Hello and welcome to today's independent travel podcast with me, Simon Corder. It's Thursday the 27th of November.

I'm delighted to be joined today by Heather Thorkelson. She is the founder of Minimal Impact Cruises.

Heather, we'll find out more about that in just one moment. But before that, you've got quite a history as a polar

explorer.

Yes, well, polar explorer might be giving me a little bit too much credit.

I've worked in the polar regions for almost a decade and a half now as a polar guide, as someone

who charters vessels and takes passengers to Antarctica, to Greenland, to Svalbard

and Northern Norway. So yeah, the polar regions have been a big part of my life for the

majority of my career. And Minimal Impact, we actually just changed the name as of yesterday to

minimal impact expeditions. We are a company that was started to specifically

to represent a new vessel that's coming into the industry. And this is the lowest carbon

modern expedition ship that will be in existence. It's currently being built and we're very

excited about it. Okay, and I understand

the name is Captain Arctic. It will only be going to the Arctic, so it's apropos. Okay, well,

that's an interesting point because obviously a lot of polar vessels will actually shuttle between

the Antarctic and the Arctic, depending on the season. So tell us more about the ship, including where it's

being built and when it's going to be actually carrying passengers. It's currently in Mauritius,

which is where the superstructure and the final touches are being put on. It will be doing sea

trials in Q2 of 2026, and it will be taking its first passengers in Q4 of

2026. So we're still a little ways out, but it's very exciting. There's a fantastic time-lapse

video on our website showing the build to date. And what makes this Vetzel so special is that

from the get-go, from the original concept of building

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