Secret Atlas

19/06/2026

World Albatross Day 🕊️

One of the most effortless fliers on the planet. Albatrosses can travel thousands of miles on a single journey, wings barely moving, reading the wind with a precision we're still trying to understand.

South Georgia is one of the few places on earth where you can watch them up close. On a 36-guest expedition, that encounter happens in silence — no crowds, no noise, just the bird and the ocean it was built for.

🔗 Today is World Albatross Day. Read about one of the many albatross species found in South Georgia here: https://zurl.co/fpHdd

18/06/2026

Carys had sailed to Svalbard on ships of 100+. Then she joined us on Freya; 12 guests, two polar guides, and no queue for the Zodiac.

What changed wasn't just the logistics. It was the pace. Polar bears observed at a distance, engines off. Walrus colonies approached in silence. A landing on a stable ice floe that a 200-guest ship simply cannot make.

🔗 Read her full account on the blog and see if it changes how you think about polar travel: https://zurl.co/rATAe

15/06/2026

A walrus can dive to 80 metres, hold its breath for 25 minutes, and locate food in complete darkness using whiskers sensitive enough to detect a single clam buried in seafloor sediment 🦭

Every June, Atlantic walrus gather on remote Svalbard beaches in their hundreds, returning to the same haul-out sites their ancestors used, resting between deep foraging dives in a slow communal rhythm that has nothing to do with tourism and everything to do with survival.

At twelve guests per voyage, we operate quietly enough that the animals don't change their behaviour. Close enough that guests leave understanding something real about the Arctic, not just having seen it.

That's the difference micro-scale makes in practice.

🔗 To learn more about the walrus in Svalbard, read our handbook article, 'Walruses in the Arctic | Life, behaviour, and conservation challenges' by Giancarlo Gallinoro here: https://zurl.co/4vO0k

📷 Piet van den Bemd

15/06/2026

Quieter ships. Healthier oceans.

New research from Scripps Institution of Oceanography confirms what responsible expedition operators have long worked toward; expedition cruise vessels produce significantly lower underwater noise than most ship types in Arctic waters.

For the marine life beneath the surface, that difference matters.
At Secret Atlas, this is the kind of science we build around. Our micro expeditions carry just twelve guests in the Arctic and thirty-six in Antarctica — small ships, slower speeds, and a genuine commitment to moving through these environments with as little disturbance as possible.

Underwater noise affects whale communication, fish behaviour, and entire ecosystems. The fact that expedition vessels, particularly smaller ones, are among the quietest in these waters is meaningful, and we're glad to see it documented.

Full findings via AECO - Association of Arctic Expedition Cruise Operators below.

Explore. Respect. Protect.

New Study: Expedition Cruise Ships Among Quietest in Arctic Waters Most expedition cruise vessels operating in the Canadian Arctic produce lower underwater ...

12/06/2026

We rarely get to say this about a departure: the scientist joining us isn't coming to give talks. He's coming to work, and our guests work alongside him.

Dr Geir Gabrielsen of the Norwegian Polar Institute has spent 43 field seasons in Svalbard. His research follows plastic pollution through the Arctic food web, from the fishing industry debris accumulating on remote Svalbard beaches, to the seabirds ingesting it, to the contaminants it may be carrying into tissue and beyond.

On our 29 June – 8 July Svalbard Expedition Micro Cruise, Geir will be collecting plastic samples from Arctic shorelines during landings. Twelve guests. One small ship. Every guest ashore together, no waiting, no groups, no colour-coded lanyards. Just the kind of access that only works at this scale.

This is the Expedition Micro Cruise difference made visible: not a bigger ship with a better lecture programme, but a small enough operation that the science and the experience are the same thing.

🔗 A few places remain on this departure. Full details and availability here https://zurl.co/nFMau

11/06/2026

We couldn't have said it better ourselves 🐻‍❄️

Paul Goldstein captures exactly why we do what we do. Hard ice yards, and moments that take your breath away.

Thank you Paul, Captain Dima, Julien, and Giancarlo — and the bears, for their patience with all of us.

09/06/2026

A puffin spends eight months of every year at sea. It never touches land. It sleeps on the surface of the ocean in water that rarely rises above 5°C.

Then June arrives. And it comes back — to the same burrow, the same cliffside, the same partner it has been returning to for years. Puffins mate for life. Some pairs have been documented reuniting for over 20 consecutive seasons.

Svalbard hosts some of the largest Atlantic puffin colonies in the Arctic. In June, the cliffsides are loud, purposeful, and completely indifferent to the small group of twelve watching silently from a Zodiac below.

Six guests per Zodiac. A guide who knows the colony, the cliffside, and exactly where to hold position. Engine off. Nobody speaking.

This is what responsible Arctic exploration looks like at micro-scale.

🔗 Explore our Svalbard voyages here: https://zurl.co/gahsX



📸: Giancarlo Gallinoro

05/06/2026

🌍 World Environment Day
The polar regions are often used as an image of what we stand to lose. The retreating glacier. The bear on a shrinking floe. And those images are true, and they matter.

But spend time up there, and what stays with you is not the loss. It is how much is still intact. The silence in Hinlopen. The walrus colonies in Prins Karls Forland. The beluga pods that surface near a quiet vessel and do not leave.

The best argument for protecting a place is still witnessing it. Not on a screen. In person, slowly, at the right scale.

📸 Piet van den Bemd

🔗 Explore our polar expeditions and experience the world's last great wilderness here: https://zurl.co/U4T5X

*captured using a 600mm lens at 500m away and cropped. Within the AECO wildlife watching guidelines.

29/05/2026

Perched on a rugged island deep in the Arctic, Uummannaq is one of Greenland’s most iconic destinations. Set within the vast fjord system and dominated by its dramatic 1,170 m heart-shaped mountain, this remote settlement blends astonishing natural beauty with living Inuit culture.

🏘️ With around 1,390 residents, Uummannaq remains a working hunting and fishing base, where ancient traditions like dog sledging continue alongside modern life.

❄️ The town is surrounded by towering icebergs and rich Arctic waters, home to whales, seals and vibrant marine life.

📜 Founded in 1763, it’s also steeped in stories — from inspiring films shot in the fjord to local legends of Santa’s Arctic home.

Whether you’re curious about Inuit heritage, Arctic landscapes, or polar adventure, Uummannaq is a place where your heart stays forever.