Aurora Expeditions is an Australian company that runs cruises, expeditions and tours.

History

The company was founded in 1991 by Greg and Margaret Mortimer. It focuses on small groups of travelers. The company's main focus is cruises around

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

and the sun-Antarctic Islands. As well as cruising, the company also does Alpine Trekking and climbing, Ski and Snowboard tours,

Snorkelling Snorkeling ( British and Commonwealth English spelling: snorkelling) is the practice of swimming on or through a body of water while equipped with a diving mask, a shaped breathing tube called a snorkel, and usually swimfins. In cooler waters, a ...

and

Scuba Diving Scuba diving is a mode of underwater diving whereby divers use breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface air supply. The name "scuba", an acronym for "Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus", was coined by Chris ...

. In 1992 the company performed its first expedition to Antarctica. In 1997 the company performed its first expedition to the Arctic. In 2019 took delivery of its first ship, the

Greg Mortimer Greg Mortimer (born 10 December 1952) is an Australian mountaineer. Mortimer is notable as one of the first two Australians (with Tim Macartney-Snape) to successfully climb Mount Everest, on 3 October 1984. Their ascent, without supplemental o ...

. It was christened at a ceremony in Ushuaia, Argentina. In 2022 the company's second ship, the Sylvia Earle, departed on its inaugural cruise from Ushuaia, Argentina.

Coronavirus Pandemic

In April 2020, the Greg Mortimer had an outbreak of

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

on board, leading to it to be denied permission to dock in many South American ports. 128 passengers and crew on board eventually tested positive. The ship was eventually given permission to dock in Uruguay, from where passengers were evacuated or admitted to hospital. Many crew-members ended up being evacuated too, with more than half testing positive for the virus.

Fleet

As of January 2020, Aurora Expeditions had two vessels in its fleet: {, class="wikitable" , + !Ship Name !Delivered !Builder !Length !Passenger Capcity !IMO Number !Notes , - ,

, 2019 , China Merchants Heavy Industry (CMHI),

Jiangsu Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, Postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an Eastern China, eastern coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is o ...

, China , 104 M , 132 in 79 cabins , 9834648 , Named after the founder of Aurora Expeditions. Registered in Madeira, Portugal , - , Sylvia Earle , 2022 , China Merchants Heavy Industry (CMHI),

, China , 104 M , 132 in 71 cabins , 9872327{{Cite web , title=Ship SYLVIA EARLE (Passenger Ship) Registered in Bahamas - Vessel details, Current position and Voyage information - IMO 9872327, MMSI 311000867, Call Sign C6ED8 , url=https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details/ships/shipid:6824883/mmsi:311000867/imo:9872327/vessel:SYLVIA_EARLE , access-date=2023-01-11 , website=MarineTraffic.com , language=en , Named in honor of Marine Biologist

Sylvia Earle Sylvia Alice Earle ( née Reade; born August 30, 1935) is an American marine biologist, oceanographer, explorer, author, and lecturer. She has been a National Geographic explorer-in-residence since 1998. Earle was the first female chief scien ...

References

Australian companies established in 1991 Cruise lines