Antarctic Sound, Antarctica Cruises

Antarctic Sound, Antarctica Cruise Port

The Antarctic Sound is a body of water separating the Joinville Island group from the northeast end of the Antarctic Peninsula. Named by the Swedish Antarctic Expedition in 1902, the sound was first documented by a crew led by Otto Nordenskjord and navigated by Carl Anton Larsen in the expedition ship the Antarctic. A little over a year later, the Antarctic made a return trip only to sink. This forced the entire crew to spend quite a bit of time gazing off into the Antarctic Sound until they were eventually rescued. They spent a good portion of the winter at Hope Bay, one of the few places of refuge for stranded travelers in the area. At the time, Hope Bay was a British base but is now a permanently manned Argentinian research station known as the Esperanza Base. The bay is recognized as an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International as a spot for essential breeding.

• The birds that breed on the islands around the Antarctic Sound include: Gentoo penguin, brown skua, Antarctic tern, Wilson’s storm petrel, kelp gull, and the snowy sheathbill.
   
• Other wildlife on the island that breed, live, and hunt are the Weddell and leopard seals. The Weddells tend to keep near the beaches while the leopards hunt offshore.
   
• The sound is famous for its amazing, tabular icebergs that break off from the Larsen Ice Shelf and drift into the sound where they gain mass by combining with one another.
   
• Cruise ships have been welcome in the sound since 2005. Since then, the paths of their tours have become longer and more in-depth as they explore areas never before seen by civilians.