Know Before You Go

—By Rebecca Self
In honor of World Penguin Day on April 25, here are five stories from across the planet of people, places and programs devoted to penguin conservation, where you can get involved and see penguins firsthand.

—By Laura Kiniry
From traveling aboard an intimate motor-sailing yacht with no more than a handful of passengers to opting for a larger ship chock full of creature comforts, there is a myriad of ways to explore polar waters. Sailing upon the vessel that fits you requires a bit of footwork.

—By Candice Gaukel Andrews
“You can’t protect what you don’t know,” Lars-Eric Lindblad, leader of the first commercial Antarctica cruise in 1966, once said.

—By Laura Kiniry
While today’s Antarctic journeys are a welcoming mix of creature comforts and endless adventure, it’s the explorers who came before us that paved the way for these much more accessible experiences. Here are the stories of five such heroic explorers.

—By Elissa Poma
Here are my picks for the top items to pack for an Arctic expedition—to keep warm and keep you and your electronics properly functioning.

—By WWF
The southernmost continent has the most penguins of any region in the world, but it’s not the only place where you’ll find the tuxedoed bird. The Galapagos Islands, New Zealand and South Africa are three other WWF and Nat Hab destinations where you can see penguins in their natural habitat.

—By Cathy Brown
Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Antarctic vessel Endurance had been lost for 107 years—and was just found jaw-droppingly intact on the bottom of the Weddell Sea.

—By Madison Mitchell
Get a chance to test your knowledge and see penguins firsthand on the Journey to Antarctica: The White Continent Natural Habitat Adventures trip.

—By Candice Gaukel Andrews
Let’s go on a journey South—by way of nature-videos—to the Falkland Islands and Port Lockroy, Antarctica!

—By Candice Gaukel Andrews
"We often tend to think of marine and terrestrial realms as being separate, but this research shows that penguins and seals act as a sort of “ocean-to-earth conveyor belt,” bringing nutrients from the sea...

—By Sara Higgins
"The call echoed throughout the whole bay. We sat in our kayaks; still, eyes closed, barely breathing. A chill came over my whole body. It was the most beautiful, ethereal sound I’ve ever..."

—By Nat Hab Traveler Deborah Fischer
"A bank of fog lingered far off in the distance along the Antarctic Peninsula, leaving us with sunshine and blue skies on the morning of a day that would turn out to be one of the best of my life. We started..."

—By John Holahan
Standing on the ice of the Antarctic continent has brought on a new sensation. I’m pinned between the sublime and the magnificent, forced to reconsider everything I thought I knew about scale and grandeur...

—By Nate Small
As you get closer to Antarctica, usually your whale experiences come a little closer. The water is calmer and the whales in Antarctica are easier to see. Instead of just a plume of water, you might now see the back of the whale...

—By Candice Gaukel Andrews
"In Antarctica—“the coldest, driest, windiest, and highest place on Earth”—I found manifestations of clarity that are rarely seen in the world that lies in the latitudes above. The water is so clear that the bases of icebergs..."