Stretching 19km long, Maxwell Bay runs between King George Island and Nelson Island. With a yawningly wide entrance, charter guests can easily explore this wedge of the South Shetlands. Maxwell Bay is also known under a repertoire of names including Fildes Bay in Chilean, Guardia Bay in Argentinian, and Maxwell Straits. The latter is named after Lieutenant Francis Maxwell who served under the sealing captain James Weddell in the 19th century. Icy bright and home to a tick list of Antarctic wonders, you will find snow-capped mountains, feathered penguins, great birds with impressive wingspans, over a hundred different kinds of lichen, and a sense of being right at the very edge of the world.
Of all the places in the world, you can charter on your superyacht, few lay claim to the awe and fascination of Deception Island. One of the only spots in the world where you can sail into the eye of an ancient submerged caldera, Deception Island may be volatile but it's very very cool. Still considered to be an active volcano in the South Shetlands, this isle is every inch impressive with its ashy glaciers, smoking beaches, and remote slopes. The colour schemes of white and black and palest blue are striking and hikers will be in their element to climb the trail that leads up from Whalers Bay to Neptunes Window where you can see moon-like craters and enjoy incredible viewpoints. Despite its simmering nature, Deception Island is also home to plenty of wildlife wonders including chinstrap penguins, snowy sheathbills, cape petrels, and more.
A classic Antarctica experience awaits charter guests at Paradise Harbour. Located between Lemaire and Bryde Island, Paradise Harbour is home to penguins, whales, snow-covered mountains, ice floes that sparkle in every imaginable shade of blue and not one but two scientific research bases. Paradise Harbour is perfectly picturesque but it is also known for its challenging weather with temperatures plummeting and staying below freezing throughout the entire year. Still, guests can invoke traditional whaling days by wrapping up and standing on deck as you watch a humpback whale breach the icy placid waters. With its shards of ice and glacial rock, Paradise Harbour is a deep dive into the ever-changing whim of nature that makes the Antarctic such a special place.
Home to the most southern place you can post a letter, Port Lockroy is a must for any charter guest exploring the breadth of the Antarctic Peninsula. Antarctica is wild and remote and known for being a spot considered highly inhospitable with its frozen landscapes, bitter winds, and lack of civilization. But science and exploration have made humans have to carve out spots that capture our modern life and Port Lockroy is one such place. The former base can be found surrounded by majestic scenery on Goudier Island. Found back in the early 1900s by a French explorer, Port Lockroy makes for a fascinating stop. Send a postcard from the edge of the world, duck into the small museum, peruse the gift shop, and share this slip of land with a wealth of noisy Gentoo Penguins who call this place home.
Beneath groaning glaciers, the Lemaire Channel runs between Booth Island the mega hunk that is known as the mainland of Antarctica. Famed for being one of the most photogenic bodies in the icy breath of the Antarctic Peninsula, the Lemaire Channel also goes by the name of the Kodak Gap. This seven-mile channel is home to waters so still, that they appear almost mirror-like and dreamy beneath the mega mountains that line the banks and reflect back to themselves. For an hour or so charter guests will barely be able to pull themselves away from the deck as they gaze out upon vistas of glittering ice and snow, soaring mountains with peaks that rise to a thousand meters or more, and the shadows of minke and humpback whales cruising the waters too.
At the gateway to the Errera Channel, you will find Cuverville Island. Wedged in between glaciers and mountains of the mainland, the island is simply put a rising slab of rock that sits over 800 feet high and is home to a busy colony of Gentoo Penguins. In fact, Cuverville Island is one of the largest rookeries in the whole of Antarctica with a sizeable gang of 6500 breeding pairs on the shingle beach. Because of these impressive stats, the area has been declared an important bird and biodiversity area by BirdLife International. Along with more penguins than you can count, you can also see minke whales, icebergs, and all that bucket list good stuff that makes Antarctica so spectacular.
Charter guests should be sure to mark the Gerlache Strait on their map as a must-see body of water when sailing around the Antarctic peninsula. A dream of humpback whales, rising blue icebergs, snow-capped mountains, and so much more - the Gerlache Strait sets the scene for a sublime Antarctic adventure. One of the great things about the Gerlache Strait is its location - for those exploring the wealth of the peninsular you can pass through this strait en route to the picturesque Kodak Alley.
Part of the South Shetlands, this Antarctic archipelago is usually the first port of call for those cruising the icy lands. Speckled with scientist bases, a wealth of wildlife, and some of those enigmatic neverending mountain ranges that make Antarctica seem so imposing, King George Island is an adventure-lovers paradise. Due to its location and its opportunities for exploration, King George Island has been highly coveted by a sprawling range of countries. England first claimed the place back in the 19th century but since then it has had a Russian, Brazilian, Argentinian, South Korean, Chinese, and German presence (to name but a few). While in the midst of remote wilderness, King George Island is fascinating as it plays host to a number of scientists and their families, meaning that civilization flourishes against one of the wildest backdrops of all. Visit Russian churches, catch the famous annual marathon, and get your fill of Giant Petrals and penguins on King George Island.