The Skeptics Society & Skeptic magazine

EXPEDITION TO ANTARCTICA with Richard Dawkins
January 15–26, 2025

Aboard Swan Hellenic’s 152-Guest Expedition Cruise Ship Vega

Dear Friends,

Visiting Antarctica is almost like stepping back in time, to an era when the world was new. There are no human sounds, only the wild cries of birds, seals, and whales echoing across a vast expanse of land and sea.

During the long days of the austral summer you will explore the Antarctic Peninsula and the islands that line its coast. You will have endless opportunities to observe seals, whales and seabirds in their natural habitat, to witness hillsides and shorelines teeming with penguins, and to cruise through the blue Antarctic waters while admiring the dramatic play of light on icebergs, glaciers, and towering mountains.

Click route map to enlarge

During this voyage, you will be joined by scientist Richard Dawkins and our onboard expedition team of naturalists who will bring their experience and expertise to bear in a series of lectures and discussions.

Your vessel for this journey will be a state-of-the-art expedition ship, Swan Hellenic’s Vega, designed specifically for polar exploration. The ship’s limited guest capacity, advanced technical and mechanical systems, and experienced officers and crew, make it the vessel of choice for exploring Antarctica in safety and comfort.

We hope you will join Richard Dawkins and the Skeptics Society on this once-in-a-lifetime travel adventure.

Warm regards,
Dr. Michael Shermer

Executive Director, Skeptics Society

8% of your cruise fee will be a tax-deductible donation to The Skeptics Society — a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

Distinguished Guest Lecturer

Richard Dawkins is one of the world’s most respected scientists, writers and thinkers. His books on science have significantly impacted his own field of evolutionary biology, and his critiques of religion, culminating in his best-selling book The God Delusion, have made him a leading advocate for secularism and evidence-based thinking. From 1995 to 2008 Richard Dawkins was the Charles Simonyi Professor of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University. He is an internationally best-selling author. Among his books are The Ancestor’s Tale, The Selfish Gene, The Blind Watchmaker, Climbing Mount Improbable, Unweaving the Rainbow, A Devil’s Chaplain, The God Delusion, The Greatest Show on Earth, The Magic of Reality, An Appetite for Wonder, Outgrowing God, and Flights of Fancy. Dawkins is a Fellow of the Royal Society and of the Royal Society of Literature. He is the recipient of numerous honors and awards, including the 1990 Michael Faraday Award of the Royal Society, the 1994 Nakayama Prize, the 1997 International Cosmos Prize for Achievement in Human Science, the Kistler Prize in 2001, the Shakespeare Prize in 2005, the 2006 Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing about Science, and he was named Author of the Year at the 2007 Galaxy British book Awards. His around-the- world speaking tour is the focus of a 2013 documentary The Unbelievers which also features appearances by Woody Allen, Stephen Colbert, Cameron Diaz, Ian McEwan, Ricky Gervais, Stephen Hawking, Eddie Izzard, Bill Pullman, and Sarah Silverman. Dawkins was named the top “World Thinker” by a 2013 Prospect Magazine poll of 10,000 readers from over 100 countries. He coined the term “meme” in his book The Selfish Gene, a term that has gained significant prominence in the online world. In 2006 he founded the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason & Science to promote a more scientifically literate and secular world. His American foundation merged with the Center for Inquiry in 2016 with the mission to foster a secular society based on reason, science, freedom of inquiry and humanist values.