Why I love the ice, by Captain Garcia of Ponant Expedition’s Le Commandant Charcot

• Étienne Garcia knew what he wanted to do from aged 10.
• Now he is the captain of Le Commandant Charcot, Ponant Expeditions luxury icebreaker
• Next year, she will arrive in Australia for the first time. Here’s a sneak preview.

Next year, a ship unlike any other will glide quietly into Hobart — a city long celebrated as the gateway to Antarctica.

Her name is Le Commandant Charcot, and her arrival will be an event charged with meaning. Built to sail where no other cruise ship can go, this extraordinary icebreaker from the fleet of Ponant Expeditions will tie a symbolic knot between Tasmania’s own exploration heritage and a new era of sustainable adventure.

She comes from the other side of the world — from the Arctic ice floes of Greenland, the North Pole itself, and the dreams of a boy who first felt the call of the sea in a small sailing course in Brittany.

That boy is now one of the last true explorer-captains on the planet: Captain Étienne Garcia.

“I was 10, taking a sailing course in Saint-Cast-le-Guildo,” Garcia remembers. “It was a revelation. From the first day, I knew I wanted to be a sailor — and that conviction has carried me forward all my life.”

A Vision Born Over Wine and the Wild

Le Commandant Charcot was not designed by committee or copied from another ship. She was born from a conversation — over good French wine — between Garcia and the visionary owner of Ponant Expeditions, a man better known for his empire of luxury and art: François Pinault, the billionaire behind Gucci, Christie’s, and Château Latour.

“He said, ‘We have to build a real icebreaking cruise ship — one that can go to the North Pole and fly the Brittany flag,’” Garcia recalls. “And I said, ‘It will be expensive!’ But slowly, the dream became real.”

Seven years later, that dream floated free of the Aker Arctic shipyard in Helsinki — a 150-metre vessel like nothing the world had ever seen: part scientific laboratory, part five-star hotel, and part spaceship for the polar frontiers.

The Ship That Shouldn’t Exist

There will only ever be one Le Commandant Charcot. Garcia says it was built to be unique — and to remain that way.

“It’s not a question of profit,” he says. “The cost, the materials, the ambition — it’s a project of elevation, of human daring. You can’t repeat it.”

Powered by a hybrid LNG-electric system, Charcot is the world’s first luxury PC2-rated icebreaker, able to ram through ice 2.5 metres thick and to reverse stern-first through ridges up to five metres.

Yet inside, there is no roar of machinery — only silence. Engineers suspended the guest decks on vibration-dampening blocks so passengers can sip wine while the hull crushes through ice “like chocolate.”

The ship is also a floating research platform, with fully equipped wet and dry labs where international scientists study microplastics, salinity, and antibiotic resistance in polar waters. Every expedition carries up to six scientists, invited aboard free of charge.

All their data is open-source — “for everyone,” Garcia insists. “No profit, no ownership — only knowledge.”

The Captain Who Still Cries at the Ice

Garcia’s passion for exploration is undimmed by decades at sea. His voice still lifts when he describes the thrill of the unknown.

“I tell guests: I can promise to bring you back safely, but in between — I don’t know. Every voyage is different. The wind, the ice — they decide.”

He remembers his most perilous moment vividly. Deep in the Arctic, Charcot was caught fast in thick, pressured ice. “We were stuck,” he says. “So I began ramming — forward, back, forward, back — 50, 60 times. For one hour, we gained 200 metres. It’s like chess with nature. You must be patient — and humble.”

And then there was the moment he will never forget: August 2021, standing on the bridge as Le Commandant Charcot became the first cruise ship in history to reach the North Pole.

“I had tears,” he says. “Real emotion. We had two Inuits from Greenland with us — the first of their people ever to reach the Pole. They gave me Polar Bear hunter’s gloves and said, ‘Every time you return, wear these for luck.’ And I do.”

The Soul of the Ice

Though she sails in luxury, Charcot’s mission is deeper: to reconnect humans with the raw, fragile beauty of the poles. Guests mingle with scientists, witness their research, and learn how climate change is reshaping these regions.

Garcia has seen the changes first-hand.

“The ice arrives later, melts earlier. Some glaciers retreat. For the hunters of Greenland, it changes everything — they must adapt.” Yet he remains cautiously hopeful. “I believe we can be useful — to science, to people. We must be balanced. The ice will always move, and life will always find a way.”

Among Garcia’s proudest achievements are Charcot’s voyages to East Greenland, where the ship delivers fresh fruit and vegetables to isolated villages two months before supply vessels can reach them. “They welcome us now like family,” he says. “It feels good to be useful.”

In return, the Greenlanders bring their children aboard, play in the lifts, and share stories over coffee. “Passengers cry,” says Garcia. “Because it’s real. Human. That’s our DNA.”

Australia and the Spirit of Adventure

When Le Commandant Charcot arrives in Hobart next year, she will complete part of an extraordinary circumnavigation — from Ushuaia through the Ross Sea and along the coast of East Antarctica. From Hobart, she will continue westward to Cape Town, tracing a near-complete circle of the Southern Ocean.

Garcia loves Australians — and Australians love Charcot. “They are good guests,” he laughs. “They have a big country, a big nature. They understand wildlife. They are amazed, curious, and open.”

Hobart, he says, is the perfect port. “It is the gateway to Antarctica — a place of history, of science, of exploration. For me, it feels like home.”

The Last Explorer

There may be sleeker ships and flashier yachts, but none will rival Le Commandant Charcot. She is singular — an audacious experiment in engineering, artistry, and respect for the planet.

Captain Étienne Garcia remains what he has always been: a boy from Brittany who still gazes at the horizon with wonder.

“I’ve seen thousands of whales breach,” he says, smiling, “and still I shout, ‘Wow!’ I am like a kid. Maybe that’s my gift.”

To meet him is to want to follow him — into the ice, into the unknown, to the farthest reaches of the world.

Fast Facts: Le Commandant Charcot

Operator: Ponant Expedions
Launched: 2021 (Aker Arctic / Vard Søviknes, Norway)
Length: 150 metres
Beam: 28 metres
Gross Tonnage: ~31,700 GT
Guests: 200 (max)
Crew: 200
Cabins & Suites: 135 (all with balconies or verandas)
Ice Class: PC2 — one of the highest ratings ever achieved by a passenger vessel
Propulsion: Hybrid LNG-electric, twin ABB Azipod ice units (17 MW combined)
Speed: 15 knots open water / 3 knots in 2.5 m ice
Range: 20,000 nautical miles
Labs: Dedicated wet and dry laboratories for resident scientists
Environmental Innovation:
• Hybrid propulsion reduces CO₂ and particulate output by up to 85 percent
• Advanced waste-water and grey-water treatment to “drinkable” purity
• Zero single-use plastic policy onboard
Scientific Mission: Open-source research platform hosting 2–6 scientists per voyage, covering oceanography, glaciology, microplastics, and polar biology
Notable Achievements:
• First luxury cruise ship to reach the North Pole (2021)
• Regular resupply of remote East Greenland villages with fresh produce
• Pioneering silent-ram hull design allowing guests to dine while breaking ice

For more, go here.