MV Hondius Liveaboard – Antarctica liveaboard dive boat – image courtesy of Liveaboard.com. This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a small commission, at no cost to you, if you make a purchase through a link.
The Antarctica Hondius liveaboard – Overall review rating 9.8 out of 10 and 5 stars
This is a review of the Antarctica Hondius liveaboard for those looking to scuba dive the pristine waters of Antarctica? You’ll need to be an experienced diver. You must also be an expert with cold water and dry suit diving too.
Antarctica Hondius liveaboard review: A review of the Antarctica Hondius liveaboard reveals a 108 metre (353 feet) boat that sleeps 176 guests/scuba divers over 83 cabins with en-suite cabins with carpets, storage space and some have sea views and private balconies. Western food is served buffet style with vegetarian and vegan options together with a bar.
The best way to dive the Antarctica is by a scuba diving liveaboard. You can check the latest and best deals on Antarctica liveaboards using Liveaboard.com below, which opens in a new window:
The scuba diving includes up to two dives per day for those with cold water and dry suit diving experience.
Scuba diving Antarctica offers ice diving and interesting marine life to see both above the water and below. Diving in Antarctica isn’t for everyone. But for the true diving enthusiast who has the necessary diving certification and experience this is an opportunity not to be missed.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at the features of the Antarctica Hondius liveaboard as part of this review.
Features of Antarctica Hondius cabin and deck
Superior cabin with great sea views
The Hondius is more than just a liveaboard boat. She is more like a floating hotel and spa with absolute luxury.
Scroll through the above cabin images to take a glance at the types of cabins that are available on this stunning liveaboard cruise ship.
The features that are included with your stay on the Antarctica Hondius liveaboard are as follows:
Deluxe twin cabin
The Antarctica Hondius liveaboard is 107.6 metres (353 feet) in length.
Hondius has been built to the highest Polar Class notation for ice-strengthened vessels, which makes her the perfect choice for Antarctica cruise expeditions.
Designed for up to 176 passengers across 83 cabins.
Cabins have private en-suite bathrooms, carpets and storage space with daily housekeeping and a laundry service.
Some of the cabins have sea views and some have private balconies, as shown in the above images.
Food includes western style food and is served buffet style with all day snacks.
Both wine and beer are available at an extra charge including a fine wines selection and welcome cocktails.
There is both audio and video entertainment as well as a bar.
Specific dietary requirements can be catered for including vegetarian and vegan options.
Non-diver friendly for snorkeling.
Paid-for internet.
Naturalist guide on board and there are multi-language lectures to enjoy.
There’s an observation deck.
Extra activities include kayaks, hiking, zodiac boat rides and there’s a library on board too.
There’s a powerful fleet of zodiacs on hand to ensure guests can make the most of their time in Antarctica.
Antarctica Hondius scuba diving review – Image courtesy of Liveaboard.com
The diving from the Antarctica Hondius liveaboard has a Exceptional review rating. On this Antarctica liveaboard, you’ll be in the hands of experienced and professional crew.
Scuba diving options on the Antarctica Hondius liveaboard:
Cabin suite with seating area
Not all trips include an Antarctic scuba diving itinerary. Please check as you book which option does include diving excursions, as these have ‘diving’ marked next to the trip.
Examples of the dive itineraries on the Hondius liveaboard:
Diving: Falkland Islands – South Georgia – Elephant Island – Antarctica – Polar Circle (Ushuaia – Ushuaia) – 23 days 22 nights trip. Approx. 1-2 dives per day depending on local ice and weather conditions. Divers have to be experienced and must be expert with cold water and dry suit diving. You should have completed at least 30 dives including those in cold conditions. Plus see below for polar diving equipment requirements. But bear in mind this is remote diving where there are no decompression facilities. But the diving in Antarctica is never very deep, so the risk of decompression sickness is very low.
What the diving is like in Antarctica
Antarctica is one of those destinations where a liveaboard is the best, if not the only way to fully experience and appreciate the magical icy splendour of one of the world’s remotest and least visited places in the world.
For those who are experienced in cold water diving you can expect to see spectacular underwater ice formations as well as an array of wildlife. The wildlife includes whales, seals, elephant seals, penguins and thousands of birds. Plus other underwater creatures include fish, crabs, jelly fish and starfish.
Diving can be from one of the Zodiac boats or from one of the beaches. But you can also enjoy diving along walls too.
The best time to visit Antarctica is between November and March. With December and January being the warmest months, although not that warm! Points to note are that November is penguin mating season and their chicks hatch in December/January.
But if you would like to see whales, you are best to plan your trip between February and March. At this time the waters are also clearer too and not so cold.
Join us in Antarctica – Aboard the Hondius Journey to the great white continent aboard this ice-strengthened vessel, The Hondius. This ship will be the strongest in the Polar Regions and will be equipped with stabilizers, and very suitable for advanced, innovative exploratory quality voyages.
Scuba diving equipment needed for diving Antarctica
Polar diving equipment and personal clothing and gear you must bring with you to dive Antarctica includes:
Dry suit with hood, where the hood can be separate from the dry suit itself.
Two sets of thick and warm underwater garments to keep you warm underneath your drysuit.
Dry gloves or adequate thick wet gloves – these are needed to make sure your hands are kept warm in sub-zero waters.
2 separate freeze protected regulators. The reason for two regulators is because you’ll be diving with special 12 litre bottles which have two separate outlets which are are fitted with a “Y” or “H” valve configuration, with DIN or Yoke (INT) adaptable connections.
Pressure gauge to measure the amount of remaining air in your tank.
A stabilising jacket or some kind of BC with quick release clips. Which means that you cannot only trust your drysuit for buoyancy control but will also need to use a buoyancy control device too.
Depth gauge, dive watch or dive computer.
A compass.
Diver’s knife.
Dive torch.
Mask, fins and snorkel.
Plus your own weight belt, but don’t worry it’s only the belt as there are weights on board.
I hope you enjoyed this article about the Antarctica Hondius liveaboard review
I’d love to hear from you. Tell us about your adventures of diving and snorkelling. Please use the comments section below. Please also share your photos. Either from your underwater cameras or videos from your waterproof go-pro’s!
But in particular if you’ve dived either in Antarctica or in particular on the Antarctica Hondius liveaboard, please share your experiences.
If this article hasn’t answered all of your questions. If you have more questions either about snorkelling or scuba diving (or specifically about the Antarctica Hondiusliveaboard review), please comment below with your questions.
There will also be many more articles about scuba and scuba diving safety tips (and on snorkelling too) for you to read and learn about this fabulous sport.
Have fun and be safe!
Antarctica Hondius Liveaboard Review (Antarctica Cruise With Scuba Diving)
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Article written by Russell Bowyer who has been a scuba diver since diving on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia in 1989. After his first dive he trained as a BSAC diver in the UK. He attained his Diver Leader certification with BSAC. He then went on to become a scuba diving instructor, teaching others how to dive and was voted as Diving Officer and Treasurer for the Saffron Walden BSAC club too. Russell has dived all over the world, including the UK, on liveaboards in the Red Sea, the Caribbean, South Africa and the USA. Russell is experienced in all dive types, including drift diving, deep dives that involved decompression stops and recreational dives too.
