Category: Stories & Inspiration

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 – […]

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 […]

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 […]

If you were looking down from space, it would appear that every winter the Antarctic continent more than doubles in size. That’s because the ocean around it freezes over creating a vast curtain of sea ice. It’s one of the planet’s most extraordinary seasonal cycles and it plays an important but little understood role in […]