Date - 24 November, 2016
Weather - Clear and mild
Seas - Calm with a two metre swell
It was our turn to have a later start to go ashore. We woke to find we had anchored in St Andrew's Bay close to three glaciers coming down to near the shore line from the high snow-capped mountains. As the weather was mild we took the opportunity before breakfast to have a cup of tea on the top outer deck overlooking the view. We were joined by Lorraine, Cathy and Chris, our fellow Aussies and had a lovely time chatting away in glorious scenery. We could see the thousands of penguins dotting the shoreline.
St Andrews Bay is about 30kms south of Cumberland Bay on the north coast of South Georgia. It has the island's largest King Penguin colony with approximately 150,000 breeding pairs.
We spent about two hours on the island and it was a spectacular and unbelievable sight with King Penguins and their brown, rotund, fluffy chicks everywhere.
There were also many fur and elephant seals as it is also a breeding ground for them. We were very fortunate to have sunny weather so we saw it at its best. We took hundreds of photos as everywhere we turned there was a photo opportunity.
We were also fortunate to be able to cross a glacier stream to get to the main breeding area. This is sometimes not possible. The expedition staff provided walking sticks so we could keep our balance as we crossed the stream.
Getting in and out of the zodiacs today was challenging with the two metre swell. Thankfully it was calm and we had two staff are on hand to get us on and off the zodiac. In the morning Henk got swamped getting into the zodiac as a rogue swell came along just as he was about to step in.
We got back to the ship just in time for lunch and had an interesting discussion on the Trump election with two American women. Both were very upset at the result. At 1.00pm during lunch the anchor was pulled and we set sail in calm seas towards Gold Harbour which took about two hours. When we arrived inside the harbour there were stunning views from the boat of a glacier coming down to the shore line. It was our turn to cruise around the shoreline before going ashore. It is mating season for the elephant bulls and there was plenty of action happening!
There were also Giant Petrels, Gentoo Penguins, King Penguins, fur seals and elephant seals. About four giant petrels were eating the carcass of a fur seal and were fighting furiously with each other.
We didn't get back to the ship until 6.45pm but we didn't have to rush as dinner was at the later time of eight o'clock. We had a Thanksgiving Dinner and there are quite a number of Americans on board celebrating their special day. The dinner was a very tasty roast turkey with a range of vegetables and cranberry sauce. It was Lorraine's birthday so the waiters came in a procession to her table singing a happy rendition of Happy Birthday and gave her a cake which we all shared.
We have now left South Georgia after a wonderful visit. Sometimes it's impossible for passengers on other voyages to go ashore due to bad weather or rough seas but we were able to do all the Sth Georgia landings and see all the wonderful animals and stunning scenery. We are now making our way to south and south west. There is a large storm in the Drake Passage and the captain wants to cross the Scotia Sea before it affects us too greatly. Unfortunately, it looks like we are in for some rough weather in a day's time. A few hours after we left Gold Harbour we were back in open seas.
Tomorrow there will be no early wake up call and breakfast will served from eight o'clock. We can have a little sleep-in and a relaxing two days at sea before seeing land again.
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