Elephant Island, Antarctica Cruises

Elephant Island, Antarctica Cruise Port

• Named for Frank Wild, who kept the Shackleton crew together while they waited to be picked up, you'll find historic Point Wild. Marking the spot is a bust of Luis Pardo Villalón, the Chilean Navy pilot who rescued the crew with his cutter Yelcho.
   
• Wreck Bay gets its name from the remains of a large wooded ship destroyed along its shore. Originally thought to be from Shackleton's Endurance or from Swedish explorer Otto Nordenskjöld’s ship Antarctic, later tests point to the wreckage more probably belong to an American vessel called the Charles Shearer that was lost in 1877 while heading to the South Shetland Islands.
   
• Check out the island's wildlife at Cape Lookout, a bluff on the southern coast where various penguins (chinstrap, gentoo, and macaroni) call home. Other birds of note include sheathbills, cape petrels, and stormy petrels; it's also a great place to spot the elephant seals and Antarctic fur seals.
   
• For the truly adventurous, there may be expeditions to explore the moss colonies, which are thought to thousands of years old. The moss bank is not terribly far from where the Shackleton party was marooned, and is considered one of the oldest livings things in the world.