The morning started with our departure from Stromness Harbour at 0600 hours sailing south-east towards Godthul Harbour. As we sailed along the coast much of South Georgia’s beauty was hidden under low clouds, with only the tallest peaks showing occasionally above the cloud level. Once inside Godthul Harbor the clouds cleared away and we enjoyed sunshine and clear skies.
As we made our landing for our long and medium hikes we could see the beach was littered with whale bone left over from the days when a whaling factory ship was stationed here from 1908 to 1917 and again from 1922 to 1929. There were remains of the shore whaling depot near where we landed. Our hikes took us up the slopes towards the lake and the gentoo penguin colony. We also were treated to amazing views across the bay.
For those who did not want to go hiking we offered Zodiac cruising around the coast watching the elephant seals on the beaches, then scouring the tussock-covered cliffs for light-mantled sooty albatross where we got good looks at several birds sitting on ledges.
Our undersea specialists also took the opportunity to dive in the very clear waters near the kelp beds close to shore. Their video footage would later be shown on the screens in the ship’s lounge. Once we returned to the ship there was a chance for anyone to take the polar plunge in the colder waters of the Antarctic convergence.
After lunch we made our landing at St Andrews Bay, South Georgia’s largest king penguin colony—it’s home to approximately 200,000 pairs of penguins! Our team of naturalists led us on walks from the landing site towards a viewpoint overlooking the main part of the colony and as the mist cleared the vastness of the king penguin colony became apparent. The entire length of the sandy beach was also covered in elephant seals with their pups, some of us even witnessed a pup being born as well as two of the large male elephant seals known as beach masters fighting for dominance.
Near the landing site many of us arriving or departing the shore in Zodiacs were treated to a great viewing of a large leopard seal who was very curious of us and came close to investigate.
