The pitstop en route to Antarctica is just as impressive as the main act

Seven wonders of the South Shetland Islands

The South Shetland Islands are the opening act to any Antarctic journey. Comprising 11 major islands, this icy archipelago – just north of the Antarctic Peninsula – is a welcome pitstop after riding out the Drake Passage. No ponies here, just penguins, polar peaks and pure isolation.

1. Cruise through Neptune’s Bellows on Deception Island

Antarctica serves up big moments, but few top sailing into the submerged caldera of an active volcano. Especially when the entrance passage is narrow and there’s a hazardous, underwater rock formation in the middle. Stand on the bow to witness the “open sesame” trick, where a seemingly solid wall of cliffs parts just enough to let your ship squeeze through.

2. Hike the rim of a crater

Deception Island is an active volcano, one of only two in Antarctica (Mount Erebus is the other). At Telefon Bay, adventurous travellers can take a 2.5-kilometre hike around the crater, crossing black ash from the 1967–70 eruptions. The final descent is steep, dropping to a black sand beach. Look out for Antarctic fur seals hiding in plain sight against the charred coastline.

3. Inhale the pong of penguin poop

Walking amid a colony of gentoo penguins is one of the most memorable experiences you’ll have. It’s also one of the stinkiest, delivering a double-barrelled stench of yesterday’s fish. A few hundred gentoos would be smelly enough, but Yankee Harbour on Greenwich Island is home to about 10,000. And if they’re not bustling about like school kids or pinching each other’s pebbles, they are pooping; pink if they’ve been snacking on krill, white if they’ve eaten fish and green if they’ve moulted.

4. Land on the (Half) Moon

Birds of a feather – including Antarctic terns, south polar skuas, kelp gulls and storm petrels – flock to Half Moon Island. So much so that it has been designated as an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International. It’s a steep, rocky scramble to the large colony of chinstrap penguins, but if you can’t make it, the geological beauty of this small sunken caldera is all around. From volcanic peaks to black boulder beaches, it’s a study in monochrome splashed against a canvas of ice and snow.

5. Find colour in the ice

Antarctica is all white isn’t it? Wrong. While 98 per cent of Antarctica is covered in ice, the Shetlands are the warmest and greenest part of the region. If you’re lucky you’ll see Antarctic Hair Grass and Pearl Wort, the continent’s only two vascular plants. Orange lichen and green mosses are plentiful, but it’s the snow algae that steals the show. From red watermelon snow to raspberry ripple, entire ice fields come streaked with tutti-fruity colours. “Late in the summer season is the best time to see them,” says Rosie Simmonds, our botanist guide on Silversea’s Silver Wind.

6. Trace human outposts at the end of the world

Whalers, sealers and scientists have all left their marks on the Shetlands. Step ashore at Whalers Bay on Deception Island to see rusting barrels that were once used for boiling down whales. Wander the black beach of Half Moon Island, past the remains of a wooden whaling dory, with Argentina’s Camara Base research station further west. King George Island hosts about a dozen permanent and seasonal international research stations, making it as close to busy as Antarctica gets. It’s also where Silversea fly-cruise passengers join their ship, thus avoiding the Drake Passage.

7. Learn about Endurance at Elephant Island

Of all the polar stories, Ernest Shackleton’s 1914-17 Imperial Trans-Antarctica Expedition remains the benchmark for survival. After the loss of his ship the Endurance, Shackleton led his crew on a lifeboat voyage to Elephant Island. Today, Zodiac landings at Point Wild are rarely possible, but even from the ship, gazing across at the scrap of beach where 22 men survived for 137 days, is the stuff of legend.

The writer travelled as a guest of Silversea. See silversea.com