White


diamond


Sixty years since Lars-Eric Lindblad led the first ‘citizen explorers’ expedition to the Antarctic, Jane Archer asks the experts how to sell the frozen continent


DESTINATIONS ANTARCTICA | CRUISE


a


ntarctica is the crown jewel of expedition cruising; an experience like no other,” says Bernie Carter, international sales chief for Atlas


Ocean Voyages. He’s not wrong. I am at Half Moon Island, a rocky isle in the South Shetlands archipelago. The sky is blue, the sun is shining and it feels so warm – or rather, not quite as freezing cold as I’d expected – I could have shed one of my six layers. It’s very different from this morning at Yankee


Harbour, barely five miles away, where it was snowing, the beaches were clogged with ice and the wind cut right through those of us mad enough to go ashore. That was almost everyone on Fram, the HX Expeditions ship I’m travelling on, because adventure is what the Antarctic is all about.


It hardly matters that it’s well below freezing when we are going ashore in inflatable Zodiacs to watch penguins waddling about and sea lions lolling in the snow. Active sorts (not me!) are snowshoeing and kayaking, while a privileged few camped ashore one night and got back on board next morning with tales of going to sleep to the sound of a whale splashing about in the bay.


WHEN IT STARTED


It was exactly 60 years ago that Swedish explorer Lars-Eric Lindblad first led an expeditiontion to the White Continent, bringing 57 intrepid travellers to the Antarctic on January 23, 1966. Fast forward to 2026 and about 40 expedition ships sail there in the southern hemisphere summer, between November and March. ²


66. on


HX Expeditions’ Fram by Cuverville Island PICTURE: Jan Hvizdal


travelweekly.co.uk 22 JANUARY 2026 73


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