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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.

Science and Tourism: How Oceanwide Helps Study the Oceans

Since 2012, KNMI (Koninklijk Nederlands Meteorologisch Instituut – Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute) and Oceanwide Expeditions have cooperated in deploying temperature-recording devices, known as Argo floats, at far southern latitudes. Oceanwide’s Antarctica cruises offer a unique opportunity to reach these remote areas. Up to 35 floats have so far been deployed on these voyages, and eight more are on board Oceanwide’s m/v Plancius for this season.

Chosen by the Sea: Interview with Captain Ernesto Barria

Ortelius sits dry-docked in a cavernous basin of brick and steel, lost in scaffolding like a sidelong building undergoing renovation. Men in dark blue jumpsuits and bright blue hardhats, heavy gray gloves and greasy gray boots, stomp over the rattling mesh walkways carrying hoses and lit cigarettes and bulky pieces of nautical maintenance equipment, one of which resembles a pneumatic cattle gun that, in the wrong hands, could wreak some serious havoc. Recently arrived from the Arctic, Ortelius is receiving its seasonal upkeep here in Vlissingen, a small Dutch port town near the Belgian border.

Seven Facts About Antarctic and Sub-Antarctic Penguins

There are 17 species of penguin on the planet today, but only eight penguin species can be seen in Antarctica and the sub-Antarctic islands, where we travel: chinstraps, emperors, Adélies, gentoos, kings, Magellanics, rockhoppers, and macaronis.

Three Antarctica Cruise Deals

For many travelers, Antarctica epitomizes the polar regions. But while embarking on an Antarctica cruise can be a life-changing experience, it can also be a bank-breaking proposition. Here are three cruise deals, each offering their own unique experience, that will provide you a much-coveted Antarctic adventure while minimizing the likelihood you’ll have to take out another mortgage to afford it.

Light in the Land of the Midnight Sun

The midnight sun, also known as the polar day, is a natural phenomenon seen within the Arctic and Antarctic circles. During the polar summer, the sun stays above the horizon 24 hours a day – meaning no sunrise or sunset, just constant daylight. This unique phenomenon is caused by the seasonal tilt of the Earth toward the sun during the Arctic or Antarctic summer.

The Doctor Is In: Interview with Lauke Bisschops

Forget choosing between sprawling city hospitals and small boutique clinics, subways compared to streets, ambulances versus Uber versus your own speeding automobile. When you’re cruising in the Arctic and Antarctic, the nearest hospital is a long way off, and in terms of the health care, everyone has access to the same kind – and the same person. During her voyage around the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, Dutch polar cruise doctor Lauke Bisschops told us all about her experience treating injuries, illnesses, and a surprising lack of sea sickness.

10 Tried-and-True Bird Photography Tips

It’s easy to understand our fascination with birds: They’re beautiful, graceful (usually), and most of them have the power of flight. But how do you capture that beauty, grace, and freedom in your photographs? Some will tell you it’s the lens, some the camera, and other bird photographers will say that some species are just naturally photogenic. Whatever the case, here are 10 tips that can only enhance bird photography.

10 Weather-Fueled Facts about Antarctica

Most of us have at least a vague notion of what makes the North and South Poles so brutally, bone-chillingly cold: They receive less sunlight than the rest of the planet, what sunlight they do receive arrives at an angle, and they’re usually buried under endless mounds of ice and snow. This holds especially true for the South Pole and its centerpiece, Antarctica. Fewer people know, however, what drives Antarctic weather, or what results from it. Here are ten weather-related facts about the most southern continent that will put your polar meteorology ahead of the curve.

10 Bountiful Blue Whale Facts

We could write a book filled with fun and fascinating facts about blue whales, but here we will select the 10 most interesting blue whale facts in our opinion.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.