Quark Expeditions has announced Snow Hill to the Peninsula: Shackleton’s Emperors, an expedition where guests will encounter the Emperor penguin colony at Snow Hill Island via the Weddell Sea on the less visited eastern side of Antarctica.
The Emperor penguin colony at Snow Hill Island was reportedly first confirmed by Quark Expeditions in 2004, and is home to more than 4,000 breeding pairs and their fluffy grey chicks. Emperors, the largest and most elusive of the penguins, captivated early explorers such as Sir Ernest Shackleton and continue to win the hearts of modern-day adventurers with their striking appearance, elite diving skills, and fascinating colony dynamics.
Snow Hill to the Peninsula: Shackleton’s Emperors, an 18-day itinerary, departs on 30OCT, 2025, with a charter flight from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia, where guests will board the Quark Ultramarine and begin their expedition.
Another special feature is the chance for guests to hone their photography skills under the expert guidance of renowned wildlife photographer and guide Paul Goldstein. Winner of the Black & White category in the Nature Photographer of the Year Awards in 2024 and many other awards, Goldstein has led more than 30 exclusive photographic charters in his career, one which has taken him across six continents.
Throughout the voyage, photographers of all levels—beginners to seasoned professionals — will have hands-on opportunities to learn from him in their medium of choice. Goldstein has insatiable energy and is an accomplished, eloquent presenter with more than three decades of travel experience.
“Of all the expeditions I’ve led over the past 23 years, my two Emperor quests with Quark remain the most memorable,” said Goldstein. “After all these years in the industry, I can confidently say the Weddell Sea and Snow Hill Island is the most captivating wilderness I’ve encountered.
"Witnessing intricately sculpted icebergs adorned with chinstraps and Adélies is close to polar nirvana—but seeing Emperors on pristine ice is another level.”
Equipped with two onboard helicopters, the state-of-the-art Ultramarine provides unparalleled access to the continent’s jewels: seamlessly combining travel by ship, helicopter, and Zodiac to showcase Antarctica’s iceberg-choked remote paradise from all possible vantage points. This early November itinerary sees the ice at its most alluring, with penguins scaling the cobalt-blue bergs before cascading into the depths in their insatiable hunt for food.
Guided by Quark’s expert expedition team, guests can marvel at massive tabulars calved from some of the continent’s largest ice shelves, visit Adélie penguin colonies on Brown Bluff, Devil Island, or Paulet Island, and search for marine mammals among the floating ice. This is the only itinerary in the polar industry that enables guests to spend this amount of time immersed in the wonders of the eastern peninsula.
With an unmatched guide-to-guest ratio, Quark’s team—comprised of Ornithologists, Marine Biologists, Historians, Glaciologists, Photographers, and other elite polar guides—seamlessly adapts plans to make for the best possible experience, capturing extraordinary moments as they unfold. Anyone serious about Antarctica, dreaming of seeing Emperor penguins up close, and looking to hone their photography skills should consider this spellbinding itinerary.
For more information about traveling to the Polar Regions Quark Expeditions or to meet their polar-obsessed expedition team, please visit www.quarkexpeditions.com. To learn more about Paul Goldstein, visit http://paulgoldstein.co.uk.
