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Arctic on Foot: Hiking and Snowshoeing the Far North
The focus of our voyages is always to get you off the ship and into the action as frequently as possible. While we travel from site to site on ice-strengthened vessels, our expeditions are crafted to provide you with the maximum firsthand experience of the polar regions and their unique wildlife.
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Hondius Photography and Video Workshops
There’s no shortage of great things to say about a Hondius expedition cruise, but among the best are the free video and photography workshops offered during some of this ship’s voyages. These informative, interactive, highly useful supplements allow you to not only capture your memories in the best way possible but also make your friends back home maddeningly jealous.
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Weddell Sea: the Original Antarctic Adventure
According to historian Thomas R. Henry, visiting the Weddell Sea requires a brave heart. In his 1950 book, "The White Continent," he described sudden “flash freezes” that occur in the region. It was one of these flash freezes that trapped Ernest Shackleton’s ship, Endurance, in January 1915, forcing his crew to endure over a year in the harsh environment before they could escape.
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8 Whales You Might See During Your Antarctica Cruise
They're powerful, beautiful, and really, really big. Whales are a wonder of the natural world, and one of the best places to see them is Antarctica. In fact, whale watching is one of the most popular and rewarding activities you can enjoy on an Antarctic trip.
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Weddell Sea, Shackleton’s Endurance, and New Swabia
Our Antarctica 2023-24 cruise program is packed with incredible expeditions, including a new itinerary that explores key locations such as South Georgia, the Weddell Sea, and the more easterly region of New Swabia (Neuschwabenland).
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Shackleton’s Long-Lost Endurance Discovered in Antarctica
A discovery expedition launched by the Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust achieved a long-awaited mission when it located Anglo-Irish explorer Ernest Shackleton’s lost ship Endurance last Saturday (March 5).
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Islands of the Blessed: Things to Do Around Cape Verde
We visit Cape Verde and its capital city of Praia during our occasional St. Helena to Cape Verde voyages. Characterized by peaceful days at sea, these trips allow you to see some of the lesser-known gems of the Atlantic.
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Polar bear encounter in Spitsbergen
I watch the sea ice from the bridge of a ship in one of the fjords of Spitsbergen, an archipelago north of Norway. I observe a perfectly adapted animal moving on the ice, the results of hundreds of thousands of years of ecological fine-tuning. Snowshoe-sized paws distribute weight, fur handles the cold and sunlight to perfection, and an incredible sense of smell samples this monochromatic realm.
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Antarctica’s first Marine Protected Area
In October of this year, the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, which includes 24 countries such as the United States, the European Union, Australia, and New Zealand, reached a consensus on a New Zealand/United States proposal to establish a large-scale Marine Protected Area (MPA) in the Ross Sea region.
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Inside the Svalbard Global Seed Vault
Literature, cinema, and even video games often present us with various global disaster scenarios. These typically involve devastating wars, catastrophic natural events, or widespread pandemics that leave survivors scavenging for food and supplies amidst hordes of zombies.
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The Wonderful Weddell Sea: Places, Pics, and Impressions
When we talk about Antarctica, it’s easy to slip into familiar words: amazing, astounding, extraordinary, exceptional. And though most Antarctic locations more than deserve these descriptions, some deserve them more than others.
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The Arctic Borderland of Kongsfjorden, Svalbard
Kongsfjorden is a glacial fjord in Svalbard that hosts a diverse array of flora and fauna.
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Where the Polar Bears Roam
Going to the Arctic without clapping eyes on a wild polar bear can be reasonably compared to visiting Africa without seeing a giraffe or a zebra or, most analogously, a lion.
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The polar bear: king of the Arctic food chain
As apex predators, polar bears reign supreme in the Arctic food chain. Only humans pose a threat to this massive and majestic species. But one look at these magnificent creatures explains why so many people embark on Arctic trips hoping to spot a polar bear in its natural habitat.
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Exploration of the Polar Regions
From the Vikings via the first whale and seal hunters to Scott and Amundsen, from the maritime explorers Franklin and Nordenskiöld to present-day polar tourism, a quick tour through history reveals some of the aspects which motivated people to extend their horizons. Existential need, sheer curiosity, imperial greed, polar science, and a taste for adventure all converged in regions which pardon no mistakes.
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All things ice in the Antarctic
The first documented sighting of an iceberg in Antarctica occurred on February 1, 1700, when Edmond Halley was on an expedition to measure the Earth's magnetic field. He noted in his diary that he encountered "great Islands of Ice, of Soe Incredible a hight and Magnitude that I scare dare to write my thoughts on it."
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10 Terrific Antarctic Bird Facts
Antarctica is a premier destination for birdwatching, boasting around 45 unique species. Describing them all would require an extensive article, so here we will focus on 10 fascinating facts about the birds you can encounter in Antarctica.
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Get to Know Your Ice
Ice plays a crucial role in everything from cooling your drink to regulating the planet's temperature. Let's explore the various forms of ice you might encounter during an Arctic or Antarctic adventure.
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A visit to the fascinating island of Jan Mayen
After exploring the remote island of Fair Isle, our Atlantic Odyssey voyage once more turned its attentions northwards and left the outer extremities of the UK behind. Our destination was Jan Mayen, a volcanic island situated on the mid-Atlantic ridge just north of 71° (about 550 kilometers north of Iceland and 450 kilometers east of Greenland).
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“The polar bear will still be there”
For several hours, we had been navigating the pack ice in search of polar bears. Despite numerous binoculars scanning the ice, no bears were visible, and only a few tracks were found. This suggested we might be in an area with fewer bears. Later that morning, we decided to head a few miles east, suspecting a higher bear population there.