- Where
- Between Booth Island and the Kyiv Peninsula
Antarctic Peninsula, west coast - Coordinates
- 65.1330° S
64.0000° W - Length
- About 11 km
(Wikipedia) - Narrowest
- About 600 m
(Wikipedia) - First passage
- The Belgica, 1898
- Getting there
- Expedition ship only
from Ushuaia, across the Drake Passage - Best visited
- November to March
In the morning the ship turned in between walls of dark rock hung with snow, and the sea went flat as a pond. Ice floated past on all sides, some pieces blue right through, and a penguin stood on one piece like a passenger who had paid for the ride. The cliffs leaned in. Nobody on deck said anything above a whisper until the cliffs let us go.
The short answer
The Lemaire Channel is a strait off the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula, between Booth Island in the Wilhelm Archipelago and the Kyiv Peninsula of Graham Land. Wikipedia gives it as about 11 kilometres long and 600 metres wide at its narrowest point, with steep cliffs on both sides and icebergs in the water, and calls it one of the top tourist destinations in Antarctica, nicknamed “Kodak Gap” by some. Booth Island, its western shore, is a Y-shaped island about 8 kilometres long rising to 980 metres; at the channel’s northern entrance, on the mainland side, stand two ice-capped towers of basalt, the Una Peaks.
Why it's worth knowing
Still water, when the ice allows. Wikipedia explains the channel’s place on cruise itineraries plainly: its protected water is usually as still as a lake, rare in the storm-wracked southern seas, and the north-to-south passage takes ships close to Petermann Island for landings. The difficulty is ice. Icebergs may fill the channel, especially early in the season, and a ship then has to backtrack and go round the outside of Booth Island. IAATO, the association of Antarctic tour operators, reported heavy ice in the Lemaire Channel and around it through most of the 2004–05 season in its information papers to the Antarctic Treaty meeting.
A Belgian ship, and a name from the Congo. A German expedition sighted the channel in 1873–74, Wikipedia records, but nobody sailed through it until the Belgica of Adrien de Gerlache’s Belgian Antarctic Expedition did so in 1898. De Gerlache named it for Charles Lemaire, a Belgian army officer who explored Central Africa and served as an official of the Congo Free State. Wikipedia’s article on the channel dates the passage to December 1898; its article on the expedition has the Belgica reaching the peninsula in January 1898 and frozen into the pack ice of the Bellingshausen Sea from early March 1898 until March 1899. The two cannot both be right, so this page gives the year and not the month.
The field notes
The towers at the gate
The Una Peaks, formerly called the Cape Renard Towers, are two towers of basalt, each topped by a cap of ice, at the channel’s northern entrance, Wikipedia records. The higher rises to 747 metres, by the Lonely Planet figure it cites, and its summit has been reached once that Wikipedia records, by a German team of six in 1999. The peaks appear, unnamed, on a British Antarctic Territory stamp. Cape Renard itself is the northern tip of the Kyiv Peninsula.
The island on the other side
Booth Island, also called Wandel Island, is partly covered by an ice cap no more than about 24 metres thick, according to a 2021 survey Wikipedia cites. The US Defense Mapping Agency’s Sailing Directions for Antarctica of 1976 describes it as two rocky masses joined by a low neck of ice and snow, the northern one rising in a rounded summit “presenting on all sides vertical walls colored red by iron pyrites”. The mainland shore has a newer name: Bulgaria’s Antarctic Place-names Commission named the Kyiv Peninsula in 2010, and the UK’s Antarctic Place-names Committee added that spelling to its gazetteer in 2022.
The Una Peaks in sun, March 2017.
Photograph: owamux · Una Peaks Of Lemaire Channel · CC BY 2.0 · cropped
The channel opening out under a clear sky, scattered with ice.
Photograph: Liam Quinn · Lemaire Channel, Antarctica · CC BY-SA 2.0
Late light on the peaks in March, the end of the season.
Photograph: owamux · Sun In Lemaire Channel · CC BY 2.0 · cropped
- Be on deck before the ship turns in, dressed for an hour of standing still, and keep your gloves on even for the photographs.
- Bring a second pencil for the list. The first went blunt before we reached the far end, and the far end was the best part.
- Find the dark towers at the entrance before you look anywhere else, and watch them until they close behind you.
- Leave the penguins their ice. If one drifts past, nod once and let it keep its dignity.
- If the ice has shut the way, let the captain take the long way round, and do not grumble. The ice keeps its own timetable.
The Una Peaks. Two towers of dark basalt, each capped with ice, standing over the northern entrance to the channel on the mainland side, the higher of them 747 metres by the figure Wikipedia cites. They were long called the Cape Renard Towers. Ships pass beneath them going in and coming out, and Wikipedia records a single ascent of the higher tower, by a German team in 1999.
Tally, in the marginI had them down as gateposts and kept looking past them for the gate. Long after we were through, I worked out that the passage itself had been the gate, and that we had already used it.
Getting there
How to get there. By ship only. The Lemaire Channel lies on the route of expedition voyages to the Antarctic Peninsula, which mostly sail from Ushuaia in Argentina and cross the Drake Passage in about two days. Ships pass through it, when the ice allows, on the way south towards Petermann Island. There is no landing in the channel itself; the view is from the deck. Port Lockroy, which many of the same voyages visit, lies about 35 kilometres to the north.
When to go. The Antarctic season, November to March. Early-season voyages are the most likely to find the channel blocked by ice, Wikipedia notes.
What to arrange ahead. A berth with an IAATO member operator. IAATO’s guidance for organisers sets out that Antarctic expeditions are authorised by an Antarctic Treaty party, through environmental assessment and advance notification. Ask the operator whether the itinerary goes south through the channel, and what it does if the channel is closed. Clothes for long spells on an open deck in wind.
Safety. The State Department rates Antarctica Level 2, exercise increased caution, for extreme and unpredictable weather and limited emergency services, and notes that no US consular services are available in the Antarctic region (advisory dated 23 September 2025, read on 4 October 2026). The hazards are the place’s own: cold, ice and help that is days away.
Mark this place
Common questions
Where is the Lemaire Channel?
The Lemaire Channel is a strait on the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula, between Booth Island in the Wilhelm Archipelago and the Kyiv Peninsula of Graham Land. Expedition ships reach it from Ushuaia in Argentina, across the Drake Passage.
How wide is the Lemaire Channel?
Wikipedia gives the Lemaire Channel as about 11 kilometres long and 600 metres wide at its narrowest point, between steep cliffs on Booth Island and the Antarctic mainland. Its sheltered water is usually as still as a lake.
What is the Lemaire Channel’s nickname?
Some call the Lemaire Channel “Kodak Gap”, according to Wikipedia, which counts it among the top tourist destinations in Antarctica and a standard part of Antarctic Peninsula cruise itineraries.
Who named the Lemaire Channel?
Adrien de Gerlache, leader of the Belgian Antarctic Expedition, named the Lemaire Channel for Charles Lemaire, a Belgian army officer who explored Central Africa and served as an official of the Congo Free State, after his ship, the Belgica, became the first to sail through it, in 1898.
Can ships always sail through the Lemaire Channel?
No. Icebergs can fill the Lemaire Channel, especially early in the Antarctic season, and a ship then has to turn back and go round the outside of Booth Island, Wikipedia records. IAATO reported heavy ice in and around the channel through most of the 2004–05 season.
How do you visit the Lemaire Channel?
On an expedition voyage to the Antarctic Peninsula between November and March, with an IAATO member operator, most of them sailing from Ushuaia. Ships pass through the Lemaire Channel without landing, when ice allows, on the way south towards Petermann Island.
What are the two peaks at the entrance to the Lemaire Channel?
They are the Una Peaks, formerly the Cape Renard Towers: two ice-capped towers of basalt at the northern entrance to the Lemaire Channel, the higher rising to 747 metres. Wikipedia records one ascent of the higher tower, by a German team in 1999.
When did the first ship sail through the Lemaire Channel?
In 1898: the Belgica of the Belgian Antarctic Expedition was the first ship through the Lemaire Channel, according to Wikipedia. Its article on the Lemaire Channel says December 1898, but its article on the expedition has the ship locked in the pack ice of the Bellingshausen Sea from March 1898 to March 1899, so the month is in doubt.