Antarctica Unlocked

1,000 departures across 14 operators and 39 ships

Cruises visiting South Orkney Islands

32 upcoming Antarctic expeditions with South Orkney Islands on the route, from $10,700 per person.

The South Orkneys are a lonely, ice-bound archipelago between South Georgia and the Peninsula, visited as a wild stop on Scotia Sea crossings. Over 85% glaciated, they feel more Antarctic than the Peninsula itself.

Landings — ice permitting — bring Adélie and chinstrap colonies and a visit to Orcadas, the world's oldest continuously operating Antarctic station.

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

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.

Wildlife

Antarctic Fur Seal

A small, quick-moving seal named almost by accident after the German ship that first collected it near Kerguelen, not for the continent it's rarely seen on. Despite the name, most encounters happen on subantarctic beaches, not the Antarctic mainland.

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