In the second of her blogs detailing her journey into Antarctica, G&M wildlife consultant Sarah Williams recounts her time spent cruising around South Georgia Island.
Our first landing on South Georgia was at Salisbury Plain, home to grumpy fur seals as well as many thousands of King penguins. The sight of King penguins as far as the eye could see, gathered under beautiful snow-covered mountains, was a vision that I will never forget. So many wildlife programmes have been filmed here, and so it was very special to be observing all the action first hand. There were large groups, known as creche’s, of brown furry youngsters who were vocalising a constant whistling sound as they tried to attract the attention of their parents returning with food – how the adults find their own chicks amongst the huddle is just astonishing!
In the afternoon we went ashore at Fortuna Bay, where we encountered several different seal species, fur seals with pups, elephant seals who were moulting and elephant seal weaners who have the most adorable faces and large round eyes.
The following day we visited St Andrews Bay where we walked across the plain, avoiding lounging seals and busy penguins as we went, before finally arriving at a river of glacier melt water. On the other side I walked to the top of a small hill where I was greeted with the most unbelievable sight – the largest King penguin rookery in South Georgia! I sat down and tried to take it all in… a seething mass of King penguins backed by stunning glacier-covered mountains and a beautiful blue sky; just awe-inspiring!
After lunch, the zodiacs took us ashore to the old whaling station of Grytviken – with no wind and a clear sky it was a perfect day. First stop was the cemetery and Sir Ernest Shackleton’s grave. With a tot of whisky, Victoria the historian on board proposed a toast to “the Boss”, as Shackleton was known by his men, and we lifted our cups and drank to this extraordinary explorer.
Grytviken is a curious mixture of rusting and decaying equipment from the old whaling industry, lazing fur seals, a post office and a small museum where I found a replica of the James Caird, the boat Shackleton used to reach South Georgia from Elephant island, an unbelievable journey of courage against all odds. The small white whalers church was particularly poignant. Built in 1913 this modest building was essential to the men who worked in this brutal environment, many miles from home and their families.
That evening we enjoyed a BBQ on the deck of the ship, accompanied by hot gluhwein under a bright blue sky and little wind – who would have thought to have a BBQ in the Southern Ocean!
During the night we travelled to Godhul and when we awoke it was another beautiful and calm day, so we were offered a few activity options, one being a walk from Cobblers Cove to a rookery of Macaroni Penguins. As this could be the only opportunity to see Macaronis, I quickly decided on the walk. We landed on the beach and walked up to the brow of the ridge where the rocky coast reminded me of Cornwall. We eventually arrived at the penguins, most of them sitting on nests guarding their precious eggs. We observed them for a while before returning to the ship, having enjoyed the challenging walk.
The afternoon was spent walking at Godhul Bay. Formerly used for whaling, the beach here was littered with old whale bones. We walked through tussock grass where fur seals voiced their disapproval to arrive at a colony of Gentoo Penguins.
It was a very early start for our last day on South Georgia, visiting Gold Harbour. The beach was much smaller than the previous places we had stopped at, but still supported a massive colony of King penguins, fur seals and pups, elephant seals of various ages – including the adorable weaners with their huge innocent eyes – and a stunning backdrop of glaciers and snowy mountain tops.
In the afternoon we sailed south along the coast. The scenery was simply breath-taking, as seemingly endless glaciers tumbled into the sea, and soaring behind them mountains and virgin snow drifts. A pod of humpback whales entertained us before we entered the Drygalski Fjord. We slowly sailed to the head of the fjord where we were greeted with more stunning scenery – glaciers, waterfalls and mountains all framed by a clear sea reflecting the blue sky and white clouds above; it was just incredible to take in and a fitting way to end our time on the amazing islands of South Georgia.
