Antarctica Unlocked

1,000 departures across 14 operators and 39 ships

Cruises visiting Bransfield Strait

228 upcoming Antarctic expeditions with Bransfield Strait on the route, from $7,300 per person.

The Bransfield Strait is the 100 km of water between the South Shetlands and the Peninsula — usually the first calm sailing after the Drake, and often where passengers meet their first big icebergs and whales.

Crossed by nearly every Peninsula itinerary, it doubles as a feeding ground for humpbacks and a highway for ships heading south.

Wildlife you can spot here

Wildlife

Gentoo Penguin

A stocky, orange-billed penguin of the genus Pygoscelis, closest kin to the Adélie and Chinstrap. Its loud, trumpeting call, delivered with head thrown back, carries across the shoreline colonies where expedition landings are made.

Wildlife

Humpback Whale

A 14–17 metre baleen whale known for breaching and long pectoral fins, often seen feeding on krill in loose groups along the ice edge.

Wildlife

Chinstrap Penguin

Named for the thin black band under its chin, the chinstrap penguin looks as if it is wearing a helmet. Listen for it before you see it: it has one of the loudest, harshest calls of any penguin.

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