Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Livingston Island
is rich in wildlife. Elephant,
Weddell, and leopard seals abound as well as
chinstrap and macaroni penguins. In the
19th century, thousands of seal traders used the
island as a major hunting ground and many
important historical sites remain, including an
abandoned sealing station.
Key
Main cruise routes
King George Island
is home to
Adelie and gentoo penguin colonies
and its waters are a feeding area
for humpback whales.
South
Shetland
Islands
To the South Orkney
Islands and South
Georgia
Deception Island
Elephant Island
was the refuge
of Shackleton and his crew
after the loss of the
Endurance
in 1916.
A memorial sits amid chinstrap
penguins at Point Wild.
The Antarctic Sound
is known as
“Iceberg Alley” for all the different icebergs
that float in its waters. Most spectacular
are the city-block-sized tabular bergs.
Weddell
Sea
Larsen Ice
Shelf
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0 miles
50
The Endurance Expedition
In January 1916, British explorer Ernest Shackleton's ship
Endurance
was sunk by an ice floe in the Weddell Sea. Five
months of living on pack ice followed before the crew made
for Elephant Island in open
lifeboats. In arguably the
greatest feat of polar
exploration, Shackleton and
five others then embarked on
an 800-mile (1,300-km) voyage
by lifeboat to reach the
whaling station on South
Georgia. Landing on an
uninhabited side of the island,
they hiked 36 hours over
mountains, glaciers, and cliffs
before reaching their goal.
Three failed rescue attempts
followed before Shackleton
finally reached his near-
starving men on Elephant
Island in August 1916.
50
Snow Hill Island
is off-the-beaten-
track Antarctica. Refuge to a nesting
colony of emperor penguins, it is
accessed on icebreaker cruise ships
that scythe through the pack ice of
the Weddell Sea.
The
Endurance
trapped in ice
before sinking
