Ultramarine

Ultramarine was designed around a single question: how much can be got out of a polar day. The answer is a hangar at water level, where 20 Zodiacs launch in minutes rather than in the slow shuffle that costs most expedition ships an hour of good light, and two twin-engine helicopters flown from two helidecks, which lift a small party onto a glacier or a ridge that no vessel will ever reach. Between outings the Panorama Lounge holds the view behind an unbroken wall of glass, and the wraparound deck on five gives it back without any glass at all. The ship carries 199 guests, small enough for the expedition team to know who wants to be on the first boat out.

Twenty Zodiacs, minutes to launch

The water-level hangar is the least glamorous thing aboard and the one that changes the most. Twenty Zodiacs deploy from inside the hull, so a landing begins while the light is still good rather than after a queue on a windy platform. On a voyage where every hour ashore depends on weather, the minutes saved compound into whole extra outings across a fortnight, and the difference is felt most on the days when the window is short.

Two helicopters, and their limits

Two twin-engine helicopters fly from two helidecks and open ground that no hull can reach: a glacier, a ridge, an interior valley seen from above. They do not operate on Svalbard and Spitsbergen voyages, which is worth knowing before an itinerary is chosen rather than after. Elsewhere, flights follow weather, ice and the expedition leader’s judgement, and the mornings on which they happen are the ones people describe for years afterwards.

The hours in between

A polar day is not continuous activity. Between outings the Panorama Lounge keeps the ice in view through an unbroken wall of glass, the wraparound deck on five offers the same thing in the open air, and the Ambassador Theatre fills the crossing hours with the expedition team’s own account of what is outside. With 199 guests aboard, the ship never feels crowded at the rail, which is the practical case for a small vessel this far south.