Antarctica Unlocked

1,000 departures across 14 operators and 39 ships

Cruises visiting Scotia Sea

189 upcoming Antarctic expeditions with Scotia Sea on the route, from $8,900 per person.

The Scotia Sea is the great arc of ocean linking the Falklands, South Georgia and the Peninsula — the highway of every long Southern Ocean itinerary and one of the most productive seas on the planet.

Crossings mean days among albatrosses and petrels, whale blows on the horizon, and lecture programmes that turn sea time into a floating polar university.

Wildlife you can spot here

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

Orca

Black and white apex predator instantly recognizable by its pale eye patches, the orca is the largest of the dolphins and one of the ocean's most capable hunters. Sightings often involve a tight-knit family pod working the ice edge together.

Wildlife

Wandering Albatross

The snowy albatross, better known as the wandering albatross, has the widest wingspan of any living bird alive today. Watch for it riding the wind for hours behind the ship without a single wingbeat.

Wildlife

Black-Browed Albatross

A large seabird of the albatross family, the black-browed albatross is the most widespread and common of all albatrosses. Its dark eye-stripe makes it one of the easiest albatrosses to pick out from a rolling deck.

Wildlife

Fin Whale

The fin whale is the second-longest animal on Earth after the blue whale, reaching up to 27 metres. Its long, slender, countershaded body is most often seen slicing through open water rather than breaching.

Wildlife

Sei Whale

The sei whale is the third-largest rorqual after the blue and fin whale, and one of the fastest cetaceans afloat, capable of short bursts near 50 km/h. It favours deep offshore water, so a sighting on the crossing south is a genuine bonus rather than a certainty.

Wildlife

Blue Whale

The blue whale is the largest animal known to have existed, reaching up to 30 metres in length and 200 tonnes in weight. Sightings are rare but unmistakable, usually a distant blow and a long grey-blue back rolling at the surface.

Wildlife

Sperm Whale

The sperm whale is the largest toothed predator on Earth, hunting giant squid at depths few other mammals reach. Its blunt, box-shaped head holds the largest brain of any animal.

Wildlife

Hourglass Dolphin

A small, fast-moving dolphin of the open Southern Ocean, most often glimpsed as a flash of black and white alongside the ship's bow. It has a circumpolar range but is best known to travellers for its habit of appearing mid-crossing, far from any coast.

Wildlife

Antarctic Prion

The Antarctic prion is the largest of the prions, a group of small Southern Ocean petrels sometimes called dove prions. Watch for loose flocks wheeling low over the swell as your ship crosses open water between landings.

Wildlife

Cape Petrel

The pintado petrel, better known as the Cape petrel, is one of the most abundant seabirds of the Southern Ocean, with a population estimated at around two million. Travellers usually meet it long before they see land, tracking ships across open water.

Wildlife

Wilson's Storm Petrel

A small, sooty-black seabird that flits and patters over the wake like it's walking on water. Named for ornithologist Alexander Wilson, it's reckoned among the most numerous bird species on Earth.

Wildlife

Southern Fulmar

Pale grey above, white below, and marked with a distinctive white wing patch, the southern fulmar is a familiar shape trailing expedition ships south of the Antarctic Convergence. It breeds on Antarctic cliffs and islands, then disperses north with the winter ice.

Wildlife

Grey-Headed Albatross

A large mollymawk with an ashy-grey head, throat and neck, ranging further south into the Southern Ocean than any other albatross of its kind. Look for it wheeling low over the wake in open water far from any coastline.

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