Grytviken and Hercules Bay

Today we woke up to beautiful blue skies and calm seas. Our day was fully booked with two excursions and two sessions in the discovery centre. We met at 8:00 to listen to a representative from the South Georgia Heritage Trust to learn about all the projects they were working on. During the summer, there are 30 people or so residing on South Georgia Island, including scientists, while in the winter, only 10 people reside on the island. The entire ship was inspected, and they used specially trained sniffer dogs to hunt out any rodents who could have snuck aboard. 57 passengers were then inspected as a sample of the bio-inspection we had already undergone.

Once this session was over, small groups proceeded to a beach landing where we could explore the old whaling station called Grytviken. We were welcomed by an assortment of land mammals (furs seals and elephant seals), sea birds (macaroni, king, and some gentoo penguins). The historic town hosts a working post office, museum, and gift store. It was a fantastic morning.

The afternoon recap and briefing held a few surprises! When we saw the captain on the stage, we knew something was up (most likely not good). He made a fantastic and funny presentation while delivering the bad news that the seas were getting challenging again between South Georgia Island and the Falkland Islands. So, we have another deviation from the planned itinerary. We will be staying in South Georgia Islands for an extra day and reducing our time in the Falklands. By everything we have heard, this is actually a bonus!! He also explained the trio of three big tilts we experienced two days ago that resulted in most of the damage on board. Apparently, this resulted from “turning” to avoid large ice pieces which could not be seen until 500 or meters away due to swells.

Our sunset excursion was a zodiac tour around Hercules Bay. This geographically spectacular area is breathtaking. While waiting for our time to go out, we watched as hundreds of macaroni penguins reentered the bay. It was a watery penguin freeway! Once out on the water, we were treated to seeing King, Macaroni, and of course, gentoo penguins. Again, we also saw fur and elephant seals. As well, we saw albatross, skuas, giant petrels, and many other birds. Juliana, from Newfoundland, a bird expert, named so many rare birds as we saw them, but pen and pencil were back on the ship. It was a wonderful ending to a super day.Read more