visit antarctica | When to visit Antarctica? Cruise season

When to visit Antarctica? Cruise season


Antarctic season
When to visit Antarctica? What is the best season for a cruise in Antarctica?
Antarctic cruises operate during the austral summer from November to March.
This is the most comfortable time of the year in Antarctica and a time when the continent offers the most beautiful spectacle.

However, in this period, each month is special.
It is at this time that the coast is most easily accessible for landings on land and approaching the colonies of animals present in this region.
The Antarctic Peninsula is a mountain chain more than 800km long, with its islands mountains, channels, canals and bays that offer a unique atmosphere and spectacle.

When is the best time to visit Antarctica?
Each time of visit has its own characteristics, since the debacle and when the animal activity which takes again its rights, until the beginning of autumn or each species begins to migrate to leave the place to a new winter cycle.

The Antarctic cruise season can be divided into 3 distinct periods:

November 1 to mid-December
End of spring

As ice breaks up, the pack ice that forms during the winter gives way, packs of ice begin to break away and invade the waters, creating new carved ice landscapes and pristine icebergs.
Rutting season for penguins and seabirds - whole colonies offer the manifestation of the seduction rituals of these species.
Seals are visible on fast ice and shorelines.
Wild flowers from Falklands and South Georgia appear
Elephant seals and fur seals (or sea lion) establish their breeding territories.
2 Mid December - January
Full summer

The activity of animal life is in full swing with warmer temperatures
Antarctica knows its hottest month between late-December and January
In South Georgia and the Falklands, the first penguin chicks emerge and the mangrove seals breed.
The days being longer, the light allows to obtain beautiful opportunities for photos
Seal pups are visible in South Georgia and the Falklands
Whales are more and more numerous
The retreat of the ice can open new avenues of exploration in previously inaccessible channels and canals.
The end of year festivities in Antarctica
February 3rd - March
End of summer

The sunsets and sunrise are every day more beautiful
Whale watching is at its peak
Young penguins emancipate themselves
Period of hatching of snow algae.
In Malvinas, young penguins leave the family nest.
Sea lions with manes are more and more present on the Antarctic Peninsula