South Georgia Grand Finale

 

Saturday, November 4^th 2023

    Kayaking Fortuna Bay

I am beginning to run out of superlatives to describe the experience of exploring South Georgia Island. Saturday was our last day in the area before we headed back out to sea toward Antarctica.  As a result, our expedition leader maximized the day by providing three different tours starting at 5:00AM!  Henry and I joined the majority of other passengers for a 4:30AM wake up.  We made believe we were rising early to go fishing.  This operation included a brief Zodiac tour of Hercules Bay to view a small colony of macaroni penguins. Our guide Eloisa first took us out to the mouth of the bay to view some of the icebergs which shone brilliantly in the rising sun. Only a handful of penguins had returned from the sea to this section of beach in front of a tall waterfall—but it made a lovely scene--after a brief visit we made our way back to the Sea Spirit.

Macaroni penguins, Hercules Bay

Next stop was Fortuna Bay a little farther north.  Henry and I joined our small group of kayakers to explore the northern shore.  Groups of fur seals played all around our kayaks and large herds of elephant seals dozed along the rocky banks. Our leader had us practice paddling in between rocks and shallow tide pools as gentle waves curled toward shore. The view from the water was breathtaking.

    

  King penguin coming to say hello!

Soon we were swapping our kayaks with another group, and we made our way overland to witness a huge colony of king penguins about a mile inland.  Along the way, some of the curious birds walked right up to us to say hello.  King penguins are the second largest species after emperors, standing about three feet tall.  But our expedition leader, Aaron, encouraged us to keep moving toward the main observation point.  Upon climbing up the small ridge, we witnessed a huge mass of king penguins and their fuzzy brown chicks huddled in a large valley threaded by several freshwater streams.  The grass in the valley was beginning to turn a lush green on this early spring day.  Most of the chicks were about one year old at this point with their immature brown plumage.  Gaston our guide noted that it takes about a full year for the chicks to mature and molt before they are ready to head out to sea on their own. Other penguins were molting, breeding or laying eggs. “It’s chaotic,” Gaston explained. Like emperor penguins, kings do not build nests, they incubate the single egg on their feet.  

King colony behind us, Fortuna Bay

After lunch we continued north to the Bay of Iles and the renowned Salisbury Plain.  Thankfully there was no indication of the avian influenza at this site, so we were able to land on the pebble beach.  Once again, we had to navigate around large fur and elephant seals that sometimes lunged at us with open mouths.  The guides clapped loudly and spread their arms to discourage the animals from charging as we made our way through the gauntlet.

It was a short walk through large humps of tussock grass and slippery mud to edge of the vast plain.  The scene reminded me of something like the Serengeti Plain in Africa.  There was a mass of king penguins as far as the eye could see.  It was estimated that about 60,000 pairs huddled in the area with over 200,000 birds overall, including many peeping juveniles and braying singles looking to hook up.  “Wow!” was all we could utter.  It was simply amazing.

King colony, Salisbury Plain

Salisbury Plain

Back on the ship we celebrated the day with a tasty Manhattan cocktail as we sat on our deck and watched as pods of king penguins porpoised through the bay back to the beach.  At one point a southern right whale surfaced in front of us. then dove, its massive fluke tail silhouetted against the snow-capped mountains in the distance.  It was a fitting closing act of a sublime day - our Soth Georgia Grand Finale as we now make our way to Antarctica.

Manhattan Time!