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Polar Marine Visitors: the Whales of Antarctica and the Arctic

Whales are the world’s largest mammals, found in the Arctic and Antarctica. This article covers some of the major species you may see on voyages to these remarkable areas.

Arctic Foxes: Constant Gardeners of the Arctic

The Arctic fox is a circumpolar species found across the Arctic, extending from Greenland, Iceland, and Svalbard across Eurasia to North America. The species also extends its range northwards over the sea ice, having been spotted close to the North Pole.

The Ancient Fossil Forests of Antarctica

Over a hundred years ago, Robert Falcon Scott’s expedition to Antarctica discovered fossils of plants on the Beardmore Glacier, less than 500 km (310 miles) from the South Pole. Edward Wilson, who was the expedition’s chief scientist, recorded the findings in his diary, stating that “most of the bigger leaves were like beech leaves in shape and venation.”

Polar Pour Master: Interview with Rolando Garcia

Nobody goes to the polar regions just for the drinks, but it’s tempting when your expedition cruise ship has a bartender like Rolando Garcia.

Retracing the Steps of Antarctica’s Early Explorers

For a long time in human history, there was a belief that a large continent must lie at the southern end of the Earth to provide balance to the known lands in the Northern Hemisphere. By the 15th century, many European maps had even placed a sizable landmass called Terra Australis in the far south, though the real continent was to remain undiscovered for quite some time.

The Research Stations of Antarctica and the sub-Antarctic

Numerous research stations operate throughout the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic, engaged in all manner of scientific inquiry. This article will cover the stations under the management of the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), which conducts year-round terrestrial and atmospheric research in some of the most compelling polar locations on Earth.

The Birth of Hondius: a Story in Pictures

As of the summer of 2019, our new polar vessel, m/v Hondius, will be cruising the crystalline waters of the polar regions, delivering dozens of wildlife-loving and adventure-seeking passengers to the most iconic locations in the Arctic and Antarctica. Until then, however, this advanced new vessel-to-be is little more than an assortment of steel plates and inscrutable machinery scattered around a cavernous Croatian shipyard.

Secrets of the Snowy Owl: Habitat, Adaptations, and Other Facts

The snowy owl (Bubo scandiacus), also known as the great white owl or Arctic owl, is one of the most distinctive bird species on the planet. While you won’t find them in all areas of the Arctic – they don’t exist in Svalbard due to the lack of lemmings – they are seen in the polar regions of Eurasia and North America and are a potential visitor during Greenland cruises. The binomial species name,“scandiacus,” is derived from Scandinavia, as this is where the bird was first discovered. The snowy owl is the official bird of Quebec, and they are a must-see for countless bird watchers and naturalists.

Narwhals: 10 Facts About an Elusive Arctic Unicorn

The narwhal is an Arctic-based whale that spends most of its life in the waters off Greenland, Svalbard, Russia, and Canada. Some estimates put 90 percent of its total global population in Baffin Bay, between Western Greenland and Canada. Narwhals are in fact only one of three whale species that spend their entire lives in the Arctic, the others being bowhead and beluga whales.

A Travel Pro’s Take on the Arctic Cruise Experience: Interview with Mariola Burejko

We’ve heard what it’s like to cruise the polar regions from the perspective of the passengers, the guides, the captains. But what about the folks we don’t so often hear about, the intermediary professionals responsible for finding, recommending, and booking us Arctic or Antarctic trips in the first place? Surely the mavens of the travel industry, who love seeing new corners of the world so much they’ve chosen as a career what for most people is merely a beloved hobby, have much to say about what sets polar expedition cruises apart from the standard travel fare. To find out, we sat down with Mariola Burejko, business development director for LiveAboard.com, and asked a few questions about her recent Arctic cruise around the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard.

The Ways and Wildlife of the Weddell Sea

The Weddell Sea is located off the coast of Antarctica, at the very south of the Atlantic. Its geographical location is 75 degrees south and 47 degrees west, and it covers the Argentine, Chilean, and British territories of Antarctica. The harsh weather conditions and abundant pack ice have made the Weddell Sea difficult for people to access, but modern icebreaker ships have started to open up this area to explorers.

Visiting the Nearly Unknown: New Zealand’s Campbell Island

Campbell Island is located south of Bluff, New Zealand. It's best known for its flora and fauna. Read on to discover which wildlife you can find here.

The History of Antarctica in Maps

Long before human eyes ever beheld Antarctica, the ancients were convinced it existed – or at least something like it. Ptolemy, a Greco-Roman astronomer who lived around 100 – 170 CE, thought that an enormous far-southern landmass must exist in order to provide a planetary counterweight to the large continents of the north.

The Wildlife of Antarctica’s Seas and Skies

Antarctica is one of the most pristine environments on Earth, home to whales, penguins, seals, and birds, providing nature lovers with a treasure trove of wildlife memories to take back home.

Eight Ultimate Antarctica Adventures

Antarctica has adventure in its bones. Long before most travelers even reach the continent, they have to cross the Drake Passage, an oft-tumultuous waterway considered by many a hallmark of high adventure in itself. Once you do reach the Antarctic shores, the variations of landscape and wildlife are as multiform as the activities you can pursue there. While not all of these activities can or should be shoehorned into a single article, this piece will give you a survey of the top eight. Like everything in the polar regions, these activities are subject to weather conditions – and your own threshold for adventure.

At Home in Antarctica: Interview with Katja Riedel

Most of us lucky enough to visit the polar regions seldom visit more than once, and we’re rarely experts. The most enthusiastic may have read a few books about glacier formation or historic polar explorers, but it’s typically our expedition guides who give us the real scoop on these ice-infused environments.

The Secret Life of Glaciers: How They Form, Move, and Melt

One of the greatest natural sights you’ll ever see on an Arctic or Antarctic adventure is glaciers. These gigantic bodies of ice have been slowly but steadily creeping their way from the mountains to the oceans for countless years, like great rivers of ice – both a time capsule and indicator of our rapidly changing environment.

Orcas of the Polar Seas

The orca, or killer whale as it is also known, is the top marine predator and possibly the most widespread vertebrate on Earth. It is found in all the world’s oceans, including the Antarctic and Arctic regions.

Adélie Penguins: the Little People of the Antarctic

Described as “an object of endless pleasure and amusement” by Apsley Cherry-Garrard, survivor of Robert Falcon Scott’s ill-fated Terra Nova expedition to the South Pole, the Adélie penguin stands with the regal and iconic emperor penguin as one of only two penguin species found on mainland Antarctica. Though their blue-black bodies, sooty orange beaks, white bellies and white-rimmed eyes cannot compare to the sleek, long beaks and yellow-trimmed necks of the aptly-named emperor penguin, Adélie penguins make up for the plainness of their ornamentation with a lively, playful nature, never failing to showcase their unique and charming personalities.

Imperial Antarctica: the Snow Hill Emperor Penguins

Oceanwide Expeditions recently achieved a rare feat, visiting Antarctica’s northernmost emperor penguin colony on Snow Hill Island. Typically surrounded by impassable pack ice, Snow Hill is a notoriously difficult destination in our Weddell Sea cruise itinerary, only accessible using the helicopters m/v Ortelius carries especially for this trip.

Antarctica Cities (and Five Other Things That Don’t Exist There)

Reading the title of this article, you might wonder why we’d bother writing a piece about all the things you won’t see while visiting Antarctica. But in our experience, polar tourists tend to venture to the far southern continent as much to see a new world as get away from the one they came from.