Swoop Antarctica Blog
Ever since Captain James Cook made the first recorded crossing of the Antarctic Circle, brave explorers, sailors and scientists have sailed to Antarctica, in search of its wildlife and scientific secrets. Today’s Antarctic expedition cruise industry follows in its wake, with growing numbers of tourists making the voyage to explore the Antarctic Peninsula, albeit in […]
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One of the things we love most about expedition cruising in Antarctica is helping travellers take part in citizen science projects where they can contribute to active research projects. One of the projects closest to our hearts is Happywhale, which allows travellers to log sightings of humpbacks and other whales to create a global database […]
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In the early 1990s, when the Antarctic cruise industry and the internet were still in their infancy , one of the biggest TV shows was The X-Files, where two FBI agents—one a skeptic, the other a true believer—would investigate mysteries from the extraterrestrial to the paranormal while shadowy government agents hid the truth from the […]
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The best films about Antarctica It’s a challenge that any traveller to Antarctica knows well: conveying how extraordinary the White Continent is in real life. No camera lens ever truly seems to do its beauty justice. But what if you could travel there with a proper film crew? Antarctica has attracted its fair share of […]
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Since 2023, Swoop has been a certified B Corp. It’s our deeply held belief that we have a responsibility to consider the planet in everything we do. We’re proud to be part of a movement committed to creating positive change in the world. Choosing to travel with a B Corp for your next adventure has […]
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Visiting Antarctica is a travel experience like no other. The planet’s southernmost continent is home to one of the most extreme climates in the world – in fact, it can only be visited by expedition cruises for fewer than six months every year, due to its long winters and impenetrable sea ice. The continent’s wild […]
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Standing on the deck of an expedition cruise ship as you arrive at the Antarctic Peninsula, don’t look for any flag flying high over the territory. It doesn’t have one. Research bases fly the flags of their nations and when visitors arrive on expedition cruise ships they proudly wave banners to celebrate landing on the […]
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It’s March on the Antarctic Peninsula, at the tail end of the expedition cruising season. Winter is in the air, with the days getting shorter in a blaze of terrific sunsets. On shore, the penguins are undergoing their annual moult in anticipation of spending the next few months at sea, and everywhere it seems, there […]
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Are you considering visiting South Georgia Island? As one of the world’s most remote and beautiful destinations, this island nestled in the South Atlantic Ocean offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for unparalleled adventure. There’s a reason why it’s dubbed the Serengeti of the Southern Ocean: with literally millions penguins and seals on show, a visit to […]
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If there is one thing you can guarantee when you’re planning a trip to Antarctica, it’s that you’re going to take a lot of photos of penguins. Why would you not? For many people, seeing these endlessly charismatic little birds are a highlight of an expedition cruise to the White Continent. But what if your […]
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Three names dominate the public consciousness when it comes to famous Antarctic explorers, more than a century after they first stepped foot on the White Continent. ‘For scientific discovery give me Scott,’ wrote the old polar hand Raymond Priestley. ‘For speed and efficiency of travel give me Amundsen; but when disaster strikes and all hope […]
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In her new book A History of Polar Exploration in 50 Objects: From Cook’s Circumnavigations to the Aviation Age, polar historian Anne Strathie weaves the story of exploration in both the Antarctic and Arctic through a series of objects that often have surprising interconnections. For Swoop, she has picked five of her favourites that help […]
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Planning a trip to Antarctica? You’ve made the right decision. We firmly believe there’s nowhere quite like it on the planet for wild vistas and spellbinding wildlife encounters. But before you travel to the Antarctic on an expedition cruise, there are some things you need to know to help you prepare to book and to […]
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Very few people get to go scuba diving in Antarctica. The extreme cold water conditions mean that it’s a location reserved for experienced divers, but for those who are able to meet the challenge, it can be like no diving location on earth. For some divers however, the idea of diving in Antarctica isn’t enough. […]
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If you take an ice cube out of your freezer, you’ll see that it’s full of tiny bubbles: microscopic pockets of air that were trapped in the water the last time you refilled the ice cube tray, a week or a few months ago. Pluck a piece of floating glacial ice out of the water […]
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Islands are nature’s laboratories. Their small self-contained ecosystems can allow animals and plants to flourish that wouldn’t be possible elsewhere. But their size means that those ecosystems can be fragile when exposed to outside influence. Within 60 years of the first sailors landing on the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius, the flightless dodo had been […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 – […]
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Ask anyone to name an Antarctic bird and nine times out of ten they’ll answer ‘penguin’. It’s hardly a surprise really: few birds have better PR than penguins, and you’d have to have a heart of stone to be immune to their charms. So when I travelled south to the ice it was impossible not […]
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