Ask anyone to name the animal they’re most excited to see in Antarctica and penguins are almost always going to be top of their list. Whilst their charisma is undeniable it often threatens to overshadow the region’s other great wildlife experiences. Antarctica is in fact one of the world’s greatest destinations for whale watching.
There are 96 species of whales in the world, five can be found in Antarctic waters and a further seven can be seen in the Southern Ocean, perhaps while crossing the Drake Passage. Most of the types of whale in the region are baleen, or rorqual, whales. These are the largest creatures on earth, and feed on krill, a tiny crustacean they filter out of the water using immense sieve-like baleen plates that hang from their upper jaw.
In this article, we’ll introduce you to those species of whale you might hope to see, and when and where they’re often found.
When to see whales in Antarctica
The majority of whales in Antarctica are migratory, spending the summer feeding in the krill rich polar waters, before heading north at the onset of winter to breed and have their calves in warmer waters. Happily, this migration coincides with the Antarctic cruise season.
If you travel at the start of the season in November, you’ll be arriving at the same time as the first whales in Antarctica. This means that sightings tend to be more distant, though there’s still a great deal of pleasure standing on the deck of the ship scanning the horizon for whale spouts.
After the new year, whales are resident in Antarctica in much larger numbers, raising the likelihood of regular sightings and close encounters. February and March are by far the best months for whale watching. By this time, the whales are at their most relaxed after having been happily feeding for several months.
While strict wildlife watching guidelines prevent vessels actively approaching whales too closely, if you visit at the end of the season it’s common for whales to come and check you out on their own accord. Being in a zodiac while a minke whale swims underneath you, or experiencing the explosively fishy breath of a humpback as it glides past your kayak, are some of the most incredible wildlife experiences you can have anywhere on the planet.
Humpback whale
Of all the species of Antarctic whale, humpbacks are the biggest crowd pleasers, and the most commonly seen. They’re slow moving baleen whales, and can reach lengths of around 27 feet (17 m). They have extremely long flippers, which they frequently display at the surface.
Humpback whales are the most acrobatic of all the whales you might see in Antarctica. They raise their backs high when swimming, showing a distinctive curved dorsal fin, and when preparing to dive, raise their tail flukes high out of the water. If you see tail flukes in Antarctica, it’s odds on that it’ll be a humpback whale.
Every humpback has flukes as individual as a fingerprint. Cruise passengers in Antarctica can even upload their photos of flukes to the Happy Whale citizen science project, a worldwide whale database, that allows biologists to track individual whales and monitor populations. Happy Whale data from cruise ships has even helped bring in speed limits for vessels in parts of the Antarctic Peninsula to help reduce the risk of accidental strikes.
Of all the types of whale targeted by commercial whaling, humpbacks have recovered the strongest. Late in the season, when they have eaten their fill of krill, they are known to approach zodiacs and kayakers in Antarctic waters, leading to some very close – and exciting – encounters. Humpback whales may also be seen in the waters around South Georgia. This island was the birthplace of the Antarctic whaling industry, and its rusting remains can still be seen in places like Grytviken.
Minke whale
The minke whale is the smallest species of whale to be found in Antarctica. They’re almost pocket-sized as whales go, reaching a maximum of 27 feet (8.2 m) in length – perhaps unfairly, they’re named for Captain Minke, a Norwegian whaler who boasted of catching large whales but only ever caught small ones. While swimming, they almost resemble large dolphins.
Minke whales are slender, almost torpedo-shaped, whales. You can find them in both open water and among the pack ice. When among thick ice they like to ‘spy hop’ to check out the surroundings and find good breathing sites, as minkes are unusual in liking to swim far under the pack where they can feed on krill unmolested.
Their diminutive size means that of all the whale species in Antarctica, minkes are often needlessly dismissed by some whale watchers in favour of more glamorous species. They are found in abundance in groups of up to around ten individuals.
Later in the season, in February and March, minkes often demonstrate a playful curiosity around cruise ships and zodiacs: even going as far as to swim very close and spyhop to go eye to eye with people in the boat, to check out the visitors to their world.
Killer whale (Orca)
The killer whale or orca is commonly seen along the Antarctic Peninsula. It’s the only toothed species of whale you’ll find in Antarctica, and is in fact the largest species of dolphin in the world. They’re unmistakable: jet black above and white below, with a tall blade-like dorsal fin and white patches around the eye and saddle.
Killer whales reach up to 30 feet (9 m) in length, with the males ever so slightly larger than females. But size isn’t everything: this species of whale lives in highly matriarchal societies, where the oldest females preside over a pod of up to a dozen animals, and pass on their hunting skills and other knowledge down through the generations.
It’s possible to spot different types of this Antarctic whale on a cruise, according to their diet. Type A killer whales, the largest of the orcas, specialise in hunting whales. These are typically minke whales and humpback whale calves. In contrast, Type B killer whales mainly eat seals. These are the orcas you’ll find closer to the ice: they can work in tandem to create waves large enough to flip a seal off an ice floe. You may sometimes see killer whales spyhopping – sticking their heads vertically out of the water to see if there is prey nearby.
Fin whale
Fin whales are the second largest species of whale, reaching a length of up to 88 feet (27 m) in length. They’re also the fastest swimmers of the great whales. They can be found in the more open waters of the Antarctic Peninsula, such as the Bransfield Strait and Gerlache Strait, as well as the Scotia Sea around the South Shetland Islands and Elephant Island.
When whale watching, look for a broad dark head around the blowhole and prominent dorsal fin halfway along their back. Their spout forms a high cloud. If you’re lucky enough to observe them at closer quarters you might notice their unusual markings: the left lower jaw of a fin whale is dark grey, while the right lower jaw is white. The exact reasons for this remain unknown.
Of all the Antarctic whales, fin whales were one of the most heavily hunted during the period of industrial whaling. Over 700,000 fin whales were killed in the Southern Ocean alone. Thankfully, their numbers are in slow but steady recovery.
Fin whales are typically seen in small groups up to half a dozen individuals, but have been increasingly seen in large aggregations of dozens and sometimes hundreds of animals. Naturalists on board expedition cruise ships (and their passengers) were among the first to notify scientists of these super-aggregations in their ancestral feeding grounds.
Blue whale
A new set of superlatives are needed to describe the blue whale. They’re not only the largest species of whale on the planet, they’re also the largest animals that have ever lived. The biggest blue whale ever recorded was a staggering 110 feet (33.5 m) in length. Even their babies are massive: a newborn blue whale calf tops 25 feet (7 m) and weighs more than three tonnes.
Blue whales are found in all the world’s oceans, with a distinctive population centred on the Southern Ocean that circles Antarctica. Like all baleen whales in Antarctica, they feed on krill, gorging themselves over the summer months before migrating north to warmer waters to breed.
Sadly, of all the Antarctic whales, blue whales are the rarest species. They were hunted to the point of virtual extinction during the 20th century, with over 350,000 killed during the period of industrial whaling. Only a remnant population of a few thousand remain, and even though commercial whaling was banned nearly 50 years ago, signs of population recovery have been painfully slow to appear and blue whales remain critically endangered.
If you do see a blue whale, count yourself incredibly lucky. While whale watching, look out for a long and pale back with a vanishingly small dorsal fin far back on the body, and a near vertical spout when it blows.
Other whales
Five other whale species can sometimes be seen in the Southern Ocean, particularly while crossing the Drake Passage between South America and the Antarctic Peninsula.
The Southern Right whale suffered heavily during the period of commercial whaling – it even takes its name from being the ‘right’ whale to hunt. They can rarely be seen in the waters around South Georgia, though if your trip includes Patagonia, they’re readily found in the waters around Peninsula Valdes where they breed.
The Sei Whale is the third largest species of whale, and closely resembles the fin whale. It prefers deep waters, so if spotted it’s likely to be in the northern part of the Drake, though if you’re sailing around the Falkland Islands, they can sometimes be seen there.
Of the toothed whales, the largest species is the sperm whale of Moby Dick fame. Sperm whales are found across all the world’s oceans. They live in large matrilineal groups, but only males are found in the cold polar waters.
One species of dolphin may accompany your ship as you sail south on the Drake Passage. It’s not unusual to see pods of hourglass dolphins near the ship. The latter are particularly striking, with near black bodies with a white hourglass shape running from the head to the tail.
Finally, if you see your onboard naturalist getting wildly excited at sea, it’s possible they’ve seen either a southern bottlenose whale or an Arnoux’s beaked whale. These strange animals look like giant dolphins with large melon-like heads. They spend most of their time diving deep for squid so are rarely seen at the surface or even understood by biologists. Most specimens are known from strandings, so if you spot one yourself you’ll have seen something truly special.
Want to see whales?
Antarctica’s whale species are an amazing draw for travellers planning a cruise to Antarctica. At Swoop Antarctica, we offer some of the world’s greatest wildlife-watching opportunities – and have seen every major species of Antarctic whale in the Southern Ocean, from paddling close to humpback whales amid the ice to a distant spotting of a blue whale mother and its calf while crossing the Drake Passage. With a passion for the continent’s wildlife, our team of experts are happy to share their expertise on how to see some of the world’s most spectacular whales in one of the world’s most dramatic destinations.
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