Category: Stories & Inspiration

Thousands of travellers visit Antarctica every year, sailing on the 70 or so vessels that make up the polar fleet. These come in a variety of shapes and sizes, from tiny yachts and expedition cruise ships that carry a hundred or so passengers, all the way up to larger ships that aren’t allowed to land […]

Antarctica is often closer than you think. From the fish in your supermarket to the supplements in your health food store, traces of its most important animal are everywhere, hidden in plain sight. Krill, the tiny crustacean at the centre of the Antarctic food web eaten by everything from gentoo penguins to whales, is being […]

It’s one of the greatest Antarctic stories ever told: Sir Ernest Shackleton’s doomed attempt to cross Antarctica that was thwarted when his ship Endurance was crushed in the ice, followed by the long and desperate struggle to get his men safely home.  For over a century, the wreck of Endurance lay hidden from the outside […]

It was in the last few days of our Antarctic Peninsula cruise that our Expedition Leader Ashley brought something special to our attention. We were in the lecture lounge listening to her present her round up of the day’s activities and what tomorrow’s plan would bring when a map flashed up on the screen. By […]

My first time in a zodiac in Antarctica felt a little daunting. I stood on a platform at the back of our sturdy ship and looked at the rubber boat bobbing up and down on the waves. A crew member held out their hand to steady me in a sailor’s grip and help me step […]

Your first wildlife encounter on an Antarctic trip is often your most poignant. It was for me. I headed south with my head full of thoughts of penguins and whales, not suspecting that the wildlife show would begin almost the moment my ship pulled away from the quay. As soon as we entered the Drake […]

It’s delightfully easy to think of Antarctica as a completely pristine environment, untouched by humanity. Maybe it’s the vast blankets of snow that encourages you to think that yours are the first footsteps ever to leave a trace there. It’s an innocent enough fantasy when you’re on an expedition cruise, indulging your sense of personal […]

At Swoop, we like to think that no one knows Antarctica better than us. Every year, we send more team members to the Antarctic than any other polar travel agency to keep our knowledge of the White Continent and the polar cruise fleet as sharp as it can be.  In the 2023/24 season that’s just […]