Paddling through a quiet, isolated cove can be one of the best ways to move the body while taking in the sounds of porpoising penguins and the crackling of bits and pieces of glaciers floating nearby. The waters of Antarctica are teaming with life, and intimate encounters with penguins, whales and seals gliding beneath or near your board are not uncommon.
A kayaker's perspective in Antarctic waters. Photo: Quark Passenger. Sea kayaking has long been a favorite way for adventurers to explore the Antarctic. Similar to stand-up paddleboarding, kayakers can enjoy the wilderness with a quieter approach. No nearby motors to interfere with what Antarctica really sounds like.
Kayakers often extend their daily adventures a bit further than SUP boards, navigating safe routes through cathedrals of grounded icebergs, and coasting quietly by shorelines dotted with thousands of nesting penguins. Occasionally, kayakers encounter marine mammals in their natural environment, like seals or whales.
Marine mammals are always viewed from a safe distance, as safety is the utmost priority for all kayaking programs regardless of the operator. But the feelings kayakers feel when sharing the water with massive marine mammals is humbling, to say the least.
The type of experiences that often create lifelong passions for wildlife and exploration. No, two expeditions to Antarctica are ever the same which is what makes visiting this continent so special.
Your voyage will be uniquely yours—no other expedition will have sailed the same route you sailed, experienced the same things you did, and encountered the same spontaneous opportunities that the wilderness provided. Sea ice and weather conditions are always dynamic in this environment, resulting in a fluid style of travel that takes advantage of weather windows and occasional or rare opportunities that allow ships to enter otherwise inaccessible landscapes.
You will undoubtedly see more glaciers, mountain tops, and penguins than you can count, all of which will feel so immense it will be difficult to describe. But every voyage has its additional victories, its coups, its open doors that create truly one-of-a-kind experiences that no one else will be able to replicate.
Every voyage has its own life , its own pulse, its own story, and your voyage will be uniquely yours. Since ancient Greek times, scholars and explorers were convinced there was a large landmass south.
Way south. And as scientists began to realize that the world was round, that prevailing thought continued: there must be a landmass at the bottom of the globe to provide counterweight to all of the land in the north. England commissioned Captain James Cook on multiple voyages to the Southern Ocean not only to take astronomical measurements to better understand longitude and the mathematics of the world, but just as importantly, to discover this famed and mysterious continent.
Captain Cook never saw land in Antarctica, but he penetrated deep into southern latitudes, encountering endless sea ice and icebergs that led him to believe that if there was land in the region, it was surely cold, encased with ice, and nearly inaccessible.
The names Bellingshausen, Palmer, and Bransfield are all dotted across the Antarctic map, as they were among the very first commanders to set their sights on the southern continental landmass proper. Throughout the next century, explorers battled with icy seas, scurvy, and a complete lack of communication with the outside world as they penetrated the various corners of this wilderness. Like these legendary explorers, some travelers today are looking to push their own limits and visit truly wild places to connect with nature and disconnect from their daily lives.
Traveling to Antarctica touches on something resonant within us all—that desire to get out on the edge of what we know, and to experience something truly new. Like so many of the famous explorers before us, who traveled into the unknown, visiting Antarctica is the type of experience that will change our perspective forever. There really is nothing like the feeling of setting eyes on landscapes that very few humans have ever seen, listening to the grumblings of thousand-meter-thick glaciers as they power their way down steep coastal mountainsides, or sharing a snowy beach with an endless colony of charismatic penguins.
These are the very sights and sounds that lured so many Antarctic explorers back into the unknown expedition after expedition. Although Antarctica is the most remote continent on earth—more than 1, km from the nearest neighboring continent—you can actually visit it, and enjoy the voyage at your own pace and preference. By offering a wide range of embarkation ports, voyage durations, itineraries, and seasons, Antarctica really is within reach. The continent remains isolated from the rest of the world, with its wildlife and wild places operating as they have for millennia.
But its beauty is accessible—and it's waiting for you to explore it. To learn more about traveling to Antarctica, talk to a Polar Travel Adviser to find which expedition is right for you, or browse more resources available below:.
Daven is a professional guide, writer, and freelance film maker who feels most at home in wild places. He has guided on more than 40 polar expeditions in the Antarctic, Greenland, Arctic Canada, and Alaska, and has a strong admiration for the people who call these wild lands home. The best way to experience the awe-inspiring landscapes and animals of Antarctica is on a special cruise ship. These trips vary, but are typically between one and three weeks long.
You can take various routes to the Peninsula depending on where you are departing from. We recommend a combined air and cruise trip to maximize the amount of time you spend exploring Antarctica and minimize travel time. You can take a flight one or both ways to the Antarctica continent. This is also a great option for people prone to sea sickness. Antarctica can be reached by boat from Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego in Argentina. From Ushuaia it takes 2 days, crossing the Drake Passage, known for its violent seas.
Alternately, you can take a 2-hour flight from Punta Arenas, Chile. You might see some whale vertebrae used by resident gentoo penguins as shelter from the wind. There is an unmanned refuge hut here, erected by Argentina. Climb past the hut and up a steep slope for spectacular views of the glacier-rimmed harbour.
The dome of the island rises feet meters above the sea, offering a challenging hike for panoramic views. The harbour is on the west side of Wiencke Island.
It is now designated as a historic site, where Port Lockroy is a museum and post office. Proceeds from your purchases here support the preservation of historic sites from the Heroic Age of Exploration. Zodiacs are used to explore the area when the tide is in. Two scientists studying penguin behavior lived in a water boat on the Point from The remains of their camp have been designated an Antarctic historic site.
You can often spot a great mix of wildlife here, with gentoo and chinstrap penguins having established rookeries. Southern elephant and fur seals are frequently hauled-out here too. Chinstrap penguins build nests on slopes leading to a high ridge that dominates the natural amphitheater and provides a superb setting for landscape photography. Due to the rather congested area available to the nesting penguins, you can only visit here from January 10 onwards.
You may see yellow algae and boiled krill floating on the surface because of the scalding hot water! Chinstrap penguins, fur seals and southern elephant seals use the island for breeding purposes.
Chinstrap penguins, kelp gulls and pintado breed here, and whales may be seen in the surrounding waters. The beaches here are often crowded with southern elephant, fur, and Weddell seals hauled-out on the rocks.
The bay was used by whalers from to and is part of a protected harbor created by a circular flooded caldera, known as Deception Island. Watch for steam that may rise from geothermally heated water springs along the shoreline. Here you can see an abandoned Argentine refuge hut and a large glacier that stretches along the east and north sides of the bay. An abandoned sealing try pot is all that remains of the activity that brought men thousands of miles in tall ships to seek their fortune.
The following Optional Activities are available to participate in, on some or all of the departures of this itinerary. These must be booked in advance additional costs apply and space is limited. Taken in small groups of maximum 16 people, multiple times per voyage, kayaking adventures are only conducted during calm weather conditions. Kayaking is open to all levels of experience, however kayaking in the polar waters is not suitable for novice kayakers.
Beginners interested in kayaking should first take an introductory course prior to the voyage which includes how to do a wet exit.
In addition regardless of your experience, we recommend you take part in some kayaking practise prior to the voyage to ensure that you are comfortable on the water in the icy conditions. Days Antarctic Circle. Crossing the Antarctic Circle is an impressive achievement. You may wish to celebrate with your shipmates in style with a glass of champagne. This is a part of the world still visited by very few people and is home to the midnight sun, Weddell seals, and some of the most magical, odd ice formations you'll see anywhere in Antarctica.
We spend the next two days travelling north along the western Antarctic Peninsula back up to the Drake Passage. We'll continue to journey onto land and out by Zodiac twice daily along the way. Expeditions Online takes great pride in our range of Antarctic cruises, but we know that the price entry level may be too high for some explorers.
We hope that offering an early-bird discount on our already-more-affordable Ushuaia to Antarctica cruise will encourage a few people to book the trip of lifetime. There are two main advantages to cruising to the Antarctic on a smaller ship:. As there are just 71 passengers aboard the Ocean Nova, it makes for an intimate experience.
A big draw to most of our Antarctic cruises and expeditions is that our ships have their own on-board experts, and the Ocean Nova is no exception! Watch out for whales and other sea mammals with the insight of our on-board wildlife specialist — and look out for some of the various species of penguins found on the Antarctic Peninsula.
Another great reason to choose the Ocean Nova over some of our other cruises is that you set off from Ushuaia, the capital city in Tierra del Fuego. This is the southern-most tip of South America and Ushuaia is actually the most southerly city in the world.
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