Quark Expeditions is an expedition travel company. The company offers Polar Region expeditions aboard purpose-built expedition ships and

icebreaker An icebreaker is a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters, and provide safe waterways for other boats and ships. Although the term usually refers to ice-breaking ships, it may also refer to smaller ...

History

Quark Expeditions was founded in 1985 by Mike McDowell, initially specializing in small ship dive expeditions in many of the world's premier dive destinations McDowell soon moved to the Polar world where he had extensive prior experience as the Expedition Leader of MV Lindblad Explorer. In 1990/1991 McDowell chartered the vessel MV Frontier Spirit during its inaugural season of operations for several voyages which operated to Antarctica from Hobart, Australia & Bluff, New Zealand. After these successful voyages Mike McDowell offered Lars Wikander the opportunity to join him as a partner. In 1998, Mike McDowell decided to concentrate on his other adventure travel interests which included Adventure Network International, Deep Ocean Expeditions and Space Adventures and sold his interests to Lars Wikander, who then became the majority owner of the company. Three years later, Lars became chairman of the board, when Patrick Shaw joined the company as president and CEO. In May 2007, the company became part of the UK-based

TUI Travel Tui or TUI may refer to: Places * Tui, Pontevedra, Spain * Tui, Iran, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Tui, North Khorasan, North Khorasan Province, Iran * Tui Province, Burkina Faso * Tuis District, Costa Rica * Tui railway station, New Zea ...

PLC 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 advertised that it was offering the first "

carbon-neutral Carbon neutrality is a state of net-zero carbon dioxide emissions. This can be achieved by balancing emissions of carbon dioxide with its removal (often through carbon offsetting) or by eliminating emissions from society (the transition to the "p ...

" polar expeditions with the ''Ocean Diamond''. The former

RoRo ship Roll-on/roll-off (RORO or ro-ro) ships are cargo ships designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, motorcycles, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, buses, trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their own wheels or us ...

uses

Bunker C Fuel oil is any of various fractions obtained from the distillation of petroleum (crude oil). Such oils include distillates (the lighter fractions) and residues (the heavier fractions). Fuel oils include heavy fuel oil, marine fuel oil (MFO), bun ...

heavy-duty oil and one voyage produces an estimated 5,682 tons of CO2. The tour operator signed a contract with the centifier "The CarbonNeutral® Company", which uses Quark money to

reforest Reforestation (occasionally, reafforestation) is the natural or intentional restocking of existing forests and woodlands (forestation) that have been depleted, usually through deforestation, but also after clearcutting. Management A debate ...

forests in Turkey, Kenya, India and China, which will later be offset mathematically as CO2 sinks. In 2016, the company mounted an expedition involving internet personalities and YouTube creators including Ben Brown, Tim Kellner and Tom Scott led by retired Canadian

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

Chris Hadfield Chris Austin Hadfield (born August 29, 1959) is a Canadian retired astronaut, engineer, fighter pilot, and musician. The first Canadian to perform extravehicular activity in outer space, he has flown two Space Shuttle missions and also serv ...

on an Arctic expedition. The company's summer 2019 program in the Arctic included sailings to

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...

, Canada's High Arctic, the

Northwest Passage The Northwest Passage (NWP) is the sea route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The eastern route along the Arct ...

and the

North Pole The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distinguish from the Mag ...

Polar Fleet & Land Expeditions

In 1991, Quark Expeditions was the first consumer led expedition to the North Pole. The company has the largest and most diverse fleet of passenger vessels in the Antarctic. Quark travel offers both cruise and land-based expeditions. Expeditions are held on the following ships:

Icebreakers

* *

Ice-strengthened expedition vessels

* Ultramarine * * '' Ocean Adventurer'' * World Explorer

Sustainability & Charitable Initiatives

Quark Expeditions is a long-time, active member of IAATO and AECO, and promotes various sustainability initiatives. In 2012, ''Ocean Diamond'' made a

voyage to Antarctica.

Recognitions

Quark has received several industry awards, including some from

Travel Weekly Travel Weekly Group Ltd is a UK publishing and events company serving the travel industry, principally travel agents, tour operators and other suppliers. Its main brand is weekly business publication ''Travel Weekly'' and its associated onlin ...

and

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely ...

References

{{reflist, 2 Travel and holiday companies of the United States Expedition cruising Cruise lines