King Penguins at St Andrews Bay- onshore

Wow what a day??!!! It started early when I woke at 3am and it was lashing with rain as we sailed down the north coast of South Georgia.
I spent the next couple of hours worrying about how we were going to keep the cameras dry whilst photographing the King Penguins at the largest rookery in South Georgia.
Waking up properly at first light at 5am all worries were dispelled as the day dawned dry with light, high cloud.
Waking up to the towering peaks of South Georgia from the cabin window was incredible.
I was up and the verandah door was already open when the wake up call came at 5.30am. The aroma of the nearby penguins was enough to wake anyone up!!
It was confirmed that the Whale and Seal groups were to go ashore first whilst the Albatross and Penguin groups were to go zodiac cruising half an hour later ( due to only 100 people can be landed at one time).
So excited we were dressed and ready to go by 05.50am but diligently waited until we were called at 6am. On going down to the “mud room” at 6am it was already full of people getting their outer gear on and some were already queuing..... these were not people in the “Whale group!!... WTF??!!
K and I were extremely annoyed by this unfairness so got changed in record time and got onto the first zodiac.... however I didn’t mention that I wasn’t sure my trousers were done up and I couldn’t remember if I had put my indoor shoes away!!!
Arriving onto the beach at St Andrews bay surrounded by hundreds of King Penguins in the lee of 3 glaciers and snow capped peaks is indescribable. We were so excited to finally be here in South Georgia!!
One of the tour leaders made us walk across the beach and over towards the largest king penguin rookery with more than 150,000 nesting pairs of king penguins ( at last count, now expected to be much more).
It was a sensory overload everywhere we looked- king penguin after king penguin in the morning light, baby fur seals romping with each other, huge female elephant seals guarding the beach between a small pool and the sea etc etc. All of this framed by majestic snow capped, jagged peaks and large, wide blue glaciers partially hidden by passing low clouds.
We spent the next 2.5 hours walking around in wonderment taking endless photos- K was up to 1000 by the time we got back to the boat at 9am for breakfast!! What an experience- it was just like you see on the TV but x100 more surreal due to the noise of the Penguins chattering, the ammonia smell of penguin guano, the constant challenges by the fur seal pups practicing for when they are bigger, and the general outstanding beauty of our surroundings that it is just impossible to capture on a camera.
We were fizzing with excitement by the time we got back for breakfast after diligently disinfecting our boots and rechecking bags for any biological material we may have picked up.
After breakfast we had an hour whilst the second half of the passengers were dropped ashore before the zodiacs came back to pick us up to take us cruising along the shoreline to drift amongst the penguins in the rookery and those propped on the kelp covered rocks in the bay.
We suited right up in all gear to make sure we stayed dry and warm because although the sun was out, which was stunning, it was still only 3 degs in temperature.
We spent the next 1.5 hours in the zodiac watching and trying to photograph the penguins in the water, along the shoreline and standing in all of their glory up on the rocks.
The water was incredibly clear so we could see the penguins swimming and porpoising under the water before they hauled out onto dry land.
Trying to keep the sea water and spray out of the camera wasn’t easy nor was turning around in the boat wearing all of the wet weather gear but we managed!!
We got back to the boat at 12.30pm, repeated the biosecurity disinfectant processes etc and put all batteries onto charge before heading down to lunch.... more food!! What a morning?!!
We had an hour for lunch and then we were told we would be motoring to Gold Bay where we would all go ashore for a couple of hours to see more King penguins, gentoos and elephant seals.
Everyone was up in the Observation lounge after lunch- people we had never seen before!!
We were due to anchor at Gold Bay at 3pm
So we all spent a pleasant hour admiring the breathtaking beauty of the landscape and glaciers we passed which then led onto “growler” ( small ice berg) spotting!! Our first icebergs!! Calved from the local glaciers.
We pulled into Gold Bay with its magnificent glacier hanging over the vertical cliffs, and dropped anchor in the sun. We were excitedly all suited and ready to go when it was announced that our “whale” group was in the second half to go ashore and due to the fact there was too much swell to go zodiac cruising we had to sit tight on the boat for 1.5 hrs whilst 2 groups got dropped ashore first- this didn’t go down well but not much we could do about it apart from moan a little bit from our Verandah!!
However 15 mins later there was an announcement it wasn’t safe to land anyone so the zodiacs were Reloaded and we were to have a relaxing afternoon on the boat- fair enough.
We have spent the past 3 hours watching the beautiful landscapes from our cabin and at 5pm we decided to open the wine!
We are just about to have the daily recap and briefing before tonight’s dinner at 7.30pm- this cruising life is quite glorious with penguins, seals and icebergs just cruising past us from our verandah!!Meer informatie