Amazing Antarctica in Photos

Antarctica is a dream destination for many. It’s the final frontier, their 7th continent, and last on the bucket list. Once you’ve been everywhere, you’ll want to visit Antarctica. These Antarctica pictures will entice you to finally book that polar expedition.

January is the perfect time of year to visit Antarctica. We started our expedition through the Antarctic Peninsula on January 30 and it turned out to be the most incredible time to visit the continent.

Read more of our time in Antarctica

Newly hatched penguins had now grown to adolescence. They developed the most curious nature by the time they had grown a bit. When we’d land on the shore after a good day of kayaking or exploring on the zodiacs, young penguins would waddle over to see what we were up to.

The wildlife of Antarctica was outstanding with whales breaching, seals sleeping, birds flying, and penguins playing right before our eyes. So once we slowed down and settled in, Dave went through his best catalog of the best of Antarctica pictures like this lone penguin below.

antarctica baby penguin — Landscape wildlife photo – adolescent penguin comes over to say hello

antarctica beach — A penguin looks back over the shore of the continent.

We saw penguins everywhere. Most were in flocks of thousands and others simply were walking alone along the coast or floating on an ice sheet in the middle of the sea.

antarctica whale — A beautiful whale breach: This whale stayed with our ship for 45 minutes!

Check out: 11 of the Best Things to do in Antarctica

whale tail — A whale shows off its tail in this amazing whale fluke capture.

Wildlife of Antarctica

antarctica photos seal — Seal basking in the sun

antarctica photos walrus — This guy looks so content!

Can’t get enough of penguins

antarctica photos penguins — The Penguin highway in Antarctica.

Let us be honest with you. Penguins smell. But they are darn cute!

penguin reflection — A penguin checks out his own reflection.

When you land on shore to observe a colony, the stench immediately hits you. It’s a mixture of fish and feces. However, they are so adorable that soon your nose gets used to the smell and you could sit for hours watching them.

We saw a lot of penguins in Antarctica, but each viewing was as exciting, cute, and fascinating as the first.

penguin rocks — We never tired of penguins in Antarctica.

When visiting the continent you are not allowed to approach penguins closer than 5 meters. But, if you stand or sit very still, they may approach you and that is completely allowed!

antarctica photos birds — A whole lotta penguin love going on.

Old Whaling Stations of Antarctica

antarctica tanks — Old oil drums on abandoned whaling station

Old abandoned whaling stations can be visited when taking an expedition to Antarctica.

antarctica skeleton — Crumbled building on Deception Island

This is a ruin on Deception Island. Back in the day, it was a large whaling station where they slaughtered whales for their oil.

Read: Antarctica or the Arctic? How Do You Choose Your Polar Expedition?

whale bones — Whale bones pieced together to make a full whale carcass. It’s huge!

land mountains — Whale bones are common to see when walking on beach shores at abandoned whaling stations.

Antarctica Pictures

Beautiful layers of blue ice in the icebergs

Many of his stunning Antarctica photos had never seen the light of day due to catching flights and moving onto the next location.

icebergs reflection — Iceberg reflections in the still water

Exploration in Antarctica

antarctica tents — We even camped on the continent of Antarctica.

More Images of Antarctica

antarctica green water — Each day we’d leave the ship to go out and explore by Zodiac.

We spent several days kayaking in Antarctica. It was the most serene and peaceful thing we’ve ever done.

antarctica kayak — Our guide Solen kayaking around an iceberg

There was nothing but the sound of ice crackling and our paddles dipping into the cold water.

We could move silently as to not disturb wildlife and we came very close to seals sleeping on floating ice, penguins jumping and we even had a whale breach right behind our group of 12 paddlers.