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A Guide’s Guide: Interview with Michael Ginzburg

For adventure lovers, a common reaction to meeting polar expedition guides is that they have the coolest job on the planet.

Puffins: Clown Birds of the Atlantic

Puffins belong to a family of 22 species of seabirds called Auks, pigeon-sized birds that live on a diet of small fish and crustaceans. Puffins catch their prey by swimming underwater and chasing it down. There are four species of puffins. One species, the Atlantic puffin, is around 18-20 cm (7-7.8 inches) in height and weighs between 350-600 grams (.8-1.3 pounds). It is found across a wide geographic area, all the way from France to the Gulf of Maine.

17 Reasons to Cruise the Falklands

You’ve seen the colossal penguin colonies of South Georgia. You’ve sailed among the plunging seals of the Antarctic Peninsula. You’ve watched whales in the Weddell Sea beside a backdrop of titanic tabular icebergs. But if you haven’t visited the Falkland Islands, you’re missing one of the touristic wonders of the far Southern Hemisphere. Here are 17 irrefutable reasons to add some of this sub-Antarctic archipelago’s 778 distinctive islands to your travel calendar.

10 Popular Bird Watching Binoculars

Binoculars are so common a companion of outdoor enthusiasts that many pack them with hardly a second thought. They’re tossed into a backpack alongside bug spray, sunblock, and waterproof matches with not half the care afforded the typical cell phone. But to some outdoors groups, binoculars serve a highly specific and eminently indispensable purpose. And there is perhaps no group for whom this rings more true than for bird watchers. If you count yourself among this exceptionally technical clan of hobbyists, here are 10 birding binoculars you’ll want to know more about – even if you know about them already.

10 Illuminating Facts about the Northern Lights

According to Roman mythology, Aurora was the goddess of the dawn. The word “borealis,” however, is Greek for “wind.” The combined phrase “aurora borealis” therefore means “dawn wind,” known in English as the northern lights. This phenomenon has fascinated people for thousands of years, a fascination that clearly continues today: The northern lights are one of the major attractions of the Arctic, and indeed there are a number of northern lights cruises in the Arctic specifically devoted to viewing this magical lightshow

Oceanwide Finalist in Adventure in Motion Film Contest

The new corporate commercial for Oceanwide Expeditions, “Walk into the Waking Dream,” has just been nominated as a finalist in the Adventure in Motion short film competition.

Penguins, Albatrosses, Petrels: The Winged Wildlife of South Georgia

South Georgia’s location south of the Antarctic Convergence gives the island more of an Antarctic climate than other terrain of the same latitude.

Inside the Svalbard Global Seed Vault

Literature, cinema, even video games have given us no small supply of global disaster scenarios. These often come in the form of annihilating wars, pulverizing natural catastrophes, or sweeping pandemics that leave bands of ragged survivors scrambling for boxed potatoes and bullets amid hordes of cannibalistic zombies.

Behind the Scenes with Plancius Hotel Manager Sebastian Duma

A pleasant June evening, mild and warm – for the Arctic. Outside the panoramic windows of the m/v Plancius observation lounge, peaks and glaciers and rolling white snowscapes glide past unhurried. Conversation has softened to a post-dinner hum, and the bar is almost empty except for the breathless comings and goings of Charlotte the bartender restocking cocktail glasses.

A Bug’s Life in Svalbard

When you think about Svalbard wildlife, you might imagine reindeer, Arctic foxes, polar bears – the primary animal attractions that draw passengers to an Arctic cruise. But in fact the Svalbard archipelago is a thriving location for over 1,000 species of terrestrial and freshwater invertebrates: animals that lack backbones. Despite this richness of life, however, these invertebrates are only found in the Isfjord and Kongsfjord areas of these wonderfully diverse islands.

Polar Cruises: The Ultimate Icebreakers

Travel is one of life’s great eye openers. It brings you into contact with new people and perspectives, challenges old assumptions you haven’t held to the light in years, and invites you to make unexpected discoveries about the world around you – and most of all, about yourself. Added to which, you get to visit places you never knew you loved until you saw them.

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.

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.

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.

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.