December 31 New Years Eve at Hercules Bay, Grytviken

Maiviken Cove

[Last night was not a good night – I have a racking cough and sore ribs made worse by the coughing. A visit to the ship’s doctor to check out my bruises and bumps and also to check my lungs. Nothing sinister other than a little bronchitis and a bunch of bruises. The joys of travelling - hah!]

This afternoon we landed at Grytviken, the administrative centre of South Georgia. Before that, however, the ship dropped off large group of walkers at Maiviken Cove to walk via an high overland pass to eventually meet the rest of us at Grytviken. After the dropoff, the ship was repositioned in Cumberland Bay and Howard picked up the government officers. We underwent a stringent biosecurity check before being allowed to go ashore to what was once a thriving whaling station. 

Top R is King Edward Point, the administrative centre for South Georgia

We wandered through the rusting remains of the old processing station around which penguins and seals made themselves quite at home. Then we finally straggled up to the cemetery where Ernest Shackleton is buried. Coincidentally he died almost 101 years to the day – 5 Jan 1922. A large group of us gathered with tot of whiskey while Nina, the ship's historian, gave a fitting tribute to 'the Boss' and we all drank a toast to this great man – it was quite moving.  Frank Wild, Shackleton’s second in command is also buried here. 

Ernest Shackleton’s grave

Back on-board things were starting to wind up for a wild old NYE party but not before a curious crowd gathered in the Citizen Science Centre on board to look at what Russell had collected in the water earlier that day. It was quite fascinating and a few science enthusiasts were born. The Centre is not quite finished but there were a couple of microscopes with cameras attached and we had fun identifying the beasties wriggling under our gaze.  

The Citizen Science centre

At dinner things started to really wind up and it got rowdier as the night wore on - we headed for bed around 10pm. By all reports the celebrations kept going until 1am or later. There were a few sore heads next morning!

December 30 that afternoon at Cooper Bay, South Georgia

If the morning wasn’t enough, the afternoon saw us out looking for more wildlife. This time we were after Macaroni Penguins - and more fur seals - at Cooper Bay.

Yep , they were up there over that hill!

We landed on that beach amongst the rocks and sea lions.

We split in two groups and half of us landed at a narrow beach full of fur seals and headed up a steep slope to the penguin colony. I took one look at the slope and my heart sank. Lindsay kept telling me “you can do it” but oh dear what a climb nevertheless I did give it a go. In the end, it proved too much for me (and Lindsay) and we returned to the beach. I have to tell you that we were wearing gumboots (at least a size too big!) and life jackets plus our other clobber  – I mean really!  Lindsay and I stood on the beach with one of the guides, the gentle Lizelle, for about an hour fending off mother fur seals – the beach was a nursery and woe betide you if you got between mother and pup. The mothers are extremely intimidating and aggressive and not in the least afraid. We had to be wary and learnt to stand our ground. Eventually the penguin-hunters descended with varying degrees of grumbles about the difficulty of the climb – both ways. And then the second wave of passengers arrived on shore to tackle the slope and the rest of us hopped into the zodiacs to explore.  

A nursery for adorable sea lions

"Stay away from my babies or else!”

This guy would have tackled anyone - they were dotted all through the tussocks.

Sweet little pets!

There was a creche of a number of youngsters watched over by a very large female.

And then the group descended many grumbling as they came - too hard for many!

But lucky us saw lots of Macaroni Penguins closeup without the climb! The origin of the name? The person who named them reckoned they looked like Yankee Doodle – you know the one who “stuck a feather in his cap and called him Macaroni”. Very jaunty! 

Lots of them spilling down the hill.

We had expected to do a seaweed survey with Russell but the tide was too high. Instead he took us poking into narrow crevasses and through skeins of rubbery kelp. 

Macaroni Penguins - very jaunty

Fascinating coastline

It was quite exciting but extremely cold. Time was slipping by, so we headed to another beach to look mainly for Gentoo Penguins. It was a surf beach so we had to be careful not to get caught in the waves (I think Russell would have liked to surf in on the zodiac!)

Russell is a mad driver and took the zodiac at full pelt through waves and increasing swells. Lindsay was in a lot of pain each time the zodiac crashed back on the water (we both had sore ribs from our polar plunge). The weather continued to deteriorate and by the time we got back ship-side there was quite a large swell. The result was that I missed the step going between zodiac and ship. With no help or support from eitherthe seaman at the portal (obviously new to the job) or our zodiac driver, I fell heavily into the ship and  sustained a lot of bruises and swellings on my legs but no breakages (2 years later I still have the scars).

This was today - a great, but very long day

December 30 Drygalski Fjord & Gold Harbour, South Georgia

What a beautiful morning!  After a couple of days with blustering winds and snow crossing the Scotia Sea we woke this morning to blue skies - and yes wind but it was a weeny bit warmer, I think! We have arrived at South Georgia! When I say we woke, we got a wake up call at 4am because we had just rounded the point at Cape Disappointment and were entering Drygalski fjord. The fjord is rather spectacular. Towering snow-patched mountains, rugged rocks showing slabs of red and green here and there. As someone said it’s like the Swiss Alps had been plonked into the Scotia sea. We all huddled in the Observation lounge dashing out every now and then on deck to get photos. It was chilly and extremely windy! We drank the coffee machine dry and then once 5:30 came ducked down for an early morning pastry. It was a marvelous couple of hours but then we scuttled back to bed for a bit of sleep before the breakfast call. 

Just a little about Drygalski because there are a number of places named for him. The first I remember was in the Ross Sea when we were there in 2020. His name fascinated me. He, Erich von Drygalski, was a German geographer, geophysicist and polar scientist. In 1901, he led the first German South Polar expedition with the ship Gauss to explore the unknown area of Antarctica lying south of the Kerguelen Islands also known as the Desolation Islands. This group of islands is partially submerged in the southern Indian Ocean.  A small party from that expedition was stationed on one of the the Kerguelen Islands while the main party proceeded further south. Drygalski also paid a brief call to Heard Island (now an Australian territory) and provided the first comprehensive scientific information on the island's geology, flora and fauna. I’d love to go there. Despite being trapped in ice for nearly fourteen months until February 1903, the expedition discovered new territory in Antarctica. 

The h

The end of the Drygalski Fjord

In the meantime back to the Drygalski Fjord .... we were all a bit bug-eyed but excited about an imminent landing amongst the wildlife! From our cabin we could almost hear the seals and penguins calling to us! We were after wildlife! So the ship sailed on to Gold Harbour where we piled into the zodiacs to wend our way through packed colonies of seals and penguins on the beach. 

Gold Harbour

The scene that greeted us reminded me a little of Macquarie Island where we visited in 2020 except here the penguins didn’t come out to meet the ship nor circle the zodiacs as we headed for the beach.  Macquarie Island penguins were so curious perhaps they got fewer visitors - back then.  Quite likely the penguins of South Georgia are so used to human visitors that we no longer hold any novelty value.  Nevertheless, the beach setting was rather spectacular against its backdrop of lush green slopes dotted with large cushions of thick tussock grass sliced through here and there with waterfalls and all crowned  with a huge glacier.  

The penguins were predominately King Penguins

Two parents with presumably their juvenile still showing some baby down

When they're molting they can't feed. Juveniles have black beaks.

The big brown fluff balls are the babies.

These two were courting

On the beach the Elephant Seals were lolling around like ginormous slugs peeling chunks of fur, belching, groaning and coughing while their young flopped around playing or snuggled up to each other; they are thigmotactic – they love to cuddle! Such sweet faces. Incidentally the majority of Southern Elephant Seals breed on South Georgia and some of the Atlantic Subantarctic islands.  The sea lions, particularly the young ones, were fighting for prized tussock grass ‘castles’ or careered about in mock fights. We picked our way carefully through seals and penguins, mostly Kings but a few Gentoos strutted through the crowd. 

"Out of my way I'm coming through!" 

The Elephant Seals kept throwing sand over themselves to stay cool

This little guy was trying to chill out - head on rock and feet stretched out on the damp sand,

Fearless

Adorable young Elephant Seals

Hungry, hopeful Giant Skuas crouched nonchalantly here and there and white Snowy Sheathbills scrounged for titbits on the perimeter. Scattered about here and there amongst the cacophony of life were a few picked-over carcasses – this was life in the raw. If not for the scavengers the beach would be knee-deep with carcasses.

After what seemed like hours, we headed back to the mothership for lunch – and a longed-for sit down. While ashore we were not allowed to sit or kneel or put our bags down for fear of introducing a nasty invasive species.