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"Major Tom, I wish you’d known..."

Grey sky. I wake up with a cotton-padded head: all noises and thoughts come muffled up, both from the outside and the inside. Alas, today’s plan is a hike on the tundra. Yes, we are here to explore the most characteristics aspects of Southwestern Greenland, its history and nature- and tundra definitely is one!

The disastrous expedition in the Arctic west

In 1902, Otto Sverdrup, captain of the Fram on Nansen’s expedition, led his own expedition to the Arctic north of Canada. Over the period of the expedition, which started in 1898, Sverdrup and his 15-man crew chartered over 250,000 square kilometres of the Arctic using the Fram and sledges. During the expedition Ellesmere Island’s west coast was explored and new islands discovered.

The polar bear: king of the Arctic food chain

The polar bear is the world’s largest species of bear and the largest land predator. There is a large difference in size between male and female polar bears with the male weighing anything from 350 to 800 kilograms. Females in contrast weigh less than half.

Tourists Help Clean Spitsbergen Beaches

Tourists of the “Eco Volunteer, North Spitsbergen” trip organized by Oceanwide Expeditions have been cleaning the beaches of Northwest Spitsbergen. Tourists on this specially-designed cruise spend half of their cruise cleaning beaches of detritus washed up by the tide.

5 Misconceptions You Might Have About Greenland

Greenland isn’t dark the entire year round. It isn’t always bitterly cold either...

The Mysteries of the Beluga Whale

Beluga whales (also known as white whales, sea canaries, and sometimes melonheads) are a rare but cherished sight during Arctic cruises, due in part to their striking appearance. Yet despite the infrequency of beluga sightings, a fair amount is known about these friendly-faced cetaceans.

Five Birds You Might See on Your Greenland Cruise

A Greenland expedition cruise gives birdwatchers the chance to add some beautiful avian entries to their photo collections. Host to over 230 different species of bird, Greenland is as full of spectacular landscapes as winged wildlife.

Flowers in Antarctica

The Polar Regions are one of the most inhospitable environments for plants and animals to live in. In Antarctica life faces difficulties from low temperatures, high winds, solar radiation and freezing of cells. Life is made even more difficult when the Antarctic continent is plunged into darkness for during winter and then full light during the summer.

All things ice in the Antarctic

The first recorded sighting on an iceberg in Antarctica was on 1 February 1700 when Edmond Halley was on an expedition to measure the Earth’s magnetic field. Today scientists have classified Antarctic ice as two types: Land and sea ice.

Ortelius under repairs

The vessel Ortelius is currently under repairs in Longyearbyen, Spitsbergen due to a problem with the propulsion system.

A visit to the fascinating island of Jan Mayen

After exploring the remote island of Fair Isle, our Atlantic Odyssey voyage once more turned its attentions northwards and left the outer extremities of the UK behind. Our destination was Jan Mayen, a volcanic island situated on the mid-Atlantic ridge just north of 71°.

The ozone layer in Antarctica

Scientists have calculated that if the ozone layer was brought down to sea level it would be 3 mm thick, while in the Antarctic the ozone can be as low as 1 mm thick. Ozone in the stratosphere is being depleted by a variety of human-made gases with a ‘hole’ forming over Antarctica.

Graham Land: A landscape dominated by volcanoes

At the upper tip of the Antarctic Peninsula lies Graham Land, a jagged, glaciated part of Antarctica with a landscape dominated by volcanoes. Despite the volcanoes being over 200 million years old they are far from extinct with volcanic activity occurring today.

Oceanwide completely refurbished deck 4 aboard Ortelius

In 2011, Oceanwide Expeditions acquired the vessel Ortelius. A great expedition ship with the highest ice-class ranking as well as lots of deck space. Ideal to operate in the ice and to offer exclusive wildlife programs, including helicopter flights.

100 bowhead whales near Qeqertarsuaq, West Greenland

Today – May14, 2016 - we were sailing with the Rembrandt van Rijn towards Qeqertarsuaq; certainly in the hope of seeing a couple of whales. We know that these waters are nutrient rich and thus hoped for the possibility of seeing a few Humpback whales or even Greenland whales (Bowhead whales) off the coast of Disko Island.

Why You Should Visit Greenland: 11 Things to See, Do, and Explore

There's nothing quite like seeing your first Greenland glacier, sailing into the island's largest fjord system (also, incidentally, Earth's largest), or watching a humpback whale breach over the dark Greenland Sea - three great reasons to visit Greenland, and we've barely gotten started.

Shackleton’s Push to the South Pole

On the evening of February 11, 1907, Irish-born polar explorer Ernest Shackleton, already among the more famous polar explorers, announced his intention to embark on a momentous Antarctic expedition. His goal: to reach the South Pole.

19 Photos of Life on Ortelius

It’s understandable that most of your questions are going to revolve around what you can do once your Arctic or Antarctic cruise reaches its destination. Still, you may very well be curious about the journey itself; after all (depending on your cruise) you may be spending as much as a month aboard a ship.

Get to Know Your Ice

Ice. It does everything from cooling your drink to helping to regulate the temperature of the entire planet. Let’s take a look at the ways we encounter ice in the world and its wide variety of names.

Kayaking the Waters of Antarctica

The weather changes so dramatically down here that you simply cannot say, "this looks like a great day" if it is one - rather you must live in the moment and perhaps a more appropriate phrase might be, "this looks like a great moment"!

Churches in Antarctica

'Below 40 degrees South there is no law, below 50 degrees South there is no God', goes the old adage. When faced with a storm in the turbulent and freezing waters of the Drake Passage, one might think so.

Amundsen’s Race to the South Pole

Amundsen had acquired Fram from Fridtjof Nansen on the understanding it was to be involved in an expedition to the Arctic. However, before it could set sail it required a number of repairs, including a new diesel engine as it had been out of commission for many years. On June 7 1910, Fram left Oslo for the first leg of what was supposed to be the first leg of a voyage to the North Pacific via Cape Horn: Amundsen’s original plans was to explore the northern part of the polar basin where the North Pole was situated which the first Fram expedition under Nansen in 1893-96 had failed to reach.