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Standing on the deck of an expedition cruise ship as you arrive at the Antarctic Peninsula, don’t look for any flag flying high over the territory. It doesn’t have one. Research bases fly the flags of their nations and when visitors arrive on expedition cruise ships they proudly wave banners to celebrate landing on the […]

It’s March on the Antarctic Peninsula, at the tail end of the expedition cruising season. Winter is in the air, with the days getting shorter in a blaze of terrific sunsets. On shore, the penguins are undergoing their annual moult in anticipation of spending the next few months at sea, and everywhere it seems, there […]

Are you considering visiting South Georgia Island? As one of the world’s most remote and beautiful destinations, this island nestled in the South Atlantic Ocean offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for unparalleled adventure. There’s a reason why it’s dubbed the Serengeti of the Southern Ocean: with literally millions penguins and seals on show, a visit to […]

If there is one thing you can guarantee when you’re planning a trip to Antarctica, it’s that you’re going to take a lot of photos of penguins. Why would you not? For many people, seeing these endlessly charismatic little birds are a highlight of an expedition cruise to the White Continent.  But what if your […]

Three names dominate the public consciousness when it comes to famous Antarctic explorers, more than a century after they first stepped foot on the White Continent. ‘For scientific discovery give me Scott,’ wrote the old polar hand Raymond Priestely. ‘For speed and efficiency of travel give me Amundsen; but when disaster strikes and all hope […]

In her new book A History of Polar Exploration in 50 Objects: From Cook’s Circumnavigations to the Aviation Age, polar historian Anne Strathie weaves the story of exploration in both the Antarctic and Arctic through a series of objects that often have surprising interconnections.  For Swoop, she has picked five of her favourites that help […]

Planning a trip to Antarctica? You’ve made the right decision. We firmly believe there’s nowhere quite like it on the planet for wild vistas and spellbinding wildlife encounters.  But before you travel to the Antarctic on an expedition cruise, there are some things you need to know to help you prepare to book and to […]

Very few people get to go scuba diving in Antarctica. The extreme cold water conditions mean that it’s a location reserved for experienced divers, but for those who are able to meet the challenge, it can be like no diving location on earth.  For some divers however, the idea of diving in Antarctica isn’t enough. […]

If you take an ice cube out of your freezer, you’ll see that it’s full of tiny bubbles: microscopic pockets of air that were trapped in the water the last time you refilled the ice cube tray, a week or a few months ago. Pluck a piece of floating glacial ice out of the water […]

Islands are nature’s laboratories. Their small self-contained ecosystems can allow animals and plants to flourish that wouldn’t be possible elsewhere. But their size means that those ecosystems can be fragile when exposed to outside influence. Within 60 years of the first sailors landing on the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius, the flightless dodo had been […]

The Subantarctic island of South Georgia is a marvel of the natural world. It’s a hundred mile long mountain range that erupts out of the Southern Ocean, with more marine wildlife than anywhere else on the planet. Penguins and fur seals here are counted by the million. It’s a scene that’s all the more extraordinary […]

Antarctica is one of the greatest whale watching destinations on the planet. There are few feelings quite so ecstatic as the joyful surprise when a humpback whale silently surfaces near your zodiac, and then fills the air with a krill-flavoured mist as it explosively exhales through its blowhole.  Their recovery after years of exploitation is […]

I don’t remember a time when I didn’t have my own phone. I’m part of Generation Z, so phones have always been as essential as breathing: endlessly scrolling or capturing content to put on my social media. My phone is glued to my hand most of the day. It’s my connection to the world – […]

Ask anyone to name an Antarctic bird and nine times out of ten they’ll answer ‘penguin’. It’s hardly a surprise really: few birds have better PR than penguins, and you’d have to have a heart of stone to be immune to their charms. So when I travelled south to the ice it was impossible not […]

Antarctica is one of the most exciting adventure travel destinations on the planet, but many expedition cruises ramp up the wildlife it’s possible to see by including a visit to South Georgia as well. This 100 mile (160 km) long island is a two day sail from anywhere, but is home to the greatest concentration […]

When choosing an Antarctic expedition cruise, people often concentrate on the ship and its amenities alongside the itinerary, but there is one element that’s all too often overlooked but that we believe, can transform a simple voyage into something truly extraordinary – the guiding team.  Expedition Guides bring an amazing wealth of polar experience to […]

At Swoop, we firmly believe that tourism can have a positive impact on both people and the planet, and that protecting the destinations we travel to should be at the heart of everything we do. As well as being a registered B Corp, we’re proud to be associate members of the International Association of Antarctic […]

Antarctica is known for its raw and wild landscape, and has long been associated with adventure and exploration. While this might paint a picture in travellers’ minds that Antarctic cruises are pretty basic or simple affairs, nowadays it’s quite the opposite.  Now, cruises to Antarctica offer a comfortable and refined experience, with many vessels providing […]

Two and a half years ago, the world marvelled at the news of the discovery of the wreck of the Endurance, the ship that was centre stage for the explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton’s greatest Antarctic triumph and tragedy. Organised and funded by the Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust, the Endurance22 expedition found the ship more than […]

Sit someone down and ask them to make a list of Antarctic explorers, and most people would probably start to falter after the big three of Ernest Shackleton, Roald Amundsen and Robert Falcon Scott. Americans might throw in Admiral Robert Byrd, the first man to fly to the South Pole, while Australians will surely add […]