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Antarctica in Pictures: Photos from 2018

Until you join us in Antarctica yourself, enjoy these stunning photos from the past year.

The Wonderful Weddell Sea: Places, Pics, and Impressions

When talking about Antarctica, it’s easy to slip into familiar verbiage: amazing, astounding, extraordinary, exceptional. And though most Antarctic locations deserve these descriptions, some do so more than others. The Weddell Sea is a prime example.

Port Lockroy: History, Post Office, and Resident Penguins

Sometimes it’s so easy to focus on all the beautiful coastlines, fjords, and other natural wonders of Antarctica that we overlook the man-made attractions in between.

Kayaking in Antarctica and the Arctic

Though our focus is always providing our passengers maximum possible polar shore time, sometimes off-shore time is just as important. For this, there’s no better adventure than polar kayaking.

Emperors Everywhere: Letter from Snow Hill Island, Antarctica

Yesterday marks two years in a row that we’ve been able to take our guests to the spectacular but seldom-visited Snow Hill Island emperor penguin colony.

AECO, IAATO & OEX: Polar Travel Partnerships

Nature-based travel asks its share of responsibilities to the planet, and travel in ecologically vulnerable areas even more so. Thankfully, the polar regions have two vital and widely respected organizations in their corner: AECO and IAATO.

Antarctica: When to Visit, How to Plan, What to Expect

If Antarctica is an astonishingly exotic location coveted in equal measure by ice enthusiasts and continent hoppers (and it is), it also asks a lot in return for its prestigious polar status.

A Moveable Feast: Interview with a Polar Cruise Chef

Polar cruises are luxurious, but they aren’t luxury cruises. The beds are wonderfully comfortable, but nobody expects goose-down pillows. The bar is appropriately well stocked, but no bottles of triple-cask Macallan 21 glow atop the shelves. The food is delicious, ample, and hearty, but…

Two for the Snow: Polar Cruises for Couples

You know the old saying, “Cold hands, warm heart.” We’re not doctors or anything, but in our opinion that bodes well for couples who visit the polar regions.

The Seven Best Things to Do in Antarctica

Unless you’re a scientist, there’s no such thing as a means-to-an-end trip to Antarctica. Merely being there is reason enough to make the journey - even, we would wager, for most scientists who travel to Antarctica solely for research.

Keep It Green: Our Commitment to Sustainable Polar Travel

It doesn’t make much sense for polar travel if every time we visit the Arctic and Antarctica we leave them worse than we found them. And that’s just considering things from a purely human perspective, which we don’t.

Polar Mountain High: Interview with a Ski and Mountaineering Guide

There are good jobs, and there are great jobs. And then there are jobs where you climb mountains and ski back down them and get paid for it. These are different jobs entirely. Tim Blakemore, one of Oceanwide’s mountaineering and skiing guides, has one of these jobs.

Five Reasons You Should Cruise the Ross Sea Immediately

In our quest for the little-known holiday destination (that’s still popular enough to have its own fully developed spa and gift shop), we travelers sometimes overlook the truly underrated gems this planet has hidden up its sleeve.

Why a Polar Diving Cruise Should be Your Next Great Decision

Not so very long ago, all you had to do to qualify as a thrill-seeker was hop a ship to the polar regions and make it back with all your fingers – or your life, if you weren’t picky.

15 Falklands Bird Photos

Few places offer as unique and abundant a selection of birds, particularly seabirds, as the remote sub-Antarctic archipelago of the Falkland Islands. With this in mind, we’ve compiled 15 images of the most photogenic birds in the Falklands. Some were taken by you, some by us, but every one of them was lovingly photographed during our exciting Falkland Island voyages.

The First Float of m/v Hondius

On the morning of Saturday, June 9, a newly constructed polar expedition cruise vessel slid down the timber-and-steel slipway of a sprawling Croatian shipyard, plunging into the pale blue waters of the rocky Adriatic coast. The launch of this vessel, one of 28 new expedition ships currently on order, might have seemed commonplace, even insignificant, to the world at large.

A Diving Dream Fulfilled

Last January, Mark Hatter accomplished a dream he’d been training two years to fulfill. Booking his berth aboard our m/v Ortelius and making the long flight to Ushuaia, Argentina, he and two of his friends sailed down the famous Drake Passage, bound for Earth’s southernmost continent.

Polar Perfectionism: Interview with Captain Levakov

Turning our attention to the control room, we steal a few informative (and highly entertaining) moments with one of our most seasoned polar captains, Evgeny Levakov. A veteran of the colder side of nautical life, Captain Levakov has been piloting ships since 2002, leading everything from week-long Arctic cruises to expansive 33-day Antarctica voyages. And among the many things he’s learned in all those berg-bejeweled years is that polar captaining isn’t a gig for gamblers.

Humpback Whales: the Stars of the Western Antarctic Peninsula

The marine ecosystem of the West Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) extends from the Bellingshausen Sea to the northern tip of the peninsula. The WAP includes the Antarctic Sea Ice Zone, a very productive system that supports large stocks of marine mammals, birds, and Antarctic krill. One of the stars of this region, which you can see on your whale-spotting Antarctica cruise, is the humpback.

A New Flag for a Veteran Vessel, Ortelius

Vlissingen, located in the south western part of the Netherlands, has been Oceanwide Expeditions “Homeport” since the company was established more than 20 years ago. When our vessel Plancius was being built, there was no hesitation which name should be mentioned as homeport for the vessel and thus since it’s delivery in 2009 Plancius is flying the Dutch flag and has Vlissingen on its stern as being its homeport.

How Arctic Wildlife Differs from Antarctic

While there are definite similarities between the north and south poles, at the same time, the two regions are vastly different. Though both are cold and dry, each pole is unique in its terrain and climate. While the Antarctic is harsh and inhospitable, home to only two native vascular species of plants, the Arctic tundra can support a wider range of fauna with its warmer temperatures and a greater diversity of plant life. Here are just some of the different animals that you can expect to see in the Arctic as opposed to the Antarctic.

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.