Blog post by Sharon Keating

Blog post by Sharon Keating from her voyage aboard the Le Boreal December 2011

As the whales migrate from Antarctic waters to the Arctic and back again, they currently face a miriad of challenges.  Here's a great article by Sonia Cooke with Time Magazine about the plight of the whales when hit by Sonar.

Blog post by Sharon Keating from the December 17, 2011 Falklands, South Georgia, Antarctica voyage aboard the Le Boreal

Sometimes we forget how much we are missing!  While we see thousands of penguins, hundreds of birds and many whales and seals, we don't get to see what's going on UNDER the water.  A world of previously unseen creatures has been found thriving next to boiling vents of water, several miles under the surface of the Southern Ocean near Antarctica. Hundreds of hairy-chested yeti crabs, a mysterious-looking pale octopus and colonies of limpets, snails and barnacles were found by British scientists at a hydrothermal vent located in the ocean's East Scotia Ridge.

"One hundred years ago this December, the world waited breathlessly to hear who would reach the South Pole first – the dashing Captain Robert Scott, or the determined Norwegian, Roald Amundsen." Several of our clients celebrated this once-in-a-lifetime anniversary with a unique 29-day trip exploring the Ross Sea and other areas associated with the heroic age of Antarctic exploration. The voyage began in Christchurch, New Zealand and finished in Hobart, Australia (see below)

Blog post by Jim Taylor our webmaster aboard the Adventurer in Antarctica 

When you choose an Arctic voyage that includes Iceland plan to spend several days touring the island country when the voyage concludes. Iceland’s geothermal environment is both majestic and makes the country a leader in clean energy use.

As we bid good-bye to Scoresbysund our environment for the past five days we also said goodbye to the sun. We were shrouded by gray mist as we left land behind us and entered the Denmark Strait enroute to Iceland our final destination. Immediately we were joined by the northern fulmar to hurry us on our way.