Panama, early morning on the 23rd March 2026. The OWE team (Peter Howlett and Jeff Clarke) had arranged a tour with a local bird guide through Beautiful Tours Panama. Once ashore we met up with Rafa and were soon headed towards the famous birding site of Pipeline Road. Our start point was ‘The Ammo Ponds’, very close to ‘Herman the German’, the famous floating crane in the dock site at Gamboa along the Panama Canal. 'Herman the German' the heavy li

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Apr 96 min read

S2603 Exploration of South America and the Antarctic - Leg 4 Callao, Peru-St John's Antigua

Callao Callao was the third change-over port for the OWE teams and an overnight port for the cruise. James and Jean departed Borealis early morning to head off on a three week trip to explore more of Peru, while the incoming team of Peter Howlett and Jeff Clarke arrived on Borealis in the evening. There was time to greet some familiar faces in the Earth Room before bunks beckoned after nigh on 20 hours travelling. (Click on an image to open it in a new window) The team were g

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Apr 820 min read

T2526A - Canary Islands and Madeira Winter Warmth

Most of the images used in this blog were taken during the cruise. Click on the images to view them at full size. The Ocean Wildlife Encounters (OWE) team, Paul Hill, Dave McGrath, Christine Murdie and Lorraine Soulby joined Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines MS Bolette and her guests on the 17th November 2025 docked at Liverpool’s famous Pier Head in front of the magnificent waterfront. The team had a look for Harbour Porpoises in the river and Peregrine Falcons soaring above the wo

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Dec 12, 202514 min read