Staggeringly photogenic and blessed with some of the most spectacular Antarctic scenery imaginable, Half Moon Island is a glittering gem amongst these island treasures. Its serrated and creviced cliffs are home to a large colony of chinstrap penguins, as well as Antarctic terns, kelp gulls, snowy sheathbills, Wilson’s storm petrels and several species of seals who are regular visitors to the island.

Early sealers in the area used Yankee Harbour on Greenwich Island as a frequent base of operations, its remarkable setting providing a natural safe haven for the sailors. Remnants of those early days can still be seen littering the shoreline, but the big draw for visitors here is the large colony of gentoo penguins, whose numbers are estimated to be around 4,000 breeding pairs.

Situated in the scenic Errera Channel, Cuverville Island boasts the largest known colony of gentoo penguins in the Antarctic Peninsula. The narrow Errera Channel offers a spectacular passage to and from Cuverville, as icebergs become trapped and grounded in the nearby shallows. Watching from the observation decks as our navigators weave the ship carefully between the icebergs is as exciting as being surrounded by the throngs of nesting penguins onshore.

Neko Harbour, with its gentoo penguin colony and small Argentine refuge hut lies nestled in Andvord Bay, surrounded by the mountains and high glacier walls of the peninsula. Named after a factory whaling ship from the early 1900s, Neko is one of the rare places in the Antarctic Peninsula area where you may land on the Antarctic mainland.

The harbour is paradise not only in name, but in splendour and scenery as well. Protected from the winds of the nearby Gerlache Strait, Paradise Harbour offers another rare opportunity for a mainland landing and some of the finest vistas the Peninsula has to offer. Here you can find the Argentine base Almirante Brown and the Chilean base Gonzalez Videla, as well as colonies of neighbouring penguins.

This 11 km long and 1.6km wide channel is one of the most beautiful passages in Antarctica. It bestows upon the traveller a glimpse into what fascinates us most about this incredible environment; it is at once sublime and imposing, delicate and daunting, inviting and inhospitable.

Its location in the picturesque Penola Strait makes Petermann Island a great spot for iceberg and whale spotting and offers spectacular views across the channel to the Antarctic Peninsula.

The British base on Goudier Island in Port Lockroy was built in 1941 and abandoned in 1962, it lay empty until 1996 when it was refurbished as a museum by the Antarctic Heritage Trust. It has since become one of the most popular sites in Antarctica and offers a unique peek into life in an Antarctic base in the 1950s.

The mountains and high glaciers around Wilhelmina Bay ensure plenty of dramatic scenery and sculpted ice from tiny floating pieces to large icebergs. The bay is a choice feeding ground for whales and seals and therefore was a rich hunting ground for the whalers of the past.

The huge ice shelves of the Antarctic continent give birth to mile-long tabular icebergs. The strong currents of the Weddell Sea conspire to bring these
massive flat-topped bergs north into the Antarctic Sound at the northeastern end of the Antarctic Peninsula.

Brown Bluff lies on the coast of the Antarctic Sound, at the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. As the name suggests, the landscape is dominated by an ominous 745 metres high cliff. The towering, rust-coloured bluff is volcanic in origin and the beach is peppered with lava “bombs”. Adélie penguins, gentoo penguins, kelp gulls, and cape petrels can be found breeding here and Weddell seals are also regular visitors.