Monday 26th February
Drygalski Bay (eastern South Georgia)
We arrived here in the late afternoon and the ship did a tour inside this deep fjord before emerging back to the open sea and heading for tomorrow's first planned zodiac visit at Royal Bay.
In the photo we leave the bay and later turn north.
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Another view behind towards Drygalski Bay's mouth.
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Tuesday 27th February
Royal Bay, South Georgia
We did a zodiac tour along the coastline of this bay.
All our trips on South Georgia were on the northern coast, sheltered from the wind and harsh weather found on the south coast.
A colony of mainly Macaroni Penguins up on the rocks.
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Penguins again.
By this point I was quite good at recognising the different kinds of them and where they tended to nest.
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A Macaroni Penguin, with its distinctive yellow feathers above its eyes, looking like a punk rocker.
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Now we are further north from the Antarctica Peninsula region, there is greenery to be found on the shore and cliff sides.
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Macaroni Penguin.
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There is a Fur Seal amongst the penguins, with moulting Macaroni chicks and the odd Chinstrap up on the rocks.
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A nice view of South Georgia from out on a Zodiac.
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A pair of Macaroni chicks, looking bedraggled.
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An albatross, one of the experts who were on the voyage would be able to identify it.
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A Southern Storm Petrel, with its characteristic tip-toeing action across the water, looking for Krill.
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Tuesday 27th February
St Andrew Bay, South Georgia
In the afternoon we did our second zodiac cruise of the day.
Heading north west there are great views of the highest mountains on South Georgia.
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A couple of female Fur Seals, almost blending in with the rocks on the shore.
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Approaching the shore, there are thousands of birds in one of the world's biggest King Penguin colonies.
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A colourful spectacle as penguins take to the water off the shore.
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An Antarctic Tern in flight.
There were several very good photographers among the research team on board.
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The first of many close ups of King Penguins in South Georgia.
They nearly always look as if they've just come out of the shower and spent hours preening their coats!
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I wouldn't want to take the job of counting this lot!
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The thing about King Penguins is they often seem to be looking upwards and in different directions.
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Just a small part of the huge colony.
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Penguins on slimy green kelp-covered rocks.
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"Are you looking at me, Jimmy?"
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"You three in a line, don't just stand there staring - get us some fish!".
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One of many icebergs which end up floating around South Georgia.
The major winds and currents seem to take them in a northeasterly direction from the ice shelves of Antarctica.
There are also plenty of glaciers on the island and big chunks of ice do drop off into the sea.
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This berg looks like a chunk of ice shelf - we actually saw a huge one of several square miles (named A23A) on our way up to South Georgia.
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Wednesday 28th February
Grytviken - a stroll around the old whaling station established by Norway.
This image shows most of the rusting infrastructure of the old factory complex, where whales were brought in and cut up and boiled.
Not a very cheerful place to be, but reflecting the need or market for lamp oil and whale meat back in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Before the whales took a massive hit, it was the seals for their furs and the penguins for their oil.
Virtually no wildlife escaped the carnage back then, so it was a pleasant experience to come here and see the native fauna now protected from harm.
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About a half mile further up the coast are these new buildings and jetties, presumeably used by the British administration of the Island.
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I did a panoramic photo of Grytviken which shows a bit more of the coastline, with the cemetery where Sir Ernest Shackleton is buried to the left near the white shed.
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The museum at Grytviken.
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Me, outside the post office.
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Fur Seal pups enjoying the sunshine on the grass.
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In the museum was a scale model of the Argentine whaling steamer 'Dias', which was actually built at Beverley shipyard and launched as the 'Viola'.
That was a surprise to me, having a link to East Yorkshire down here.
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Here is the wreck of the 'Dias' beached on the shore next to the zodiac landing area.
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A different view of the whaling station, with another old rusty boat.
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An inquisitive seal pup. |
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The cemetery, which has the grave of Sir Ernest Schackleton, who was fittingly laid to rest here in South Georgia.
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Another beached whaling ship alongside the 'Dias'. |
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The third in the series of old whaling vessels which remain beached at Grytviken.
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The Norwegian church which still stands behind the settlement.
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As we leave Grytviken, a big slab of ice shelf has found its way into the huge bay.
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Another cruise ship - the 'Seabourn Venture' - waits in the bay.
Only one cruise ship at a time is allowed to land passengers at anchorages in Antarctica.
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It's a fond farewell to Grytviken as we head out of the bay for our next visit - Fortuna Bay.
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Afternoon of Wednesday 28th February.
Fortuna Bay.
Our most up close and personal visit to a penguin colony.
The King Penguin colony was mainly about a kilometre inland.
Penguins were coming and going between the beach and this nesting site.
In this picture a few of them are attracting attention from us, the human visitors.
As always, the penguins were not frightened by us, but rather curious.
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I took another panorama photo, this one of the penguin nesting area.
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You never really know what's going on in the minds of penguins when they gather together.
Sometimes they just stand looking up in different directions.
Other times they might peck their neighbour or slap them with a wing.
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Three more of them in this group.
King Penguins' eyes are almost invisible, which sort of adds to their comical appearance.
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Another view of the nesting site.
There were few chicks (which for King Penguins are big brown and fluffy) and the occasional egg abandoned.
At this time of the season, most of the chicks have fledged and left for the sea.
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This was a penguin I named Clint. He wandered up from the seashore onto the pebbley beach to greet me.
He made his funny call, so I did it back. It was a real comical encounter I'll always remember.
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'Whose egg is that', shouts the penguin on the right.
Seriously though, it's possible that its owner didn't come back after a trip out in the sea.
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The weather was very kind to us today. Probably about 21 Celcius in the sunshine.
I imagine that these penguins may get a bit uncomfortable if it gets much warmer than that.
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This seal seems to be enjoying the southern hemisphere summer, though.
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A nice photo taken by someone with a proper camera, showing our ship at anchor in the bay and some penguins seeing who is the tallest bird.
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A penguin calls out whilst a seal pup looks on.
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I like this photo someone else took, a professional image, with the ship and passenger blurred out and the four penguins in focus.
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This is a good one too.
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A Skua in the pond. These often hang around penguins looking for eggs or dead birds to feed on.
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That's me with the blue hat onboard. There must have been something interesting outside that I was filming.
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