Author: Paul

Every April 24, we celebrate Antarctic Ambassadors Day, which is an opportunity to celebrate one of the most extraordinary places on our planet – as well as inspiring people to take steps towards protecting a destination where environmental changes can impact us all. To learn more, we spoke to Steve Jones, Chair of IAATO’s Antarctic […]

We’ve always known that going to Antarctica would be the trip of a lifetime, but for some of our travellers it’s even more special than that. At Swoop, we love helping people who want to get married in Antarctica, and recently, we helped Trevor and Madeleine from Colorado to make their dreams of a polar […]

We’re obsessed with the polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton here at Swoop Antarctica, but even we know that Antarctica can feel awfully far away when we want a hint of the heroic era of polar exploration. That’s why we were delighted when the world’s only museum dedicated to the man they called ‘The Boss’ recently […]

When you ask someone why they want to take a cruise to Antarctica, we can guarantee that seeing penguins is always pretty high on the wishlist. And rightly so. Every Antarctic trip will go big on opportunities to see penguins, and even the most casual observer quickly becomes an expert at picking out a gentoo […]

It’s the most famous knock on the door in polar history. On 20 May 1916, Ernest Shackleton banged on the door of the Manager’s Villa in Stromness whaling station on South Georgia and announced to the surprised occupant that he had lost his ship.  Together with Frank Worsley and Tom Crean, he had just marched […]

At Swoop, we spend a lot of time talking about expedition guides as being the rockstars of Antarctic expedition cruising. It’s true they’re the best in the business for helping you experience the White Continent up close, but they’re only part of what makes a cruise here so special. Much of the credit also has […]

If there’s one thing that can be agreed on about the polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton, it’s that he was a great inspirer of men. In the story of his ship Endurance, which sank at the start of his attempt to cross Antarctica, it can often feel like he saved his men from certain disaster […]

The big stories of Antarctic exploration tend to come in two main flavours: either a race to the South Pole, or a desperate survival story after a ship sinks after being in the ice. Shackleton, Scott and Amundsen, we’re looking at you. But no one has done more to change that popular perception in recent […]