Quark Expeditions is a leader in polar travel and has been operating expedition cruises to remote regions for more than 30 years. Lars Wikander and Mike McDowell, polar adventure tourism experts, co-founded Quark in 1991 with an ambition to reach the North Pole. Quark’s inaugural expedition that year was the first time a group of commercial travellers visited the North Pole.  

Today, Quark Expeditions travel to the edges of the earth. In Antarctica, they offer polar exploration to the Antarctic Peninsula, Falkland Islands, Patagonia, South Georgia and Snow Hill Island. In the Arctic, polar expeditions go to the Canadian High Arctic, Greenland, Russian High Arctic, Svalbard and naturally, the North Pole. 

Their diverse fleet operates small expedition ships and two icebreakers all with inflatable landing craft (known as Zodiacs) for exciting shore excursions. Each ship holds up to 200 passengers and has state-of-the-art safety technology, ice-strengthened hulls and cosy accommodation. One of the icebreakers, 50 Years of Victory, is capable of crushing through ice over 2.8 metres thick.  

Quark has a knowledgeable expedition team on each cruise with rich backgrounds in marine biology, history, glaciology and more. The team guides guests carefully to places other companies simply can’t, such as the unpredictable seas of Drake Passage, the shortest route to Antarctica from South America. Quark Expeditions maintains a 1:6 guide-to-guest ratio, for interactive, once-in-a-lifetime experiences.