Chilean-Spanish Trio First to Circle Antarctic Islands by Kayak

 A three-man team has completed the first journey by kayak around the South Shetland Islands, an archipelago off Antarctica, traveling more than 100 miles by sea without any kind of external aid.

Chileans Cristian Donoso and Exequiel Lira, along with Spaniard Roger Rovira returned to continental Chile this week after kayaking for 11 days around the islands in extreme weather conditions.

The desire to become the first to travel around the archipelago by kayak and see the beauty of that remote region motivated the group of sportsmen to undertake the adventure starting on Jan. 26.

"It's a little-visited area, with lots of islets and difficult access for large boats, and so everything had an aura of the unexplored," expedition leader Donoso, who has rowed more than 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) in the Antarctic, told EFE.

For 11 days, the trio covered 20-30 km per day, making their way among the islands of Livington, Greenwich, Barrientos, Robert, Nelson and King George.

The expedition had no outside help of any kind, a constraint that forced the sportsmen to be self-sufficient and handle any difficulties that cropped up on their own.