Hercules Bay, South Georgia Island

We moved up the coast to Hercules Bay, but had to stay in the Zodiac. This is home to a large Macaroni Penguin colony and a few Elephant Seals hung around. These penguins have distinctive fancy yellow feathers that look like eyebrows.

The "Macaroni" has nothing to do with the penguins looking like pasta. The term originated in England in the 1760's for young, rich, dandy men who wore outrageous fashions after returning from their European tours. I guess lonely whalers thought these penguins looked pretty dandy.

The song Yankee Doodle Dandy was written 10 years later by Redcoats making fun of naive rubes in the colonies who thought a feather in their cap was high fashion. I had to come all the way to Antarctica to learn this.

More photos and videos are here.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/teRn6nVw2fT9ZV1i6

And this is the highlight of the trip: a Southern Right Whale sighting on January 10th. It's so rare for one of them to hang out next to a Zodiac, I'm posting it in every footprint.

https://findpenguins.com/0x7ax2pvwii8d/footprin…Read more