South Georgia (Part 2) / South Georgia (Part 2)

We will spend two more days in South Georgia. A zodiac ride along the Nordenskjöld Glacier in Cumberland Bay must be canceled due to strong winds. As a substitute, we land in a nearby cove called Jason Harbour, where there is a small hike with fur seals and a small colony of King penguins. Since we are particularly focused on the King penguins, Plan B turns out to be better than Plan A for us. In the afternoon of the same day, we will land at the main (perhaps the only) settlement in South Georgia - Grytviken. Here, there are remnants from the whaling era, along with a hike to a mountain saddle (300 meters high) that offers a fantastic view. Also, Ernest Shackleton is buried here - tradition dictates that the captain gives a small speech at his grave and pours some rum on it - and additional rum finds its way into the throats of the visitors.

Next, we will make another landing in a King penguin colony (at Gold Harbour - now at the southeastern tip of South Georgia). With about 20,000 breeding pairs, it is said to be the third largest of its kind. As a bonus, we also encounter a larger number of elephant seals. Our last activity was supposed to be a zodiac tour in Cooper Bay, but the strong winds (8 Bft, between 70 and 80 km/h) make it nearly impossible to launch the zodiacs. There is really no Plan B left now. Offshore, there is an iceberg cemetery - many icebergs are stranded here in water depths of approximately 50 meters and must first lose some mass (= height) before they can become seaworthy again. We take a sightseeing trip among them, and as a highlight, we spot a relatively small (= fairly young) humpback whale that slaps the water with its tail (communication?) and allows us to come as close as 30 meters. It is lying flat in the water and is quite visible in full size.

Afterwards, we leave South Georgia. For us, it was the main goal of our trip. We personally saw King penguins up close on all four landings and feel well satisfied. There were also some additional treats. Now we are relaxed and look forward to what comes next ... next, we set course for A23a, the world’s largest iceberg (about the size of Mallorca) which is moving within reachable distance. For the first time, we also feel a little movement of the ship, but it’s still not enough for seasickness.

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We have 2 more days at South Georgia. A zodiac tour along the Nordenskjoeld glacier in the Cumberland bay is canceled due to too strong winds, instead, we land in a nearby cove called Jason Harbour. Here, we have a little hike with Fur seals and a rather small King penguin colony. As King penguins are for us anyway the biggest attraction here around, we did like plan B even more than plan A. In the afternoon of that day we land in a little (and maybe the only) village on South Georgia, Grytviken, an ancient whalers station. Besides seeing the remains of the whaling, we do a nice little hike up to a mountain saddle offering incredible views both towards dark blue sea and glacier-packed mountains. Also, in Grytviken, there is the grave of Ernest Shackleton, and our captain follows an old tradition to hold a little speech and put some rum onto Shackelton's grave. More rum was then put into the surrounding visitors.

The next activity was another landing in a King penguin colony - this time in Gold Harbour at the southeasterly tip of South Georgia. The Colony shall have 20,000 breeding pairs and is announced to be the 3rd-largest here around. We find additionally also a number of elephant seals here, partially quite active. Our last activity at South Georgia should have been another zodiac trip along the coastline in Cooper Bay, but the strong winds (8bft) made it impossible to even get the zodiacs into water. This time, there is no plan B, but the area is an iceberg cemetery (many icebergs strand here as the ocean floor rises to 50m below surface). We do a sightseeing trip through the icebergs and see as a highlight a humpback whale smashing the waters with his fluke. We come as close as 30m or so and can see the whale in full size (well, for a humpback it was rather small (=probably rather young) but still impressive).

Afterwards, we leave South Georgia. For us, seeing it was the main reason to go on this trip. We have had 4 times on land, and each time we saw King Penguins up close, so we are very satisfied. And there had been additional highlights as well. Now we are pretty relaxed and look forward to seeing what's next… we did set course to A23a, the (actual) biggest iceberg of the world (said to be about the size of Mallorca, an island in the Mediterranean sea) which travels north close to our route. Also, for the first time on this trip, the ship is moving a bit up and down, and/or rolling sidewards, however, there is still no sign of seasickness ...