Spitsbergen & the Arctic Evening - 'An Insider's Guide to Voyaging'

 
We are pleased to announce that on Tuesday 29 June we are launching our new range of inspiring weekly travel seminars at our offices in Surrey. Come and meet the experts on an “Insider’s guide to Spitsbergen voyaging”…

Enjoy an inspiring talk on Spitsbergen from one of our very own in-house specialists, Lorraine Silvester. Following the talk Lorraine will be available along with other members of our expert team to answer any questions you might have on the night.

Discover the best way to visit, when to go and find out the answers to all your practical questions on trips to Spitsbergen.

Date: Tuesday 29 June 2010
Time: 7 – 9pm (Listen to Lorraine speak at 7.30pm)
Address: Arctic House, Banstead, Surrey

Find out more and to RSVP >>

Holidays to the Arctic >>
See Arctic Special Offers >>

A schedule of all our weekly seminars will be coming soon!

Icy Artworks!

If taking photos isn’t your thing, an original artwork is a great way to bring a bit of the ice home as a constant reminder of your trip of a lifetime – and makes a great talking point in your living room!  There are a number of excellent artists out there who are experts in capturing the unique light of the ice and the quirks of the creatures that inhabit the harsh polar landscapes.

David McEown, for example, is a graduate of the Ontario College of Art and Design and is a director of the prestigious Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour.  David has travelled to both the Arctic and Antarctica, teaching the basic techniques of watercolour painting and creating his own inspiring pictures – his blog is a great record of his adventures.

Talented American Linda Besse travels the globe painting wildlife as she goes, and I was lucky enough to travel with her to the Antarctic Peninsula and gain an insight into how she works.  You can choose from the oil paintings of penguins that resulted from our voyage, or a range of Arctic paintings featuring life-like polar bears, caribou and moose.

Another favourite of mine is Kiwi Grahame Sydney, who has created a vast collection of paintings of New Zealand’s South Island.   In addition to this he has twice been a guest of Antarctica New Zealand, spending time at Scott Base where he found the freezing temperatures forced him to abandon his preferred mediums of pencil and watercolours in favour of photography. His aim was to retain his own unique style in a medium that is easily accessible by all, capturing a minimalist view of the frozen landscapes here.The resulting images are gathered in Sydney's book, 'White Silence'   

“Art is experience distilled through the personality, and in the remarkable, sterile and subtle world of the Ice I found mirrored a great deal of myself." - Grahame Sydney

And if your budget won’t allow an original artwork then maybe these guys will inspire you to create a masterpiece of your own...?!

Having a Whale of a Time in Newfoundland

As we launch into 2010 I thought I’d share this great overview from our partners in Newfoundland regarding some of their incredible wildlife sightings over the past 12 months:

“Last year started with over two thousand beluga whales being reported off northern Newfoundland. Over the summer our Newfoundland Adventure guests were able to view and photograph a solitary beluga that made the tiny coastal communities of Bonavista Bay its home.
 
Sperm whales also contributed some sighting surprises as we reported single juvenile males ranging from St. Anthony to St. John’s. The Trinity Bay excursions on our Newfoundland Adventures gave our guests the best chance to see and hear these deep diving marvels. We often used a hydrophone to listen in on the deep water chatter of the sperm whales as they hunted fish and squid in the oceanic trenches.

Our third Whale Study Week featured orcas, humpbacks, minkes, fin whales, and white-sided dolphins. In late August a group of seven or more orcas including three calves were photographed off St. John’s harbour while our Southern Labrador Adventure witnessed a coming together of three orca groups.

Humpbacks remained the star of the show for most of our guests as everyone was able to view and photograph humpbacks. One female humpback we have been following since the 1990s returned to the Witless Bay area with a calf maintaining a perfect local visitation record. In 2009 white-sided dolphins joined the humpbacks as regular sightings on our Newfoundland Adventures and Whale Study Weeks.

Never before have these delightful and playful animals been seen so reliably off St. John’s and Witless Bay. It will be interesting to see if they continue occupying the area in 2010. Stand by...” 

Photographing the Falklands

The Falkland Islands Tourist Board has just launched a brand new photography competition called Falklands Exposed.  Comprising six categories, for amateurs and professionals alilke, this is a great chance for you to submit your own photos and be in with a chance to win some fantastic prizes including cameras and camera equipment, annual subscriptions to Outdoor Photography and specialist travel photography books.

The competition is running throughout this ‘summer’ season, until March 2010, and the resulting images will showcase the best that the Falkland Islands have to offer - abundant wildlife, stunning landscapes, fascinating locals and an ever-changing light from sunrise to sunset.  Our Peninsula, Falklands & South Georgia voyage offers the ideal opportunity to take your own incredible photos, but if you're unable to travel this year then the winners' pictures should certainly inspire you to make your own trip next year!

For full details – and some helpful tips from renowned photography expert Steve Davey – visit the Falklands Exposed website here.

Travels in the the Arctic with Sara Wheeler

Come and meet esteemed author Sara Wheeler at Stanfords bookstore in Bristol next Wednesday, 28th October, where she will be introducing her latest book: The Magnetic North – Notes from the Arctic Circle.

For those of you who have already been inspired by Sara's earlier adventures in Antarctica (Terra Incognita) and Chile (Travels in a Thin Country), this latest book continues in her inimitable style as she explores the other end of the world.  From adventures on board the Russian icebreaker, Kapitan Khlebnikov, to herding reindeer across the tundra and uncovering the effects of climate change, this book reveals the beautiful but brutal reality of the Arctic.

Date: Wednesday 28 October
Time: 7.30pm
Venue: Stanfords bookstore, Bristol

Tickets for this event are £6.50 and should be purchased in advance from Stanfords Bristol, or by phone: 0117 929 9966.

Wildlife Photographer of the Year

If you're thinking about attending Wildscreen's Wildphotos event at the RGS this weekend, then you might also be interested in visiting the Natural History Museum during the next few months.   

This Friday, 23rd October, sees the launch of their new exhibition, the Veolia Environnement Wildlife of the Photographer of the Year.  Now in its 45th year, Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition is an international showcase for the very best nature photography. The competition is owned by two UK institutions that pride themselves on revealing and championing the diversity of life on Earth - the Natural History Museum and BBC Wildlife Magazine.

Open daily until April 2010, with tickets just £9 per adult, the exhibition showcases 95 incredible wining and highly-commended images. You can enjoy a sneak preview here - but our personal favourite is Robert Friel's King Penguin Chick taken in South Georgia, looking quizzically at a visitor's footprints... With so many entertaining and inspirational photos, this is the ideal way to while away a wet wintry afternoon in London!
 

Wildlife of South Georgia

We've recently stumbled across an excellent DVD put together by documentary-maker Corina Gamma, following her circumnavigation of South Georgia with two other artists.  In addition to its obvious historical interest for anyone who's been amazed by the achievements of Sir Ernest Shackleton, South Georgia is also home to a fascintating array of wildlife.

'South Georgia Island: A Southern Ocean Paradise' features beautiful footage of King Penguins, Macaroni Penguins, Gentoo Penguins, Elephant Seals, Fur Seals and Albatross, and also includes music and still photographs with informative text.  You can find out more or order your own copy here, but for a sneak preview of penguins in action then see below:

Polar Bears of the Northwest Passage

‘Is it an Arctic Hare?’ someone asked, ‘No, it’s an Arctic Fox’ said someone else as we walked towards two white fluff-balls in the distance. Cameras in one hand and binoculars in the other, we all tried to focus on the white spots about 100 metres in front of us. Suddenly a Polar Bear Cub and Mother rose from their rocky habitat to enquire about their visitors…. Adrenaline rushed through my body instantly…. how exciting! If being in the Arctic and sailing the Northwest Passage wasn’t enough, we were now about 80-90 metres away from 2 beautiful Polar Bears! 

The sheer size of the bears, the fact that we were on their land and how close we were became apparent very quickly. We had been told in one of the many informative presentations onboard that Polar Bears can run 100 metres in 7 seconds…. That’s fast and 100 metres has never seemed so close! The bears became curious, as any human would, and started to walk towards us to find out more. Jamie, our expedition guide, kept us calm and gathered us all together in a tight group, we were instructed to walk in the opposite direction to the bears, back to our base and as we did so the bears decided that we weren’t that interesting after all and sat back down to bask in the sun. Exploring this vast and remote area in the Northwest Passage will stay with me forever and coming across two of the largest land predators on earth today will always remind me how unique and fascinating our world is! 

By Lauren Brewer

Further Journeys through the Northwest Passage...

Just in case you missed it the first time around, ITV are currently repeating Billy Connolly's 'Journey to the Edge of the World'. Showing at 22.35 on Thursday nights, and also available on ITV Player, this series charts Billy's journey from the Atlantic to the Pacific via the legendary Northwest Passage.  Our own team member Lauren has just completed a similar voyage herself and as you can see from her blog below can whole-heartedly recommend the Canadian Arctic for its wildlife and scenery. 

Feeling inspired?   We are now taking bookings for our 2010 Arctic voyages, including the Northwest Passage Voyage departing on 18th July 2010. This will include the final west to east transit of the Passage by the historic ice-breaker Kapitan Khlebnikov, which will retire as an expedition vessel in 2012. 

From the Heart of the Northwest Passage... An update from our Arctic explorer!

A quick message from the Canadian Arctic where our Polar Journeys specialist, Lauren Brewer, is currently on location voyaging through the Northwest Passage on board the Akademik Ioffe:

"The Arctic is amazing, I'm having a fantastic time! We have had excellent weather since we embarked in Resolute, a bit chilly but the sun has been shining the whole time. We have had some incredible encounters with wildlife - I've seen 7 Polar Bears, although yesterday alone, 12 were sighted. We've also seen a walrus and some seals, and countless bird species. We passed through Bellot Strait last night which was very eventful and we are due to meet the Canadian Coastguards this morning who will escort us through the ice over the next couple of days; a very rare but exciting occasion, so we are all very privileged..."

We look forward to hearing more about Lauren's adventures on her return to the office!