I was on the Antarctica cruise ship that made headlines – but here’s what the stories didn’t tell you

“There are three rules to remember when sailing the Southern Ocean,” said Brandon Kleyn, expedition leader on the Diana, as we prepared to depart Cape Town on the most unusual route heading to Antarctica this season.

“Rule one. Be flexible. Two, show flexibility. Three, remember rule one,” he said prophetically, as a sudden sea-storm delayed the departure of our 20-day voyage – one that would ultimately fail to reach Antarctica at all and make global headlines.

Almost Shackleton-like in ambition, the plan was to cross the entire South Atlantic Ocean from Cape Town to Cape Horn on a 6,800 kilometre journey via Tristan da Cunha and South Georgia to the Antarctic Peninsula. Antarctica is more usually reached by cruise ships in just two-days from Ushuaia in Argentina’s Tierra del Fuego.

So why on Earth would you want to take so long to reach the frozen continent? Well, this was a repositioning cruise, which can offer some of best value deals and most adventurous voyages on the high seas. Diana was being manoeuvred from the Arctic to commence its Antarctic season. This nine-deck ice-strengthened vessel was almost full, with 177 passengers from Europe, China, Russia, and North America.

Read more: Face to face with glaciers in Greenland – exploring an icy island best discovered by sea

“We booked it because it was way cheaper than other sailings to Antarctica and we wanted to see South Georgia, which is difficult and expensive to reach,” said travelling friends Diane Rainsford and Anne Kramer from Oregon. “I booked it late and they waived the single supplement,” added solo German traveller, Conradin Weindl.

There was a buzz of excitement about sailing via Tristan da Cunha: a Shangri-La of remoteness visited by few ships of any kind. It would take five-days sailing westwards to reach the island’s 237 British citizens.

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Landing on Tristan was no certainty though, warned Brandon. “It has some of the angriest seas on Earth surrounding it,” he said. Only six of the 10 cruise ships that visited Tristan last year were able to get ashore, as landing requires a small boat tender. Sure enough, winds whipped up whitecaps in sight of the tin-roofed cottages of…