Marion Island is one of the most remote and extraordinary places on Earth — a sub-Antarctic volcanic island 1,920km southeast of Cape Town, administered by South Africa as part of the Prince Edward Islands. It is one of the last truly wild places on the planet, accessible only by the SA Agulhas II research vessel and open to an extremely limited number of civilian expedition visitors each year.

The island is home to one of the world's largest concentrations of king penguins — over 70,000 breeding pairs — alongside southern elephant seals, sub-Antarctic fur seals, and an extraordinary diversity of seabirds including the wandering albatross, with the largest wingspan of any living bird. This is wildlife at a scale and intimacy that exists almost nowhere else on Earth.

The Southern Ocean crossing itself is one of the great ocean voyages — through the Roaring Forties and Furious Fifties, with albatross following the ship and the possibility of whale encounters. This is an expedition for those who want to experience the planet at its most raw and magnificent. There is only one opportunity per year to make this voyage.