he Royal Navy located the Canadian cruise vessel the MS Explorer this week in its icy resting place at the bottom of the ocean off Antarctica, where it has been for more than two months.

All 154 passengers and crew were safely removed from the vessel after it struck an iceberg Nov. 23 and sank.

The ice patrol ship HMS Endurance was doing a hydrographic survey and mapping work in the area when the British government requested the vessel search for the wreck of the Explorer.

The recent sinking of the M/S Explorer off the coast of Antarctica, which left 154 passengers and crew members huddled in small lifeboats on the frigid water for hours, drew attention to the growing popularity of Antarctic tourism. It also raised questions about the safety of navigating the unpredictable, icy seas.

The recent sinking of the MS Explorer cruise ship in Antarctica has spotlighted the dangers of operating passenger vessels in remote polar areas.

The ice-reinforced Explorer was a veteran of the polar cruise-ship trade. It had made dozens of voyages to the Arctic and Antarctic since 1969, safely transporting thousands of tourists to see penguins and polar bears, glaciers and icebergs, though the ship was evacuated at least twice after Antarctic groundings. The Canadian-owned ship sank Nov. 23 after hitting submerged ice. Its 100 passengers and 54 crew were all rescued.

SANTIAGO, Chile -- About 2,500 penguins en route to their Antarctic mating grounds could be sickened by a diesel fuel spill from a Canadian cruise ship that struck an iceberg and sank last week.

A marine biologist says areas surrounding the almost two km-long spill site include breeding grounds for Antarctic and Adelia penguins, and the largest mating colony for Papua penguins.

Maria Jose Rosello, a Chilean marine biologist, says: "The danger is that this fuel spill will impede the journey that species like Papua penguins make at this time of year.

Greenpeace believes tourism in Antarctica should be strictly limited after the MS Explorer hit ice and was abandoned.

Greenpeace spokeswoman Bunny McDiarmid is worried that with a growing number of people going to the continent it is inevitable things like this will happen. McDiarmid says the sinking could be a major disaster for the region.

She says it is one of the last pristine environments and needs to be protected.

Antarctica is a wonderland, a home to penguins by the thousands, as well as seals, whales, albatrosses with massive wingspans, stark and beautiful ice formations, including glaciers, all surrounded by the waters of the Southern Ocean.

It is also a land of surprises. In the Antarctic summer, Bostonians may find temperatures warmer than those at home.