EXPLORE ANTARCTICA - ADVENTURES & EXPEDITIONS
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.
QUARK EXPEDITIONS
Our Antarctic and Arctic cruises are operated by Quark Expeditions, world-renowned as the leading innovator of polar expedition cruises.  They were the first to successfully operate many of the most exciting polar voyages: to the North Pole, on a circumnavigation of Antarctica as well as a circumnavigation of the Arctic, to the 'Far Side' of Antarctica, to the Weddell Sea and through the Northeast Passage, to name a few.
Itineraries
Antarctic Adventure - Antarctic Peninsula and the South Shetland Islands Actively exploring the Antarctic Peninsula aboard the Ocean Nova or the Akademik Shokalskiy. Crossing the Antarctic Circle Share this momentous achievement with a few select adventurers the Ocean Nova, Akademik Ioffe or the Akademik Sergey Vavilov. Classic Antarctica Discovering the Antarctic Peninsula aboard the Lyubov Orlova. Explorers' Route - Falkland Islands, South Georgia and Antarctic Peninsula Explore Antarctica via the Falklands (Malvinas) and South Georgia aboard the Clipper Adventurer.