What to see in Antarctica

Antarctic Diving

Since Antarctica has no permanent land life, scuba diving is the only way to see the true habitat of the continent’s animals. With the exception of birds, the rest of Antarctica’s wildlife all live in the sea. This includes penguins, seals, whales and other animals who visit Antarctica to mate and leave in the winter. Antarctica also has some surprisingly colorful invertebrates that litter the ocean floor which makes the diving experience even more amazing.

Antarctic Peninsula

Since Antarctica has no permanent land life, scuba diving is the only way to see the true habitat of the continent’s animals. With the exception of birds, the rest of Antarctica’s wildlife all live in the sea. This includes penguins, seals, whales and other animals who visit Antarctica to mate and leave in the winter. Antarctica also has some surprisingly colorful invertebrates that litter the ocean floor which makes the diving experience even more amazing.

Dry Valleys

The dry valleys are a very unique place in Antarctica; a 3,250 square mile area that hasn’t received snow in millions of years. Sometimes animals make it into the dry valleys and die, and their remains will stay frozen and preserved for centuries. The dry valleys also feature Antarctica’s only known lake and river. Lake Vida is frozen on top with thick ice, but below it remains liquid. The onyx river is only 20 miles in length, but that’s good enough to be Antarctica’s longest river. Of course it remains frozen for the majority of the year, but in the Austral summer it does begin to flow some water. Both the Onyx river and Vida Lake only support microbes and do not have any animals such as fish or snails. The conditions in the dry valley are considered to be very similar to the surface of Mars, so it gets the attention of many scientists.

McMurdo Station

McMurdo Station is a science base located on Ross Island which is connected to mainland Antarctica by the Ross Ice shelf. It is by far Antarctica’s biggest science base, and with it’s population of over 1,000 personnel, it is basically Antarctica’s capital and only city. McMurdo has 3 airfields, over 100 buildings including a nuclear power plant, a bowling alley, and even a golf course.

South Pole

The south pole is Antarctica’s most famous place. There are actually several poles of Antarctica that includes the geographic south pole, magnetic south pole, and the pole of inaccessibility. The geographic south pole is what I consider to be the real south pole, since its location is along the axis of where the earth rotates. The magnetic poles of the earth are where the lines of magnetic flux begin and end, and is where your compass points to. Since this isn’t true north or south, you need to compensate the difference, which is called an azimuth error. These poles actually have nothing to do with north or south, they just happen to be there at this moment. In thousands of years they will eventually move to the equator and then back to the polar regions again and so on. The pole of inaccessibility is simply the point in Antarctica that is farthest from the coast, making it the most difficult place to reach. The real south pole has a science base and is nicely decorated with flags of all countries who have signed the Antarctic treaty. You pretty much need to be very rich to afford a trip here, or just rich and in extremely good shape to join an expedition to the bottom of the world.

South Shetland islands

The South Shetland Islands are the most northern part of Antarctica, about 80 miles north of the Antarctic Peninsula. They were probably the first discovered part of Antarctica, possibly found hundreds of years before it was even official that there was the continent of Antarctica. These islands are also one of the warmest places in the continent and also some of the most accessible. They offer some of the best locations to view wildlife.