Antarctic Peninsula

Antarctica · Antarctica

Antarctic Peninsula

Penguin colonies among glaciers and icebergs on an expedition cruise.

Photo: Gi · CC BY-SA 3.0
Best months
Jan, Feb, Dec
Days needed
10–12
Difficulty
Moderate
Nearest airport
Ushuaia (USH)

When to go

  1. JanJanuary: Best
  2. FebFebruary: Best
  3. MarMarch: Good
  4. AprApril: Poor or no data
  5. MayMay: Poor or no data
  6. JunJune: Poor or no data
  7. JulJuly: Poor or no data
  8. AugAugust: Poor or no data
  9. SepSeptember: Poor or no data
  10. OctOctober: Poor or no data
  11. NovNovember: Good
  12. DecDecember: Best

BestGoodFair

Cruises run Nov–Mar; the Drake Passage can be rough.

Why go

The Antarctic Peninsula, known as O'Higgins Land in Chile and Tierra de San Martin in Argentina, and originally as Graham Land in the United Kingdom and the Palmer Peninsula in the United States, is the northernmost part of mainland Antarctica.

The Antarctic Peninsula is part of the larger peninsula of West Antarctica, protruding 1,300 km (810 miles) from a line between Cape Adams (Weddell Sea) and a point on the mainland south of the Eklund Islands. Beneath the ice sheet that covers it, the Antarctic Peninsula consists of a string of bedrock islands; these are separated by deep channels whose bottoms lie at depths considerably below current sea level. They are joined by a grounded ice sheet. Tierra del Fuego, the southernmost tip of South America, is about 1,000 km (620 miles) away across the Drake Passage.

Background from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Target birds

Map

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