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Sea kayaking holidays in the humbling wilderness of Antarctica, the Arctic, and some of the world’s most biodiverse regions, are guaranteed to stir your soul. Paddle between brash ice and icebergs of all shapes and sizes, absorbing the majestic scenery as it unfolds before you.
In Antarctica, keep your camera on-hand for unforgettable encounters with penguins, seals and whales, and occasionally leopard seals or orcas. In the Arctic, prepare to paddle under nesting bird colonies, past massive glaciers and around large iceberg.
Led by experienced guides, you and your small group of like-minded adventurers will paddle between ice floes, brash ice and icebergs of all shapes and sizes. Paddling is one of the best ways to access and intimately explore the beautiful coastlines we visit and therefore make the most of your time in the wild and remote destinations we visit.
‘Getting out amongst it’ is our philosophy, and that is exactly what we do. Weather permitting, the sea kayaking activity is normally available anytime the other expeditioners go out. Rather than travelling large distances, our aim is to ensure you see as much as possible. We paddle between 5 to 15 kilometres (2 to 4 hours) per outing, often taking a snack and a flask of hot chocolate to enjoy on our excursion.
Each small group of kayakers (up to 10 per guide) will have their own intimate exploration of the small hidden bays and coasts that are inaccessible to Zodiacs. Of course, we also make time for your own shore excursions and wildlife encounters.
The elements play an important role in our sea kayaking program. It is important that you have an adventurous attitude and understand that the weather can impact our kayaking time.
For all of our trips, you must be active in the outdoors and have an adventurous spirit. The level of experience differs slightly depending on the region you are visiting.
For most temperate and polar you should be an intermediate paddler. In South Georgia however, conditions can be more varied and you require solid paddling experience in ocean swell and wind.
For our tropical trips some prior paddling experience is needed. We may encounter wind on these trips, however the water is fairly protected.
You do not need to be an expert or know how to roll. However, you must be able to swim and you should have experience in a wet exit and assisted re-entry. You should also be proficient at putting on a spray skirt by yourself and be comfortable paddling on seas with up to half a metre swell. It is also important that you gain some practice getting into a kayak from a pier, wharf, or deep shoreline where you can’t step into the kayak from standing position. You can easily practice all of this at home, plus paddling in a variety of weather conditions, before your trip.
Our guides do not offer instructional classes for beginners. Therefore, the sea kayaking option is unsuitable for complete novices. However, there is often ample time to gain the required experience before you depart. We may be able to recommend a reputable sea kayak operator in your area for some tuition prior to the trip.
Your guide will assess your ability on the initial paddle, and if you have insufficient experience, he or she reserves the right to restrict your participation in rougher conditions.
You should be fit enough to paddle for up to three hours and climb between moving Zodiacs on the water. Regular exercise is recommended, because the fitter you are the more you will enjoy the experience. The more paddles you can do before the trip, the better. We recommend at least three outings prior to your voyage.
During summer the air temperature in the Antarctic Peninsula, Greenland and Spitsbergen are generally above freezing but can range from -4°C to +5°C / 24.8°F to 41°F. The water temperature in the polar regions is close to freezing and winds sweep off the glaciers, making paddling a chilling experience. In South Georgia, there are stronger winds and swells than in Antarctica. Scotland, Iceland, Norwegian coasts are warmer with water temperatures of around 12 °C/ 53.6°F.
The northern waters are warmer than the polar regions but water temperatures of around 12 °C/ 53.6°F mean you may opt to wear your paddle jacket on a warm, sunny day or our dry suits on a cool day. Surf landings are not likely, but you must be capable of paddling in a small swell or wind chop, with winds up to 20 knots. With that being said, we will not paddle if wind conditions are too strong and there is no sheltered area for paddling.
In Costa Rica and Panama, April is the end of the dry season. The shoulder season begins in May, bringing increased humidity. Afternoon rain showers are possible in May with temperatures ranging from 26-36 °C (80- 96 °F). Winds are generally light at this time of year. The water temperature ranges from 27 -29 °C. Surf landings are not likely, but be prepared to paddle in a small swell or wind chop, with winds up to 15 knots. Again, we will not paddle if wind conditions are too strong and there is no sheltered area for paddling.
The Sea Kayaking activity is available for an additional surcharge and includes guided excursions and kayaking equipment. Fares for this activity start from US$900, AU$1,250, £460 or €550.
Prices are indicative only and are variable. They are calculated based on the days of voyage, ability to carry out the activity and exchange rates.
Kayaking is one of the best ways to spot rare wildlife, from penguins to puffins.
Access intimate bays and coves that bigger crafts can't reach.
Our experienced sea kayak guides will help bring your chosen destination to life.
Hone your kayaking skills and gain a hobby for life!
Become lifelong friends with your small group of like-minded adventurers.
Being active every day on your holiday means you don't have to feel guilty about being spoilt by our expert chefs!
Add another layer to your once-in-a-lifetime holiday and make the most out of your time in some of the most remote places on earth.
Have the time of your life exploring some of the wildest places on earth from the water.
Our guide to paddler ratio is 1:10 and we provide an accompanying safety Zodiac. There are 26 places available in Antarctica and tropical voyages, 20 in temperate regions, South Georgia and all Arctic trips except in Franz Josef Land where the maximum is 16 kayakers.
Kayakers must be 14 or over.
Sea kayaking is offered in place of regular shore excursions. We aim to paddle as often as possible. Depending on the voyage, we generally aim to paddle twice per day.
We will give you a drybag for extra clothing, binoculars and anything that needs to be kept dry. You should also carry a water bottle. We recommend bringing a waterproof camera or phone, or ensuring you have a good quality waterproof case.
If the weather changes during our outing we will head back to the ship and perhaps join a shore excursion. The ship’s captain, expedition leader and kayak guide always maintain close contact to ensure a safe paddling experience. We do not attempt to paddle too far away from the ship. The emphasis is on experiencing the destination rather than travelling long distances.
The kayaks are made with a hard plastic and are easily paddled in swell and conducting shore landings, and through small patches of brash ice. We manoeuvre around the larger ice chunks and floes.
Kayaking in the poles offers a unique wildlife viewing experience. In Antarctica, we have many opportunities to encounter penguins, seals and whales, and occasionally we may even spot leopard seals or orcas. In the Arctic, we’ll paddle under nesting bird colonies, past massive glaciers and around large icebergs, however we maintain a safe distance from polar bears and walruses. Our guides carry rifles and flare guns in the Arctic to ensure your safety against polar bears.
Kayakers in wild temperate regions will have a unique wildlife experience, with possible encounters with seals and basking sharks. You will have the opportunity to view some of the largest sea bird colonies in the northern hemisphere.
The superb wildlife-viewing opportunities are endless in the astonishingly biodiverse nature reserves we visit. Kayaks offer a unique opportunity to view marine and land mammals, coral reefs, tropical fish, sea birds and an astonishing range of rainforest birds. We will bring our snorkelling gear with us during our paddles and take advantage of any opportunities to view marine life up close.
In the unlikely event of a capsize, your experienced guide will assist by righting the kayak, stabilising it then pumping it out. Paddlers will re-enter with the guide’s help, or with a support Zodiac. With drysuits and warm clothing underneath you will be comfortable in cold water for up to half an hour. Note that the kayaks have separate compartments with bulkheads, which means they will float after a capsize.
No. Each kayaking place is for one person only. Passengers are unable to share a kayaking place as we customise the kayaks and dry suits for each individual kayaker at the beginning of each voyage.
Kayaking Guide
Toby was born and raised on the remote and rugged south coast of Western Australia. Surrounded by national parks and with a family that loved to travel and explore, it is no surprise that Toby entered into a career in remote area guiding.
Toby began his sea kayak guiding career on Tasmania’s remote and rugged coasts and in the decade and a half since, has guided expeditions from equatorial to polar regions including Greenland, Norway, Spitsbergen, Indonesia, Fiji, the Philippines, Antarctica and South Georgia. Toby is also a qualified sea kayak instructor, and has worked extensively throughout Australia with universities, schools and tourism operators as an expedition leader, educator and guide trainer.
Toby’s great passion in life is in learning about and exploring remote and beautiful places and in assisting people to enjoy, understand and experience those places to the full. Toby is also a keen photographer, climber, runner and surfer.
Toby is currently based in Hobart Tasmania after recently completing a Masters of Wildlife and Fisheries Biology in the Southern United States.
Kayaking Guide
Michael started guiding a couple of years after obtaining a degree as a naturalist in his home state of Michigan. Over the years, he found ways of combining his passion for wilderness travel with paddle sports. Sharing this passion is what drives him and has kept him evolving throughout his adult life. He’s led trips all over the world including Alaska, New Zealand, Greenland, Patagonia, Iceland and most of Central America.
Michael is a British Canoe Coach, an ACA Level 3 Coastal Kayak Instructor Trainer and a Level 4 instructor. He also holds certifications in Canoe, SUP and whitewater kayak instruction. As a lifelong paddler, when other people peer at mountain peaks, Michael’s eyes will wander down to where they meet their neighboring mountains and know there is water flowing there drawing him like a magnet.
When he’s not guiding, you may find him with oars in his hands, rowing a wilderness river searching for trout with his fly rod. Since wilderness travel and backcountry fishing often result in some serious hunger, Michael has also developed interests and a reputation as a skilled wilderness chef, with a backcountry cookbook to his credit.
Michael’s teaching and demonstrations are among the most popular sessions at US kayak symposiums, and his articles appear in numerous paddling print on web media.
Kayaking Guide
Alex was born and raised in Northern California, an area wilder and closer to nature (and colder!) than most imagine. Since he could hold his head up, he was seated in a kayak, eventually beginning to lead tours off the rough and rocky Santa Cruz coastline after graduating from the University of California.
Spending his entire youth climbing and skiing the Sierra’s, surfing, kayaking and boating off the coast, and travelling the world with his parents led him comfortably into a life of guiding. His education in earth sciences at the university inspired an environmentalist attitude, as well as a research-based approach to science and learning. Working among scientists and leading experts has allowed him to make friends with and learn from some of the brightest and enthusiastic members of the industry since the start, and inspired a passion for the birdlife and lichen ecology of the polar regions.
After beginning work with a world-class surf kayaker in Santa Cruz, Alex has travelled the world, continuously challenging himself in and out of a kayak. Guiding month long kayak trips in the Patagonian Fiords, paddling the deceivingly tricky and frigid waters of the Pacific Northwest, and providing hands-on logistical support for whole-season scientific field trips in the High Arctic, among others have provided lessons and experience in leadership and wilderness conduct.
Although these skills are useful for guiding work in polar regions, they also transfer well to Alex’s personal life. When not guiding, he can be found climbing, paddling, skiing and fishing around the Lofoten Islands which he calls home.
Kayaking Guide
Angela’s love for the outdoors began at the tender age of two when her parents brought her on her first wilderness canoe trip. Since then, she has pursued a life as an outdoor guide. Angela has explored many remote and unique parts of the globe as a whitewater kayak guide, sea kayak guide and ski guide.
She spends her winters as a backcountry ski touring guide in the interior of British Columbia and is certified through the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides.
During the summers, she guides sea kayak expeditions to remote locations around the world. Greenland and Norway are two of her favourite places to sea kayak and explore. She is certified by the Sea Kayak Guides Alliance of British Columbia.
Angela spends her time off at her home on the Canadian West Coast surfing and enjoying the rugged beauty of Vancouver Island.
Assistant Expedition Leader
Expedition: Svalbard Odyssey Jewels of the Arctic
Daniel is a qualified sea kayak guide from the Blue Mountains, Australia. He is drawn to the beauty of wild places; the extremes of cold and light, and the abundance of life that can be found there.
A curiosity for engaging in landscapes both physical and human lead him from growing up in Sydney, to a degree in history and geography and a varied career guiding people through the wilderness. For the last 10 years, he has taught and guided by kayak, climbing and trekking, in remote Tasmania, the islands of Scotland, the coast of mainland Australia and Antarctica. Additionally, Daniel enjoys teaching and training. Both in training kayak guides and instructing risk management and safety practice for operating in cold climates.
Daniel is a keen climber and kayaker, who brings a love sharing human story, remote coastline, and wild creatures to his work and to deepening the experience of others.
Kayaking Guide
Growing up in Canada, Lisa developed an early love for outdoor life, especially spending time on the water. Canoeing since she was a child, she fell in love with sea kayaking and has developed into a dedicated kayaker, coach, and guide.
She is an American Canoe Association (ACA) Level 3 Coastal Kayak Instructor and holds ACA Level 4 Open Water Coastal Kayaking Skills as well as British Canoe Union (BCU) Four Star Sea Kayak and BCU Three Star Canoe awards. She is comfortable in sea and surf kayaks, canoes, and stand-up paddleboards.
Lisa has spent many years exploring the waters and guiding trips in the Everglades and Florida Keys and has guided, paddled, and camped around the world including Wales, Greenland, Iceland, Alaska, Canada, the Great Lakes, and Central America.
Now drawn to colder climates, Lisa especially enjoys the opportunity to share wildlife sightings and explore remote vistas with others. She is also proficient in fly fishing and spends time each fall in the Yellowstone area chasing trout. Prior to full-time instructing and guiding on the water, Lisa, who holds two doctoral degrees, was Dean of the Nova Southeastern University College of Pharmacy. She now considers northern Michigan her home, where she has taken up cross-country skiing in the winter, photography, and foraging for local foods.
Kayaking Guide
Frank’s passion and love for the outdoors was first sparked when he left his homeland of Germany in 2006 to travel and live in numerous countries around the world. Making a more permanent move to Canada and starting out as a dogsledding guide opened the doors to becoming an outdoor leader and kayak guide. The west coast of Vancouver Island has been his home for 9 years now.
While being out by the coast, he spends his time as a contract sea kayak guide for multi-day expedition style tours and outdoor educational programs for schools. Frank also works to restore wild salmon habitat for a nonprofit organisation in his home town, Ucluelet.
Frank holds a Level 3 Kayak Guide certificate issued by the Sea Kayak Guides Alliance of British Columbia and is working towards becoming a guide trainer.
One of Frank’s favourite quotes that inspires him and influences him in many ways is: ‘You often feel tired, not because you’ve done too much, but because you’ve done too little of what sparks a light in you’.
Kayaking Guide
Matt loves exploring! Wanting to find out what’s around the next corner or at the top of the next mountain has enticed Matt to some of the most remote destinations on the planet.
For more than a decade he has organised and conducted custom adventures for keen expeditioners from across the globe. leading them on; kayaking expeditions to Iceland, Greenland, Svalbard, Antarctica, Fiji, Norway, Papua New Guinea, Alaska and British Columbia, skiing expeditions to Iceland, Antarctica, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Norway, Greenland and Canada, and surfing expeditions to Morocco, West Papua and Northern Vancouver Island.
Matt started his career in adventure by taking the Thompson Rivers University Degree in Adventure Studies. He is a certified Backcountry Ski guide through the Association of Canada Mountain Guides and a certified Sea Kayak Guide through the Sea Kayak Guides Alliance of British Columbia and a Surf Instructor through the Canadian Surf Association.
Matt tones down his adventurous travels in his sleepy home town of Ucluelet on the West Coast of British Columbia, where he spends his summers relaxing and surfing, and the Canadian winters working as a Heli Skiing Guide with Last Frontier Heli skiing or preparing for his spring ski touring expeditions (if you can call that relaxing!).
Matt is excited to welcome you onboard and looks forward to the sharing his genuine passion for adventure, keen sense of humour and love of life, as you discover some of the most wonderful wilderness areas on the planet together.
Kayaking Guide
Expedition: Northwest Passage
Russell grew up in a sea kayaking family on the rugged west coast of Canada with parents that pushed him and his brother to get out there and challenge themselves. He tries his best to do that on a regular basis and it seems to get him to some cool places and in some interesting situations.
For the last decade Russell has bounced around British Columbia working as a ski patroller in the winters, guide and outdoor educator in the summers, and pulled off some large scale expeditions in between. The most impressive of these being a 6500 kilometre seven month sea kayak trip from Brazil to Florida with his brother.
Russell has recently shifted gears in life and become a paramedic with the British Columbia Ambulance Service. While working part-time, he still manages to hold onto his passion for the outdoors through guiding and exploring the mountains, rivers, and oceans whenever possible.
Activity Operations and Expedition Assets Manager
John has spent much of his life exploring rivers and oceans in kayaks and rafts. He has led commercial sea kayak trips on remote waters in Australia, Fiji, and The Solomon Islands. He has guided the most wilderness rafting trips in Australia from the Franklin River in Tasmania to the Herbert River in North Queensland. His padding and mountain adventures have taken him from Australia to India, Nepal, Fiji, America, Russia and New Zealand.
In 1989, John led the Australian Whitewater Rafting team to a competition on a freezing river in Siberia. In the years following, he lived in Russia travelling extensively in forbidden, remote and untrod mountains. He was presented with the Australian Geographic Young Adventurer of the Year award for his adventures. In 2005, John led a film crew back to the Alati Mountains in Siberia to create a film about whitewater rafting in Russia. The film was shown internationally and won numerous prestigious awards.
For many years, John led young people on long self-contained wilderness expeditions, both mountaineering and rafting, aimed at building confidence and character. John delights in helping others to find inspiration through wilderness travel.
Having recently run his own outdoors retail and tours business, John has returned to his passion for leading trips to the world’s most remote and inspiring places.
John has also brought his passion to the Aurora Expeditions head office as Manager - Activities.
Kayaking Guide
Tory has always been an ocean lover and self-professed ‘water baby’.
She grew up in Brisbane, Queensland, and has spent most of her time chasing water, whether it be frozen or flowing. Tory is a qualified Level 2 Ski Instructor through the NZSIA, having spent almost 8 years travelling in New Zealand, Japan and Canada doing back to back ski seasons. She then relocated to Hobart, Tasmania, where her love for paddling flourished.
Gaining her Australian Canoeing Sea Guide qualifications, Tory has worked as an Expedition Sea Kayak Guide for 8 years in many remote parts of Tasmania’s rugged south west coast and Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, Flinders Island in the Bass Straight, Western Australia and Queensland.
Tory spends the cooler months working in outdoor education programs for schools and instructing future outdoor guides in vocational education. She has a drive to upskill and she’s continually building on her knowledge and experience. In her spare time, Tory enjoys swimming, rafting, and sailing.
Tory’s love for unique marine environments, her passion for educating and sharing unforgettable experiences in wild places, along with her sense for adventure will bring great energy and experience to your polar explorations.
Kayaking Guide
Expedition: Svalbard Odyssey Iceland Circumnavigation Jewels of the Arctic
Kayaking Guide
Expedition: Svalbard Odyssey Iceland Circumnavigation Jewels of the Arctic
Growing up on the South Coast of NSW, the coastline and its beaches were always a second home to Eamon. He would explore the coastline either kayaking, snorkelling, or surfing during ocean swim events. Eamon bought his first kayak with a friend at the age of 13 years old and has had more than one type or another ever since.
The canyons and cliffs of the Blue Mountains soon called to him and a long love of climbing and bushwalking followed. The amazing people he met in the mountains would shape what he wanted to do and become in life.
Eamon transferred from electronics tech industry to outdoor guiding in 1994, and he has been involved in outdoor education, guiding, training, instructing and assessing people in a variety of adventurous pursuits and first aid courses ever since.
He is truly rewarded seeing people enjoy new activities, experience different cultures, and be affected by beautiful natural environments. For years Eamon has lead student teams to Peru, India, Vietnam, Cambodia, NZ, Fiji and Nepal. These expeditions encourage the students to grow in independence, resilience and awareness.
For the last 10 years, he has also been working as a sea kayaking guide in Fiji and beyond. Back at home he continues to guide, teach and share his love of the outdoors with adult and student groups.
His passion for languages, travel and adventure has made for a wealth of great memories and stories.
Kayaking Guide & Skiing Guide
Expedition: Northwest Passage
Peter's career has taken him down several unusual paths, from a stint in the military, to Civil Engineering, to working on TV survival shows, and to life in a Tanzanian National Park working for a well-known wildlife conservation trust. But he now spends his winters heli-skiing as one of the head guides for Bella Coola Helisports and at several backcountry ski-touring lodges. In the fall he spends much of his time guiding guests to view grizzly bears in the Bella Coola valley.
He also guides rock climbing and sea-kayaking trips. Born in Montreal, and having lived and guided for many years in Europe, the lure of endless white-capped mountains and the pristine Pacific Ocean enticed Peter to British Columbia where he can live his passions everyday and share his love of wild untouched places with others. He spends every possible moment exploring and adventuring in the backcountry on skis, in a kayak, trail running, climbing or surfing.
Peter is always up for a new adventure, the more remote, the better. His down to earth, relaxed demeanour and wealth of experience make him a great companion in the mountains or on the sea. Peter loves practicing his Spanish.
He is certified through the British Canoe Union as a 5-star sea kayak Leader and through the SKGABC as a Level 3 guide. He has guided trips all over Canada, Scotland, Norway and Iceland.
Kayaking Guide
Danny O’Farrell is a natural resource management specialist, biologist and wilderness guide with over 15 years of experience in a variety of areas related to marine and freshwater fisheries, wildlife, forestry, traditional knowledge mapping, environmental consulting, natural resource management and ecotourism.
Danny has been involved in many different projects across North America and Iceland with indigenous groups, government and private sectors. He also completed the first biological study of its kind, regarding the potential impacts on the range expansion of European Flounder, Platichthys flesus, on native salmonid populations in the Westfjords of Iceland due to influences of climate change.
Danny has experience working as a hiking, skiing and kayaking guide in Iceland, Canada and West Papua. He is an experienced climber, recording numerous first ascents in both rock and ice throughout Canada and Iceland. He established one of the longest sport climbing routes in Canada in the summer of 2018 and recorded over 20 first ascents of new waterfall ice climbs along the West Coast of Canada in the last few years. He is also an avid surfer and has pioneered new breaks along the North-west coast of Iceland Westfjords region.
When Danny is not traveling and guiding, he is a fisheries biologist focusing his efforts on salmon restoration and ecology in Canada’s pacific northwest working with indigenous and governmental organisations.
Kayaking Guide
Expedition: Svalbard Odyssey
Wes’ life was transformed by adventure and the outdoors when he was 17 when, feeling lost, he decided to sign up for a month-long Outward Bound ski mountaineering course in the Colorado Rockies. The transformation was so profound that he dedicated his life to helping others have similar experiences through adventure. He became an instructor and immersed himself in every outdoor discipline available. Now with over 40 years’ experience, he has guided in ice, alpine and rock climbing, backcountry and skate skiing, as well as backpacking, desert trekking, white-water rafting, sea kayaking and more. He has logged paddling miles that are equal to circling the equator and is an incredible storyteller.
Sea Kayak & Snorkelling Guide
Expedition: Svalbard Odyssey Iceland Circumnavigation Jewels of the Arctic
Sea Kayak & Snorkelling Guide
Expedition: Svalbard Odyssey Iceland Circumnavigation Jewels of the Arctic
Languages: English (Native), Spanish (Fluent)
Liz has been an explorer since before she can remember. Whether in the mountains, on the water, in the city or just her backyard her curiosity constantly led her off the beaten path and into great adventures. Coming from a long line of seafarers and pirates she has always been naturally drawn to the ocean. She has explored the world’s most remote corners and coastlines by sea kayak.
A professional guide since 2003, Liz works in expedition development, instruction and programs for expedition ships, schools and organisations. She can’t wait to get out amongst the polar waters with our expeditioners in 2022.