Choosing how and where to explore the Great White Continent can often be difficult when you’re mesmerised by so many idyllic sounding isles, bays and coves and operators don’t always explain where the best spots are. We offer some images and insight into a journey through the northern part of the Antarctic Peninsula. If you’re planning to visit Antarctica and would like guidance and information, find out more on our Antarctic cruises page.
Although the Gerlache Strait may offer impressive ice bergs, one of the most spectacular places to see towering icebergs and sparkling ice cliffs is in the northern part of the Antarctic Peninsula, known as The Antarctic Sound. This beautiful channel between Joinville Island and Trinity Peninsula is a great place to spot Minke whales and sail past large tabular icebergs that break off from the massive ice shelves and migrate their way through the Sound, to the western side of Antarctica.
In recent years operators have started to take passengers to the Weddell Sea, a poignant and less visited place in the Antarctic. If you know anything of Shackleton’s disastrous bid to become the first person to reach the South Pole, you’ll know the historical importance of the Weddell Sea. This infamous body of water is still home to his wrecked ship ‘Endurance’ which broke up in the Weddell’s thick winter ice in 1915.
For penguins, Brown Bluff, Hope Bay and Gourdin beat the Lemaire Channel hands down. Brown Bluff, an extinct volcano, offers an extraordinary backdrop in which to witness penguins along a 1.5km beach as well as weddell and leopard seals. At Hope Bay, Adelie and Gentoo penguins rule the roost. At Gourdin Island, thousands of Adélie, Chinstrap and Gentoo penguins huddle in a magnificent landscape of rock and ice. Gourdin is very exposed, but for those lucky enough with the conditions, offers enough another fantastic setting in which to see penguins in their natural environment.