Back into zodiac swing

Well, it’s back into the wildlife viewing and Zodiac touring after our three days at sea. It’s nice to get outdoors into the fresh air and visit with the wildlife that is extremely bountiful here at South Georgia Islands. We have not passed our official government biosecurity inspections (they come aboard and randomly select 57 passengers to examine all their gear). Therefore, we cannot go ashore until that is done tomorrow. To take advantage of being here on time, we were out on zodiacs this morning in Cooper Bay and originally this afternoon we were supposed to be in Larsen Harbour, however, as is the way with expeditions, a change of plans was necessary due to sea and weather conditions, and went to Gold Harbour after lunch instead.

Hearing and reading about all the wildlife that is present and protected on South Georgia Island cannot prepare you for the volume of wildlife that we saw first thing this morning. Right off the bat there were petrels, gulls and many birds I could not even identify circling, floating and hunting around us. As our zodiac made its way towards the beach, we were welcomed by HUGE colonies of penguins, including: macaroni penguins, king penguins and of course, the very plentiful gentoo penguins. Sprinkled among these cute land mammals were many many fur seals and elephant seals. It’s amazing how they coexist on the beaches, virtually ignoring each other, yet cohabitating beautifully.

The one exception to the friendly neighbour harmony is the Southern Giant Petrel, who are looking at this time of year for vulnerable fur seal pups and any abandoned penguin eggs. Today we saw these large birds (wing spans up to 6 feet) trying to separate the pups from their moms. We witnessed two successful separations, however to our delight (and quiet cheering), the little pups were able to scurry to the waters edge and get in the ocean before the birds were able to make them their lunch.

The cycle of life is ever present here in the South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands. I really look forward to many more great sightings. The picture taken this morning was not the best opportunities as the sleet and wind made visibility difficult and the automatic focus was not helpful on the camera.

The theme of an expedition cruise is flexibility, flexibility, flexibility! This afternoon, the first people out in the initial zodiac tours were cold and uncomfortable, and the disbarment from the zodiacs became battling a metre swell, either way, (which is what we had in the morning, but the early group had not experienced), we understand from friend at present-dinner gathering, some passengers requested their zodiac turn back within minutes of setting out.

As a result, our excursion group did not get a chance to go out for second tour. We did not get to go to those beautiful king penguin beaches . This is part of the whole expedition experience, where safety and comfort of passengers, crew and wildlife are all taken into account and the agenda for the day may be altered. I really hope I’ll have an opportunity in the next couple days to actually get some amazing pictures of the King Penguins. If not, there’s the ship photographers and the guest photographer on board who did take amazing shot that I will publish some missing pictures at the end of this blog. Not today, but literally the end of the blog, as we will provided a link and permission to use their photos from this expedition.Read more