Saint Andrew’s Bay & Grytviken
At first light the snow-rimmed peaks of high mountains loomed as a grand backdrop to Saint Andrew’s Bay. The waters of the bay were unusually calm as we ventured ashore where our landing site was alive with elephant seals and king penguins. Gazing down the long arcing beach, the view was smothered in wildlife, with piles of grunting and bellowing elephant seals, and lines of elegant king penguins emerging from the surf, and proceeding toward the colony. Many were returning from the sea with food for their chick. Others onshore were molting in preparation for a new round of egg laying. Drifts of molted penguin feathers seemed to cover everything. Inland from the shoreline, thousands upon thousands of penguins were amassed in a sprawling breeding colony that buzzed with activity, and emitted a cacophony of sound.
Saint Andrew’s dizzying profusion of seals and penguins is, without any doubt, one of the most amazing wildlife spectacles anywhere on earth. At its heart is South Georgia’s largest king penguin colony with as many as 150,000 breeding pairs. We had the great fortune of visiting this incredible place on a lusciously calm and mild day.
During lunch the ship repositioned back northwestward to Cumberland Bay. A group of hikers disembarked in Maiviken for a strenuous, but very scenic hike over a high ridgeline to rejoin their shipmates in Grytviken. Here, we visited the old, now abandoned, whaling station that operated from 1904 until it closed in 1964. Much of the original station has been dismantled for safety reasons, but many interesting artifacts are still to be seen, from the rusting boilers, to whale catcher boats, and the old white “whaler’s church” erected by C. A. Larsen in 1913. Many of the aging station’s smaller artifacts, as well as interesting natural history information about the island, were found in the museum. In the late afternoon we all gathering at the nearby whaler’s cemetery for a special toast, raising a glass in honor of Sir Ernest Shackleton who is buried there, the final drops shared upon grave.
