Category: Planning & Tips

Quick Answer: Best Time to Visit Antarctica The best time to visit Antarctica is between November and March, during the austral summer when expedition ships can access the continent. Each month offers slightly different experiences: Table of contents Antarctica’s white wilderness has an irresistible magnetism for adventurous souls the world over. Around 40,000 travellers make […]

For lovers of the great outdoors, Antarctica offers the ultimate experience – and it doesn’t get much more outdoors than spending a night out camping on the White Continent. Falling asleep listening to the sounds of distant glaciers, penguins and even whales is truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience.  I’ve travelled to Antarctica several times, but it […]

Quick Answer: Best Month to Cross the Drake Passage The best months to cross the Drake Passage are November to March, during the Antarctic summer. However, no specific month guarantees calm seas, as weather conditions in the Drake Passage are highly unpredictable. Travellers may experience either the calm conditions of the ‘Drake Lake’ or the […]

When it comes to planning a cruise to Antarctica, one of the questions that comes up most frequently is what’s the best size of ship to sail on? There’s no perfect answer of course, but if you want to maximise your time exploring off the ship, then we generally recommend ships that carry fewer than […]

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 […]

It’s always an exciting moment when a new expedition cruise ship joins the polar fleet. The highly-anticipated Douglas Mawson has just launched – and Swoop were invited to join its inaugural voyage to experience it first hand on a four-night shakedown cruise from Sydney to Hobart to check the ship out, before it headed south […]

Antarctica is the final frontier for scuba diving. There is nowhere you can go that’s so remote—and so cold—to get underwater. Until relatively recently, the only people who have been able to dive there were scientists, but now any divers with the appropriate cold water experience can travel south to experience it for themselves.  Diving […]

The continent of Antarctica is roughly the same size as Australia, but it effectively doubles in size every winter as the surrounding seas freeze, extending Antarctica’s reach with an impenetrable skirt of ice. This can often give the impression that Antarctica is a largely featureless place – an idea that’s reinforced by the picture of […]