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4 Unexpected Things I Learnt Going On An Antarctica Cruise
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Jan 28, 2025
If you are thinking of, out wondering, about cruising to Antarctica then you need to know that things are set to change quite a bit for Antarctica cruises. So much so you should consider going sooner rather than later if you have Antarctic cruising on your bucket cruise or must-do cruise list ABOUT TIPS FOR TRAVELLERS: If you want to get cruising right, Tips For Travellers makes it easy to plan and have the incredible cruise experiences you dream of every time. All my Tips For Travellers advice, tips and tricks tips draw on everything that I have learnt on the 85 cruises I have done to date. BUY MY CRUISE-THEMED T-SHIRTs ————————————————- Check out my T-Shirt range: http://bit.ly/TFTStore SUPPORT TIPS FOR TRAVELLERS ————————————————————— Become a Channel Member and get perks: https://www.tipsfortravellers.com/Join Become a Patron on Patreon and get perks: https://www.patreon.com/tipsfortravellers Make a donation: https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=V9STJGYSEMGLJ Buy my book “Cruise Traveler’s Handbook: USA Amazon https://amzn.to/2YVFmG4 and https://amzn.to/3tzIxBn UK Amazon https://amzn.to/3oXbzYc and https://amzn.to/3qawqIQ FOLLOW ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA ——————————————— TikTok: @garybembridge
View Video Transcript
0:00
i needed this long and expensive zoom
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lens when i went to tanzania on a safari
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a few years ago to see and capture the
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wildlife up close
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people assumed i was using this same
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zoom lens when i started posting
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pictures and videos like these on social
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media whilst on my recent antarctica
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trip
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they were wrong
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all i was using to get these was my
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iphone my regular iphone the wildlife
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was so plentiful and literally all
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around my feet
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during this trip i discovered there are
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a few reasons i was seeing so much
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wildlife and up so close
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however
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things are about to change and change
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dramatically as i will explain
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by the way if you're new here welcome
0:45
aboard i'm gary bembridge and it's my
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goal to make it fun and easy to discover
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plan and enjoy unforgettable cruise
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vacations like this one i was told to
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keep 15 feet from penguins 45 feet from
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seals and 75 feet from the enormous
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elephant seals but they made it
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impossible to do try to stay any
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distance from these creatures was
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challenging particularly penguins and
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young seals who just want to come and
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find out what the hell is going on i
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learned there are no real land predators
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in antarctica for these animals unlike
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in the arctic where there are polar
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bears and foxes and so on the antarctic
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wildlife haven't needed to develop on
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land defense mechanisms so they treat
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people like me and you with curiosity or
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total disinterest because they don't see
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us as a threat so they quite comfortably
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allowed me to literally wander amongst
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them their main threat by the way is
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once they get into the ocean for example
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leopard seals eat penguins up to 20 a
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day and then the orcas hunt and eat the
1:47
leopard seals however
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man did almost wipe out all the wildlife
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in antarctica so why did i see so many
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on this trip after the early explorers
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visited in the late 1800s news of the
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wildlife spread hunters headed down to
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antarctica and first slaughtered the
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antarctic fur seals
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because the fur from the first hills
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became very fashionable much in demand
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it's estimated that 1.2 million
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antarctic fur seals were killed in fact
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it was so rough that in the late 1800s
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one captain fanning boasted on one trip
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alone he brought back 57 000 pellets as
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the animals were not used to unknown
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predators they basically just sat there
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while they were literally clubbed to
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death
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less than 40 years after antarctica had
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first been explored there were no
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sightings i repeat no sightings of
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antarctic fur seals at all in the area
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so man then moved on to kill almost all
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the whales for the oil it started around
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1904 and ran up to the mid-1960s
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we worked systematically through each
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species until we pretty much killed them
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all
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and finding them was proving very
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difficult over 61 000 blue whales and 48
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000 fin whales were killed in the south
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georgia area alone now once we'd wiped
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out most of the whales man then moved on
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to the elephant seals now this
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hunting was a little bit more controlled
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and it finally actually only peated out
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in the 1960s because demand for the oil
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basically fell and they couldn't make
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any money
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but we created other problems that also
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wiped out other wildlife so 30 000 birds
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were being drowned every year by fishing
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trawlers using extended lines with
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baited hooks so the birds would swoop
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down to eat the bait they got hooked and
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they were drowned 30 000 of them
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in south georgia the whalers brought a
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handful of reindeer to hunt and eat
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however
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after the whalers left in the 60s their
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numbers grew to 7 000 they were eating
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and destroying the ecosystem and the
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habitat the birds relied on for breeding
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and nesting therefore diminishing the
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birds the wailing and the service ships
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unknowingly brought rats and mice that
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would start eating things like the tipit
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bird eggs and the chicks they wiped them
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out across most of south georgia while
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seeds and plants that were alien to the
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aerial growing and destroying plants key
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to the wildlife and the birds so with
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all that going on why was there so much
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wildlife that i saw in antarctica for me
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to see right now and for you to see too
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although they had seemingly been wiped
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out the fact that no one's been hunting
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wildlife since the 1960s has led to this
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really big resurgence over the last 40
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odd years of wildlife for example an
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unknown group of around about 100
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antarctic fur seals were on bird island
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that hadn't been massacred no one knew
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they were there and they've now built up
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to an estimated four million antarctic
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first seals whales are slowly building
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back too now that they're not being
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hunted changes have been made to fishing
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using kind of coloured ribbons that keep
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the birds away so
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much much fewer are being drowned south
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georgia culled literally killed all of
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the seven thousand reindeers a few were
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taken to the falklands and got rid of
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that problem they spent
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13 million dollars to poison and
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eradicate the rats and the mice too
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wiping them out across the island so all
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of this has meant a big resurgence of
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wildlife and birds across the antarctic
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however
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that could be at its peak and all about
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a change which means going sooner rather
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than later is a really good idea while
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wildlife is really at this peak stage
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why is this whole issue so important
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well the animals and the wildlife in
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antarctica all rely heavily on krill the
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whales the penguins the seals they all
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eat it and if krill stocks go down
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there's a big risk to the numbers of
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wildlife in antarctica secondly as the
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planet warms and ice reduces this will
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throw the ecosystem of balance and
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affect numbers we're already seeing some
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of the penguin species are starting to
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move further and further south due to
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slight changes further in the north of
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antarctica the warming of the ocean has
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another impact because it affects the
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numbers and the stocks of krill which as
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i mentioned are so key to the wildlife
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across antarctica now the other problem
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is that microplastic particles are
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starting to work through the food chain
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in the area they're getting into the
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water the acrylic eating them the
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penguins eating the krill the seagulls
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are eating the penguins the whales are
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eating the seals and it's beginning to
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build up in the whole ecosystem the
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danger is that this buildup of plastic
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within the whole system is going to
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threaten the wildlife
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more and more studies have been done
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showing that this is a big and growing
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risk to the wildlife so now
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is the time to go when we're seeing
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wildlife really flourishing and i'm glad
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that i found this out but i didn't know
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before i went but this was a critical
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thing that i wish i'd known because it
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would maybe go even sooner however there
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is another mistake many people make when
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thinking of going to antarctica i made
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this mistake on my first trip and it
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took this return trip to totally and
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utterly rectify it now most of the trips
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to antarctica only go to a tiny segment
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of the region pretty much every single
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trip does the iconic but very limited
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antarctica trip lasting around 10 days
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the antarctica region covers everything
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south of 60 degrees although i like most
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people thought think of antarctica
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really as the continent it's a huge
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continent by the way it's the fifth
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largest of all of the seven continents
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however
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most trips only go to the antarctic
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peninsula because it's easy to get to
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it's about a thousand kilometers from
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argentina but by doing that like i did
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on my first trip you will only see a
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very limited amount of wildlife and
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landscapes very very limited indeed so
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it's amazing but it's limited to see the
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widest range in antarctica i strongly
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recommend you go on a trip that includes
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south georgia and ideally the south
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orkney islands like i did on this return
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trip
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i now saw multiple species of penguins
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when i went to the peninsula i only saw
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gentoo and some chin strap penguins and
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then in fairly small colonies if you
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include south georgia like i did on this
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return trip i saw king penguins in
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places like salisbury plain where there
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were over 200 000 breeding pairs 400 000
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penguins i also got to see the macaroni
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penguin and large deli penguin colonies
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i also got to see the many more seal
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species and in huge quantities i saw the
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antarctic first seals crab eaters
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leopard seals and weddle seals on my
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peninsula trip i only got to see two
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whales you're going to see many many
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more as you travel around we've got much
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more chance of seeing the humpback the
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orca and the minky whale
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you'll also get to see many more varied
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landscapes and not only the admittedly
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incredible ice and snow peninsula and
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learn much more of the history i found
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that to see more you need to go beyond
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the peninsula it's not enough to just go
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to the peninsula in my learning i wish
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i'd known that before i went on my first
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antarctica trip i would have done it
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very differently i've done it more like
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my second trip around 74 000 tourists
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currently visit antarctica every year
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that's about as many as go to disney
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world in florida in one single day
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however
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there are now many more cruise lines
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entering the expedition cruising space
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and more and more people are starting to
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head down there ayato the international
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association of antarctic tour operators
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was formed in 1991 with seven members it
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now has over 100 i counted 54 operators
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listed as members so not only do you
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need to think wider about where you go
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to see more
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go now to enjoy the resurgence of the
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wildlife but also go sooner than later
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because it's going to get more crowded
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and definitely busier going when you see
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no other ship and just vast spaces with
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wildlife is magical but it's going to
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change soon there is a real risk that
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man is creating new problems for
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antarctica i feel that i went to the
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arctic too late
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because it was already changing and i'm
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pleased i did not do the same for
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antarctica it's an expensive trip but
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the question i have is can you afford
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not to go to antarctica and to go soon
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now i suggest you find out how an
10:00
expedition cruise differs from a regular
10:02
cruise by watching this video where i
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start with a thing that i'd not expected
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at all when it came to expedition
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cruising see you over there
#Cruises & Charters
#Wildlife