• Population:
  No indigenous population (8 permanently manned research bases and 4 summer only bases)
• Capital City:
  Unofficial "Capital of Antarctica" on King George Island with research bases of 12 different nations.
• Time difference:
  The Antarctic Peninsula doesn't have an official time zone. They usually go by Ushuaia time, which is - 3 hours GMT. The research stations use the time zone of the country they come from.
• Language:
  Although no official language exists, English is widely spoken.

Antarctica is the world’s last untouched wildlife wilderness. It is the fifth-largest continent in the world, almost twice the size of Australia, yet historically its isolation and extreme climate have restricted access to all but the most intrepid explorers and scientists.

Nowadays this privilege is extended to expedition cruise ships, affording visitors a unique opportunity to visit this mysterious region of land and ice.

Cruises operate during the brief Antarctic summer, between late October to early March. Cruising at this time of year ensures that there are long hours of daylight, even at these extreme latitudes. The sun tints the ice from an extraordinary palette of pink, crimson and violet; periods of bright, calm, frozen intensity give way to a sudden storm or blizzard.

The sheer scale of the place overwhelms: towering ice walls, giant tabular icebergs, rugged snow-streaked mountains.

The theatre of wildlife in the Antarctic is ever-changing –- birds court and mate in November, give birth to their young in December/January and fledge and despatch them in February. The beaches teem with seals and penguins, and the icy sea is home to orca, minke, killer and grey whales.

You will not just be sailing around the Antarctic seas. You will be exploring this extraordinary white continent. Cruise ships offer a range of adventure activities: camping ashore, sea kayaking, an alpine crossing of South Georgia, retracing Shackleton’s odyssey, scuba diving and ice climbing.