After a quiet and peaceful night at anchor at St Andrews Bay, our expedition leader Doug woke us up very early at 5:00 a.m. He gave us the update that the morning looked beautiful, the stars were out, and that it looked very promising for a gorgeous sunrise.
82 guests chose to get dressed, have a quick bite to eat in the lounge, and wake up with a coffee before heading out in the Zodiac at 5:30 to enjoy the largest king penguin colony in the whole of South Georgia. St Andrews Bay counts over 200,000 king penguin pairs. There are so many individual birds and chicks, as well as the magic scenery of high mountain peaks and glaciers, which makes this landing one of the highlights of the voyage. We were so lucky to be here on a calm Saturday morning.
Ashore, countless king penguins, first and second year fur seals, and also a few big bull elephant seals welcomed us all. Most of us did not now where to look, as there was so much happening on a square meter of beach. There was activity everywhere, from playing seals to courting king penguins.
As soon as we were all ashore, a band of snow clouds started to approach the beach and before we knew it, it was snowing quite heavily. This created a mysterious atmosphere all around, but as weather can change so quickly, we were lucky enough to see the sunrise just a little while later after all. This gave us the perfect opportunity to take some wonderful sunrise photographs with the wildlife in the foreground.
For about two hours everyone spread around on the beach, kneeled down to get the up-close and personal experience with the wildlife and just soaked it all up. By 7:30 most of us got slightly hungry, so Zodiacs picked us up to get some breakfast onboard, which also gave us a chance to warm up a bit before heading out for a second chance later this morning.
At 9:30 we were all invited ashore again, but this time the landing was moved closer to the main colony, giving us a chance to get that overview over the bay and the thousands and thousands of birds. Many of us were at a loss for words. It certainly gave us the feeling that this is what nature is meant to be—uninterrupted and full of abundance.
With that feeling of gratitude and awe we went back for lunch to get warmed up and ready for our afternoon activity at Golden Bay. At 13:30, just before our arrival into Golden Bay, Doug gave us a detailed briefing on Shackleton’s hike, our next day’s activity, to give us a greater understanding what this hike is all about.
By 14:30 we had arrived at our afternoon’s destination, Golden Bay. What a glorious afternoon full of bright sunshine and calm conditions. The scenery was truly amazing with high mountain peaks and glaciers in the background and an abundance of wildlife in the foreground. More king penguins, elephant seals, and fur seals roamed around actively, chasing each other and guests around. Some of us chose to go for a longer hike along the beach and up a small ridge, while others chose to focus on photography with Massimo and Ian, while the rest of us just wondered around by ourselves.
Everyone seemed to really enjoy this special day, taking in the magic beauty of South Georgia. Some even mentioned that this day would be hard to beat, as this day was already beyond all expectations.
