Quark Expeditions

Quark Expeditions is a polar travel company headquartered in Seattle, Washington that offers small-ship expedition cruises aboard expedition ships and icebreakers in the Arctic and Antarctica. The company is a subsidiary of the UK-based travel group Travelopia^[1] and conducts seasonal itineraries in both polar regions aboard ice-class vessels.

As of 2025, Quark Expeditions, a travel company, was headquartered in Seattle, Washington.^[1] Quark Expeditions was founded in 1991 by Mike McDowell and Lars Wikander when they took the first group of commercial travelers to the North Pole abord the nuclear-powered icebreaker, Sovetskiy Soyuz.^[2]

In 1990–1991, McDowell chartered the MV Frontier Spirit during its inaugural season of operations for several voyages to Antarctica from Hobart, Australia and Bluff, New Zealand. After these voyages, Mike McDowell partnered with Lars Wikander.

In 1998, McDowell sold his interests to Lars Wikander, who then became the company's majority owner. Three years later, Patrick Shaw joined the company as president and CEO, and Wikander moved to become chairman of the board.

In May 2007, the company became part of the UK-based TUI Travel group of companies; subsequently, in 2016, it became part of Travelopia, a division comprising some brands from the former TUI Specialist Group.

In 2012, the company reported via a trade publication that it would offer the first "carbon-neutral" polar expeditions, offsetting the carbon emissions of its vessel, Ocean Diamond.^[3] The former roll-on/roll-off vessel uses Bunker C heavy-duty oil, and one voyage produces an estimated 5,682 tons of CO₂.^[3] The tour operator reported that it had signed a contract with the certifier The CarbonNeutral Company.^[3]

In 2016, the company mounted an Arctic expedition for the purpose of creating a YouTube film, a trip that included internet personalities and YouTube creators Ben Brown (the filmmaker) and Tim Kellner,^[2] as well as YouTuber Tom Scott and expedition-lead, the retired Canadian astronaut, Chris Hadfield. The company's summer 2019 program in the Arctic included sailings to "Greenland, Canada's High Arctic, the Northwest Passage and the North Pole".^[4]

In April 2021, Quark took delivery of the "199-guest" vessel, Ultramarine, a product of the Brodosplit shipyard in Split, Croatia.^[5] its first solely owned ship.

Quark Expeditions operates voyages in both the Arctic and Antarctic, with itineraries varying seasonally between the two polar regions.

Quark Expeditions operates cruises in the Arctic during the Northern Hemisphere summer, with destinations including Greenland, Svalbard, Iceland, and Canada’s High Arctic, as well as transits of the Northwest Passage. These voyages typically emphasize Arctic wildlife such as polar bears, walruses, and migratory bird species, as well as cultural interactions with Indigenous communities in Greenland and Nunavut.^[5]

Some of the company’s early operations in the Arctic included commercial voyages through the Northeast Passage and expeditions to the North Pole aboard Russian nuclear icebreakers, which were among the first consumer-focused trips of their kind.^[4]

Quark’s Antarctic season generally runs from November to March, with departures from Ushuaia, Argentina across the Drake Passage to the Antarctic Peninsula. Some itineraries include voyages to the South Georgia Islands, the Falkland Islands, Snow Hill Island, Patagonia, and the Weddell Sea.^[6] The company has operated both small expedition vessels and larger chartered ships in the region, including voyages aboard the icebreaker Kapitan Khlebnikov^[7] and purpose-built expedition ships such as Ultramarine.^[8]

As of February 8, 2023, The United States Coast Guard was investigating the death of two Americans after the capsize of an inflatable zodiac boat operating off of the World Explorer passenger ship, operated by Quark Expeditions under a Portuguese flag.^[9] The incident occurred off of Antarctica’s Elephant Island, and the conditions were described by a Quark Expeditions spokesperson as being "light winds and [a] smooth sea state", with the accident having been caused by "a breaking wave".^[9] The U.S. Coast Guard is involved in the investigation under international maritime law, as the U.S. is a "substantially interested state".^[9]

On March 26, 2025, Quark Expedition's Ocean Explorer encountered waves estimated to have been 35-40 feet during a return leg to Ushuaia, Argentina that traversed the Drake Passage, at end of an Antarctic voyage that had begun on March 17th.^[10] The Drake Passage defines a maritime, Atlantic-Pacific transition zone lying between South America's Cape Horn and Antarctica's South Shetland Islands, where the cool, subpolar conditions of the South American Tierra del Fuego archipelago meet the frigid, polar conditions of Antarctica; as a waterway it is 600 miles wide, and approaches 3 miles deep in places.^[11][12] Nathan Diller of USA Today, who reported having experienced waves of 13-feet during an earlier traverse, describes the Drake Passage as a "notoriously treacherous waterway between Antarctica and South America".^[10] News reports describe the ship as being "pummeled", and include video that suggested "walls of water... nearly all that is visible from the [ship's] windows", with the ship rocking enough that people were sliding across floors, a television was observed "slamming into a wall", etc.^[10] Passengers filming and being interviewed expressed confidence in their safety, and Quark Expeditions, noting its "30 years of experience navigating polar waters" and its "purpose-built, ice-class fleet and expert crew", communicated via email that safety, and "ensuring guests are well cared for in all conditions" remained its "top priority", stating that its "ship, crew, and passengers completed their... voyage safely and without incident".^[10]

According to Lynn Elmhirst, Quark Expeditions "invented consumer polar expedition travel" with its 1991 expedition to the North Pole.^[6] As of this date, the company was reported to have the largest and most diverse fleet of passenger vessels in the Antarctic. Quark offers both cruises and land-based expeditions. Expeditions involve the following ships:

Quark Expeditions describes itself as a long-time member of the Association of Arctic Expedition Cruise Operators (AAECO) and of the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO) and describes these as "organizations that share our dedication to promote and commit to environmentally responsible tourism... to help us to ensure the footprints polar tourists leave behind are minimal", and itself as "active participants in many sustainability initiatives".^[19] In 2019, it announced a "Polar Promise" sustainability strategy.^[20] In 2012, the company reported that Ocean Diamond made a carbon-neutral voyage to Antarctica.^[3]

Quark Expeditions has received multiple industry awards for its expedition cruise operations and itineraries. The following honors have been reported in travel trade publications and award programs:

• Wenger, Michael (January 29, 2024). "Last Season for Popular Polar Expedition Ship". Polar Journal (PolarJournal.ch). Zug, Switzerland: Polar Journal AG. Archived from the original on July 14, 2024. Retrieved April 29, 2025.
• Elmhirst, Lynn (October 19, 2021). "Quark Expeditions' New Ship, Ultramarine, is an Expedition Cruising Gamechanger". Open Jaw (OpenJaw.com). Toronto, Ontario: Open Jaw Network Ltd. Retrieved April 29, 2025.

• The Travelopia home page. Note, there is no mention of Quark Expeditions on this page.