Weddell Sea travel, tours and holiday packages

A short guide about Weddell Sea

The Weddell Sea has one of the most productive marine ecosystems in the world, as this is where huge quantities of krill (tiny shrimp-like animals) provide food for diverse populations of fish and marine mammals. The sea is named after the British sailor ‘James Weddell’ who entered the sea in 1823, but it was first widely explored by the Scot ‘William S. Bruce’ during 1902 to 1904. It was also in this sea that Shackleton's ship ‘The Endurance’ was trapped and crushed by ice in 1915.

The Weddell Sea is part of the Southern Ocean and is defined by its bay - formed from the shores of Coats Land and the Antarctic Peninsula. The sea is contained within the 3 overlapping territories of Argentina, Britain and Chile, in an area about 2.8 million km². From the Filchner Ice Shelf, including the Ronne Ice Shelf, and all the way along the coast of the peninsular up to Elephant Island - there is permanent ice. The ice shelves which used to extend roughly 10,000 km² over the Weddell Sea had completely disappeared by 2002.

There are over 200 species of fish from various groups that are known to live in Antarctica, many of these are endemic and belong to such families as the Nototheniidae and Channichthyidae or the easy name - "bloodless fishes". This rich marine ecosystem also supports thriving colonies of penguins that lay their eggs and raise their young on the Antarctic Peninsula and the bay of the Weddell Sea.

Your voyage into the bay of the Weddell Sea caters for all levels of expertise and there is something for everyone - how about a sea kayaking tour - travelling in sturdy, easy to handle kayaks is exciting and a low impact way to explore the stunning bays and wildlife breeding grounds along the Peninsula. Or how about the option of a climbing tour, do alpine ascents or have a go at ice-climbing where possible, even grounded icebergs provide unique challenges never to be repeated.

Interested in visiting the Weddell Sea? Well as you browse through the travel and land holiday packages that Tourabout has catalogued for your convenience - you’ll find that most tours to the Weddell Sea will begin from South America - here you travel through the Drake Passage while on your way to visiting popular tourist destinations - such as Elephant Island, the Larson Ice Shelf and Coats Land. So for the trip of a life time - create a shortlist of your holiday style and click on the supplier of your choice for more details.