Antarctica: the great white continent and one of the last true wilderness areas on earth – largely unchanged since the early explorers.

It’s home to the world’s greatest concentration of wildlife, where penguins, seals and whales are the only permanent residents.

Gaze up at magnificent icebergs, explore islands guided by various species of penguin including chinstrap, gentoo and Adélie. Experience the awe-inspiring king penguin rookeries of South Georgia, the “Galapagos of the Poles,” as well as the incredible wealth of untamed wildlife in the unique and diverse archipelagos of the Southern Ocean.

Best Time to Cruise

The best time to visit Antarctica is between November and March - the months when the sun rises above the horizon, the sea ice melts enough to allow access, and the temperatures nudge above freezing.

Antarctica on the Map

Antarctica is the fifth largest of the seven continents. Antarctica has two large indentations which are the Ross Sea and the Weddell Sea. The nearest continent is South America.

Antarctic Weather

Witness some of Earth’s most beautiful scenery in one of Earth’s least hospitable environments. Antarctica is the coldest, highest, windiest, and driest of all Earth’s continents, though it grants our cruise passengers access to many of the most dazzling sights our planet has to offer. Gray rock peaks punch out of the wind-carved snow, passing icebergs dot the dark blue waters, and wildlife abounds that can be seen nowhere else – all serving to remind us that we are truly in another world.

Antarctic Landscape

Antarctica consists of two main areas. East Antarctica (Greater Antarctica) and West Antarctica (Antarctic Peninsula). More than 98% of Antarctica is covered with ice. Antarctica’s two parts are separated by the Transarctic Mountains. Furthermore, There are at least two active volcanoes in Antarctica, Mount Erebus is the highest and has a permanent molten lava lake. The other is on Deception Island, situated just north of the Antarctic Peninsula, a popular stop-off for tourist ships where it is possible to have a warm bath in the volcanically warmed waters while being surrounded by Antarctic ice and penguins.

Facts About Antarctica:

• Antarctica is larger than Europe.
• Because Antarctica experiences so little precipitation, it is technically a desert.
• The name “Antarctica” comes from a Greek phrase meaning “opposite to north”.
• Almost 62% of the freshwater ice on Earth exists in Antarctica. If all that ice melted today, the world’s oceans would swell by about 60 meters (197 feet).
• The coldest temperature ever recorded was at the Antarctic research station Vostok, on July 21, 1983, when the thermometer dropped to a teeth-chattering -89.2°C (-128.6°F), cold enough to shatter steel.
• Despite the cold, the biggest documented mass of living creatures — a 10,000,000-ton school of krill — was spotted in the Antarctic.
• The first confirmed sighting of Antarctica was in 1820, though it would take almost a century — until 1911, to be exact — before a human being set foot on the continent.