Dive Antarctica » ANTARCTICA

Antarctica Activities

Be sure to choose an expedition where your preferred adventure activity is offered to avoid disappointment. Please enquire for more details on the activity of your choice.

Sea kayaking
One of the most popular adventure activities! Paddle along side snoozing leopard seals and iridescent blue icebergs, accompanied by expert guides.

Polar diving & snorkelling
Experienced divers, be ready to enter a world of sculpted icebergs and super-sized marine life! Not an experienced diver? Try polar snorkelling!

Snowshoeing
Stretch your legs and reach some of Antarctica’s most spectacular vantage points. No experience needed.

Ski touring
Experienced skiers have the chance to traverse remote, snowcapped peaks few, if any, have skied before.

South Georgia alpine crossing
Considered one of the world’s most challenging adventures, the historic alpine crossing of South Georgia promises intricate glacier travel, spectacular mountain scenery and your chance to say ‘I followed in the footsteps of Shackleton!’ Experience is necessary.

Camping
Right after dinner, lay out your sleeping bag to a penguin serenade or whale-blow, and camp out like a true explorer!

Photography Workshops
Whether a beginner or experienced photographer, join our highly-experienced guides on selected departures and capture the perfect moment on your adventure!

Best Travel Period for travel to Antarctica

Antarctic wildlife is at its most active during the southern summer, November - March. The beauty and solitude of Antarctic seas and mountains conceals the frantic activity of the shoreline colonies of birds and mammals.
Summer arrives first in the South Shetland Islands and spreads south along the Antarctic Peninsula. As the Antarctic year progresses, from spring to autumn, the Antarctic Peninsula and Islands change in appearance and character, each season offering a different range of spectacular sights and possibilities to the visitor.

November – December

1. After the winter darkness, spring fever hits Antarctic and the sun causes an explosive growth of phytoplankton in areas of mineral upwelling. The phytoplankton provides food to the astronomic swarms of zooplankton, including krill. Krill forms the base of the food chain for squid, fish and ultimately for seabirds, seals and whales, which flock in to fatten themselves and to produce their young.
2. Crabeater Seals are born in November
3. Elephant Seals guard their harems aggressively until December
4. The first big whales come down to Antarctica to feed, among them Humpback, Minke and Southern Right Whale.
5. Amazing displays of the penguins’ courtship ritual, including nest building, sky pointing and stone stealing.
6. Penguin, petrel and cormorant eggs are laid in December.
7. Penguin chicks start to hatch at the end of December in the South Shetland Islands.
8. Wintering scientists at the research stations welcome the first visitors of the season.
9. Longest days in December create longer daylight hours – photographs can be taken at midnight !
10. Last winters sea-ice offers sometimes spectacular sailing among the floes with Crabeater Seals everywhere on the ice.

January - February

In Antarctica’s warmest months wildlife activities are in full swing. Most penguin chicks hatch in January, earliest in the South Shetland Islands and later more to the south at the Peninsula. The frantic activity continues in the colonies in February as the young get older and bolder and are gathering in crèches.

1. Fur Seal and Leopard Seal are visible.
   
2. Penguin colonies at their busiest, fetching krill and feeding chicks.
   
3. In February receding ice allows exploration further south along the Antarctic Peninsula.
   
4. Concentration of Fur Seals increases.
   
5. Whale watching is very good in February.

March

Nightly Darkness returns as the sun sinks farther below the southern horizon, but temperatures are still above zero, though we may experience a touch of Antarctic winter with night frosts, creating beautiful patterns of thin sea ice on the surface. The snow cover is at its minimum allowing for easy and extensive walks in the South Shetland Islands.

1. Penguin chicks are in their adolescent state now and quite curious about visitors.
   
2. The adult penguins moult and the young go to sea.
   
3. Concentration of Leopard Seals increases hunting for chicks.
   
4. Receding ice allows exploration farthest south along the Antarctic Peninsula.
   
5. Spectacular green and pink algae blooms on snow-slopes and ice cliffs.
   
6. Whale watching is very good.
   
7. Chances to see Aurora Australis.

Dive Procedures

Requirements for Divers

These voyages are not for beginners, you’ll have to be an experienced diver (Open Water Advanced) and must be familiar with cold water diving and dry suit diving (at least 20 dives). Before departure you will have to show an internationally accepted diving certificate, diver’s log book and your Personal Information Form a health statement stating that you are physically healthy to practice scuba diving.

The voyage will start with a checkout-dive so all divers can get used to the cold water and adjust their weights and equipment. Before each dive, there will be a briefing about the location of the site, the weather and ice conditions and the procedure of the dive.

Experienced Divers

Participants must demonstrate capability in the primary skills required by cold water diving:

Cleaning the mask out of water; Changing the main regulator to the reserve one and vice versa; Tapping into the buddy reserve regulator; Conducting an emergency rising to the surface breathing by means of the buddy reserve regulator; Controlling one's buoyancy;

Communicating with the buddy and with the tender; Only for Ice Diving: Overturning upside down under ice and getting back to the standard position.

It will be necessary to demonstrate these abilities to the Dive Staff in the course of the check dive. Divers without the necessary experience are kindly asked to abort diving and join the land programme for non-divers.

Number of Dives

We plan at least two dives per day (except for days at sea), but an exact number of dives cannot be given. It all depends on ice and weather conditions.

Health Requirements

You must be in good physical and mental health. Any physical condition requiring special attention, diet, or treatment must be reported in writing when the reservation is made. Waterproof Expeditions reserves the right to decline acceptance of any person as a member of a program.