Antarctica
South Shetland Islands
South Shetland Islands: Penguin Colonies and a Flooded Volcano
Apart from research stations and one small Chilean settlement, the South Shetland Islands are empty of people. Weather and ice set each day's plans, so treat any landing as a possibility rather than a promise.
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Landings by Boat
The South Shetlands lie about 120 km off the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, and you go ashore by small boat from your ship at sites the expedition team chooses on the day. No more than 100 people may be ashore at one time, so passengers on larger ships take turns, and a landing is called off when the weather is poor.
- Eleven main islands and many smaller ones stretch for about 500 km, and 80 to 90 percent of the land is permanently covered in ice.
- Expect cloud, damp and wind: summer days average only about 1.5 °C, and strong westerly winds blow in every season.
- Half Moon Island, the Aitcho Islands and Deception Island are among the places often visited. At Deception, ships enter the flooded crater through Neptune's Bellows, a gap about 500 meters wide.
- Several countries run research stations on the islands, most of them on King George Island, which has an airfield.
- Your cruise line will tell you which landings are planned, but the sites you actually visit depend on ice, wind and swell.
Visiting Rules
Everyone who goes ashore follows the Antarctic Treaty's general guidelines for visitors and the instructions of the expedition guides. The rules exist to keep wildlife undisturbed and to stop seeds, soil and disease from reaching the islands.
- Keep at least 5 meters from wildlife on land, and more if an animal reacts. Keep farther from fur seals, at least 15 to 25 meters where you can. If a penguin or seal stands up, turns its head or starts calling, stop or slowly back away.
- Animals always have the right of way, so never block their path between the sea and a colony or nest.
- Clean your boots, clothes and bags carefully before each landing so they carry no soil or seeds.
- Keep off moss beds and lichen-covered rocks, which grow very slowly.
- Take nothing away: no feathers, bones, eggs, plants, rocks or fossils.
- Do not feed animals or leave food scraps, and do not smoke except where it is allowed.
- Do not damage, remove or change historic huts and remains.
A Brief History
Sealers arrived within months of the islands' discovery in 1819, and whalers followed in the early 20th century. Since 1959 the islands have been covered by the Antarctic Treaty, under which the claims of Britain, Chile and Argentina are neither recognized nor disputed.
- 1819: William Smith, master of the British brig Williams, sighted Livingston Island on 19 February while sailing round Cape Horn. In October he landed on King George Island and claimed the group for Britain.
- 1819: The Spanish warship San Telmo sank in the Drake Passage that September. Wreckage later turned up on Livingston Island, and its 644 men are believed to have been the first people to land in Antarctica.
- 1820 and 1821: Edward Bransfield mapped the islands. The American sealer Nathaniel Palmer named Deception Island for the way it hides a flooded crater, and 11 men from the British ship Lord Melville became the first to spend a winter in Antarctica, on King George Island.
- 1820 to 1908: The sealing era brought 197 recorded ships to the islands, 12 of which were wrecked. Inscriptions, hut ruins and iron try pots from those years survive.
- 1912 to 1931: A Norwegian company ran the Hektor whaling station on Deception Island.
- Shackleton's men: After their ship Endurance was crushed by ice in 1915, the crew of Ernest Shackleton's expedition reached Elephant Island, at the eastern end of the chain, and camped there while he sailed for help. Every one of them was rescued.
- 1944: The first permanent research station was set up on the islands.
- 1967 and 1969: Eruptions on Deception Island wrecked the research stations there.
- 1984: Chile founded Villa Las Estrellas, a small civilian settlement beside its research base on King George Island.
South Shetlands with Children
A landing here suits children who can manage cold, wind and a ride in an open boat, and who can stay quietly with the group near wildlife. Penguins, seals and seabirds are the reason to come.
- Younger children: Keep small children close and on the route the staff mark out, and make sure they understand the 5-meter rule before you land. Polar clothing can be bought or hired in Ushuaia, but your size may not be in stock, so bring what you can from home.
- School age: Make a list to tick off: chinstrap, gentoo and Adélie penguins, Weddell, elephant and leopard seals, skuas and southern giant petrels. At Half Moon Island a walking route of about 2 km passes a chinstrap colony.
- Teenagers: Sail through Neptune's Bellows into the crater of Deception Island, where the remains of a whaling station and of British bases wrecked by eruptions still stand, and follow Shackleton's story to Elephant Island. If your ship calls at King George Island, the Chilean post office at Villa Las Estrellas sends postcards with an Antarctic postmark.
Accessible Travel
Every landing in the South Shetlands means climbing down into a small inflatable boat and stepping ashore on a beach or rocky shore, so the islands are hard going for anyone with limited mobility. Ask your expedition team before you book how passengers are helped in and out of the boats and what you can see from the ship if you stay aboard.
- Waves in the Drake Passage are typically around 4 meters and can be much higher, so keep one hand on a rail when moving around the ship, and expect seasickness.
- Even on a ship you need warm clothing: boots, a hood, gloves, water-repellent trousers, a parka and warm underwear.
- Visits to Antarctica demand a reasonable level of physical fitness, even on a ship.
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