St. Andrews Bay & Gold Harbour, South Georgia

December 27

Today we got a bit of a later start at 5:30a. It was warm and sunny out on deck in the early morning, such a change from the rain yesterday. We were out there with no gloves or layers.

Today’s stop is for the largest rookery of King Penguins located at St. Andrew’s Bay - a quarter of a million breeding pairs. (probably more now since the last count) What a sight as we sailed closer to the bay. Ross Glacier, Heaney Glacier and Cook Glaciers were beautiful and you could see penguins for miles. There was also a couple of Snowy Sheathbills out on deck finding a few crumbs from last nights’ BBQ.

 Snowy Sheathbill

 Snowy Sheathbill

 views from the ship

 thousands of penguins

 glacier

  

 Fur Seal playing in the water

 King Penguin swimming

 Chris just chillin'

 

We were quite fortunate that the weather was so perfect since the seas can be rough and this stop is canceled more often than not. How exciting to see such a special place.

On arrival at the beach we were greeted by penguins and seals on the hike to get to the glacier area with the large rookery of King Penguins.

 Southern Giant Petrel

 Kelp Gull

 

We debated crossing the running stream, but they said there was a rope we could hang onto as we crossed. We got there and the rope was long gone, but we crossed anyway….just taking our time. The guides were there if you got in trouble. It doesn’t look like much in the photos, but in the middle it was knee high and the water was moving quite quickly and the bottom had large slippery rocks and some smaller ones and you really had to search with your feet to feel for a spot that was stable to step on.

 

At one point there was one last hill to climb and I said to myself “how many more penguins do I need to see?” Well, we kept going and the feeling of awe as we got to the top and looked out over that many penguins, I was so glad we kept going.

There are just no words to adequately describe the feeling of slogging across a fast running stream and scaling hills and dodging fur seals with attitude to see penguins as far as you can see. One particular Fur Seal really charged at Greg. Yikes! We did see a nesting pair of Skua with a chic on the hike.

 Nesting Skua

 Skua chick

 juvenile Antarctic Shag

 up and down the hills

 the juvenile still following mom

 "giant penguin"

 Greg is the one standing

 "giant penguin"

 penguin feathers on the hill

 bloody penguin

 penguin feathers

 

After spending a lot of time observing the penguins we headed back the same we came.

 Greg's in the middle (I already crossed)

 

While we were waiting for an open zodiac to return to the ship we watched a mother Fur Seal protecting her baby from a male. She kept biting him on the neck and trying to distract him. Finally, she laid down and submitted to him, viciously biting him on the neck the whole time and the male nuzzled her afterwards. The baby was able to get away. No photos since we had already stowed everything in the dry bag for the zodiac ride back.

Shane came over and asked for people to line up for the next zodiac when he noticed the male still on top of her, but backwards. He says "he will need to learn how to do that." We said "they just finished." He just laughed.

After lunch we got to visit Gold Harbour.

The warm sunny day got a bit cooler and it snowed for the first time on the trip. So, we got out and enjoyed “the atmospheric” conditions. What a difference a few hours makes in the weather. Made for a not so pretty sail in, but the snow made for some interesting photos this afternoon.

 

We had a choice to stay on the beach with the penguins and the seals, but we opted to hike to the top to hopefully see nesting Light Mantled Sooty Albatross.

yes, we were going to climb this....

 

It was a long fairly hard hike up the mountain going through muck, mud and streams to get to the area where we were to start the ascent. Plus, with the tall grass we often came across seals or penguins that we tried to give them their space. The ascent was pretty steep and slippery and I was breathing hard and using the Tussock grass to hang onto to pull myself up. We finally made it to a spot where it leveled off.

 views from the top

 the dots are all penguins and you can see the yellow jackets of people on the beach

 

 No nesting pair was found. Three different guides took off looking everywhere for one. We did see some flying in the air and got a few photos. Then, we got word that our guide Mark had found one on a nest. It was a tight spot and we all got a turn to look and take photos. Very special. Mark had explained that it was a bad Krill year and without the proper food, the parent will eventually just take off and leave the chick as there would hardly be enough food to feed itself much less the chick. It’s quite normal to have good seasons and bad seasons. I guess that would explain the lack of pink penguin poo.

 Light Mantled Sooty Albatrosses

 Light Mantled Sooty Albatross

 Greg waiting his turn to see the nesting Light Mantled Sooty Albatross

 Light Mantled Sooty Albatross

 kayakers in the bay

 you can see the snowflakes in the photo

On the hike back down we spotted some South Georgia Pintail Ducks. The ducks are omnivorous; they feed on vegetation, including marine and freshwater algae, dabbling and diving in the sea when the water is calm. They also consume a range of invertebrates, including freshwater fairy shrimp, marine amphipods, Diptera, small clams, nematodes and snails, foraging in the intertidal zone and sometimes scavenging at seal carcasses.

 South Georgia Pintail Ducks

 hiking back down a bit easier path

 some areas we walked through

 mushrooms

 Gentoo Penguin

 

It was a tough hike but worth it and the huge fluffy snowflakes added to the ambiance. I was actually quite warm from the hiking and opened my coat and the liner. Back on the beach we spent a bit of time with the wallows of Elephant Seals. There were a few King Penguins and some Gentoo Penguins.

 

 

As we were waiting to board the zodiac back to the ship, an Elephant Seal decided it just had to have the bag that holds the life vests that we take off once on shore. We called Shane over and it was hilarious watching him try to reason with it.

 

Here is today's program:

South Georgia St. Andrews Bay & Gold Harbour

06:30 - 07:30 Breakfast is served in the Dining Room

TBA We plan to land at St. Andrews Bay

St. Andrews is a captivating setting of flora covered glacial moraines in front of the Cook and Buxton glaciers which descend from a range of mountains that reach well above 2000meters. All this is steps away from the beach, which is home to the largest king penguin colony on South Georgia (up to 200,000), a membrane-bursting array of wildlife among the streams and green hillsides. 

1) Shackleton 2) Worsley 3) Crean 4) McCarthy 5) Vincent 6) McNeish 

12:30 Lunch is served in the Dining Room

TBA We plan to land at Gold Harbour!

Gold Harbour lies on the southeast corner of South Georgia, at the foot of Salvesen Range, about 20 km (12.5 mi) north of Cape Vahsel. At the head of the bay is the stunning Bertrab Glacier which hangs over vertical cliffs. Gold Harbour is home to around 25,000 breeding pairs of king penguins which spill from the colony, into the tussock and onto the beach. Gentoo penguins can also be found in smaller colonies throughout the site (approximately 300 breeding pairs in total). Elephant seals dominate the beaches while southern giant petrels constantly patrol the site for feeding opportunities.  

1) Worsley 2) Crean 3) McCarthy 4) Vincent 5) McNeish 6) Shackleton

18:30 Please join the Expedition Staff for a Re-cap & Briefing

19:30 Dinner is served in the Dining Room

21:15 Sea Adventurer Cinema: Feature Film, “Shackleton: Part 1” in the Main Lounge with popcorn. 

“For speed and efficiency of travel, give me Amundsen; for scientific discovery, give me Scott; but when all hope is lost get down on your knees and pray for Shackleton.” –Priestly 

Sunrise: 03:54 Sunset: 20:59

We again opted to have popcorn in the cabin and watch the movie there while uploading photos. Plus, early to bed for our last day in South Georgia tomorrow.