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5 Life Lessons You'll Learn in Antarctica

Whether you’re climbing mountains, buying lunch in a foreign city, or taking an Antarctic cruise, you’re not only learning more about the world and the people in it, you’re learning about yourself.

A Thankful Tradition: Interview with Captain Nazarov

It takes a village to run a polar cruise. The guides show us the terrain, the serving staff keeps us fed, and the passengers make sure the bartender has never a lonely moment. Yet among all this fine-tuned circuitry, the captain plays the most important part.

10 Traits of Post-Ice-Age Greenland

During the last ice age, most plants and animals vanished from Greenland as a thick sheath of ice coated the landscape. Once this ice started to retreat around 12,500 years ago, it left boulders and raw mineral earth exposed for plants and animals to colonise. This colonisation, however, did not occur overnight: Due to Greenland’s geographic isolation and difficult topography, it was a slow, slow process.

15 Fantastic Photos of Antarctica

It's often said that it is impossible to take a bad photo in Antarctica. We'll say it again.

Remembrance of Expeditions Past

Today I sit in the sun, thinking back on the years I spent with my Oceanwide family since my retirement in 1997. My first trips were on a little Russian vessel, Grigoriy Mikheev, which carried only 44 passengers – but a nice size for me to get to know everyone on board.

The Enchanting Islands of Svalbard

Here we showcase the many wonders that keep people coming back to the islands of Svalbard year after year.

An igneous paradise: Franklin Island

Franklin Island is located in the Ross Sea. It's not just a pile of volcanic rubble, but actually remnants of a shield volcano. Read on and learn more.

Ortelius on My Mind

Imagine having an alarm clock that didn’t wake you with the usual BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! but instead purred gently into your ear, “Good morning. This is your wake-up call. The weather is beautiful, the traffic light, and your breakfast is ready whenever you are.”

Weddell Sea: the Original Antarctic Adventure

According to the historian Thomas R. Henry, you have to be brave to visit the Weddell Sea. In 1950 he wrote in his book, The White Continent, about sudden “flash freezes” that occur in the area. In fact it was due to one of these flash freezes that Ernest Shackleton’s ship, Endurance, got stuck in January of 1915, forcing his crew to spend more than a year there before they could get out.

Polar Diving: A Supreme Underwater Adventure

If you’ve ever gone diving in warm, tropical waters you know how exciting that can be. In the ocean’s depths you’ll be met with an array of colors from schools of fish and the vibrant coral. In tropical waters, your biggest concern is the crowd of other divers exploring these waters along with you. But imagine diving in an environment where only a select few dare to venture. A place so unique only a special few divers have ever experienced its astonishing wonders. This is the magic, the challenge and the reward of polar diving.

10 Misconceptions About the Arctic

The Arctic is a big place. Really big. Spreading out over 14.5 million square km (5.6 million square miles), the Arctic encompasses eight countries: Canada, Finland, Greenland (Denmark), Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden, and the United States. But despite its size, the Arctic often gets painted with some seriously misconceptions. Time to set the record straight.

Arctic Icon: 10 Facts about the Polar Bear

Polar bears are to the Arctic what penguins are to Antarctica.

The Most Epic Journey In The World: Ross Sea Antarctica

This expedition had everything – jaw dropping landscapes, whales galore, volcanoes, ice, ice and more ice of all kinds, berg, fast, sea, pancake, brash... forever sunsets, heroes, huts and of course, penguins...

Oceanwide Expeditions Birding Contest

Our 2017 Antarctic Birding Competition has come to a close with over 150 feather-oriented entries. We’re delighted with the entries we received and want to thank everyone, both contestants and voters, for participating. We thought we’d take a moment and make sure everyone who participated is up to speed about what’s been happening while you wait for the Grand Prize announcement.

Life migrating through the Polar Front

Since James Cook’s second voyage in 1772-1775 to Antarctica, which saw the first descriptions of Antarctic animals, scientists have progressively revealed the composition of the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic region’s biodiversity. Since then scientist have undertaken numerous expeditions and scientific research projects to understand the unique continent’s ecosystems.

Five of History’s Greatest Polar Explorers

Today’s visitors to the Polar regions follow in the footsteps of some of the most famous explorers in history. Here’s a list of 5 great explorers to brave the harsh lands of the Arctic and Antarctica.

Wreck Diving in Antarctica

Scuba diving in Antarctica is a unique experience, no doubt about it. How many other places can you swim beneath icebergs and possibly see a penguin into the bargain? But that's not all Antarctic diving has to offer. There are shipwrecks, too. And with us, you can go wreck diving to one of them.

Baleen Whales – The Gentle Giants of the Ocean

There are many species of baleen whales: 15 in total. In this blog we will tell you much more about baleen whales, so you can expand your knowledge.

A helicopter flight over Antarctica

Dutch journalist Gemma Venhuizen embarked on the m/v Ortelius during the Weddell Sea cruise ‘In search of the emperor penguins – including helicopters’. Flying over the Antarctic Peninsula was a dream coming true.

The secrets of Antarctic seals revealed

There live only six species of seals in the Antarctic: Southern Elephant Seals, Antarctic fur seals, crabeater seals, leopard seals, ross seals and weddell seals. While we know of them, there are many secrets of their lives that we have yet to discover.

The Arctic Borderland of Kongsfjorden, Svalbard

Kongsfjorden is a glacial fjord in Svalbard that is home to a rich mixture of Arctic flora and fauna.

Encounter with the emperor penguin in Antarctica

Dutch journalist Gemma Venhuizen embarked on the MV Ortelius during the Weddell Sea cruise 'In search of the emperor penguins'. She had several encounters with this majestic penguin species - both from the sea and from the air.