South Orkney Islands Antarctica
Antarctica
Frequently Asked Questions
About 600 kilometres northeast of the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. Coronation, Laurie, Powell and Signy make up most of the archipelago, with a white mantle covering most of its high ground.
Fewer than a thousand people set foot there annually. That figure alone measures the call : ships that venture here almost always do so on long itineraries linking South Georgia to the peninsula.
The Argentine station on Laurie Island, running without interruption since 1904. It is the oldest permanently inhabited installation on the entire southern continent, and about 90 percent of landings in the area take place in front of its brightly painted buildings.
When weather allows, zodiacs land passengers near the station, where the staff readily share their daily routine of weather observations and long months of isolation.
A British research station established on small Signy Island in 1947. Occupied year round for decades, it now opens only from November to April, for the southern summer.
Penguins nesting on the ice free slopes, seals hauled out on the shores and petrels wheeling above the ridges. Observation is often done from the zodiacs, at the surface of water so cold it seems denser than elsewhere.
No. Even at the height of summer, drift ice out of the Weddell Sea can close the coasts and prevent any boat operation. Expedition leaders assess wind, swell and ice every morning before confirming an outing.
The ship cruises the coastline and offers, from the deck, a display of tabular icebergs and glacier cliffs that very few travellers will ever have seen. The uncertainty is part of the experience.
Mid December to mid March, the heart of the austral summer. Signy is only staffed from November to April in any case, and ice is less obstructive during that window.
Boots go through a disinfection bath before every outing and clothing is inspected to avoid introducing foreign seeds. The archipelago belongs first to science and to wildlife : travellers are only passing guests.
