 Antarctica is a continent of superlatives. It is the
coldest, windiest, driest, iciest and highest of all the major landmasses in the world.
It is the continent with the longest nights and the longest days and it is home to the world's
greatest concentration of wildlife. It is also one of the last true wilderness areas
left on earth - largely unchanged since the early explorers and whalers first landed on its
inhospitable shores less than two centuries ago.
  The continent itself is roughly circular with a spindly
arm, called the Antarctic Peninsula, reaching northwards towards Tierra del Fuego. South
America is the nearest landmass, some 600 miles away. Considerably larger than either
the United States or Europe, and twice the size of Australia, the continent is surrounded by a
frozen sea that varies in area from one million square miles in summer to 7. 3 million square
miles in winter. |
 Beyond the ice are the waters of the vast Southern Ocean, which encircles
Antarctica in a continuous ring several hundred miles wide. The Southern Ocean isolates
the continent from the warmer waters of the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic Oceans to the north
and this meeting point, called the Antarctic Convergence, is the ecologically-defined northern
boundary of the region. Our journeys occur at the peak of the summer wildlife
season. Bathed in long hours of daylight, the area will be erupting with wildlife
activity. Penguins gather to tend their fast-growing chicks, whales are seen in great
numbers, seals haul out onto ice floes and beaches, and numerous albatrosses and other
seabirds trail in our wake. We visit scientists working in modern research bases.
And there is plenty of time to enjoy the sheer beauty and the breathtaking scenery of
ice-choked waterways, blue and white icebergs, impressive glaciers and rugged snow-capped
mountains. We have a fantastic range of comfortable and safe expedition cruises to
Antarctica to choose from onboard our adventure fleet of ice-strengthened ships. |
