We had arrived over night at Salisbury Plain on South Georgia and were woken at 5.30am by Stefan broadcasting over the ship's intercom, 'Guten Morrrrrrrrrrgen!!'
One of the first things we did was to make an early morning birthday call to Tallulah. The satellite phone worked well and we were able to congratulate her before she headed off to school.
We had tea and some toast in the cabin and then dressed, putting on our wet gear and lifejackets. We went down to the wet room to collect our boots and then boarded the Zodiacs at 6.30am. The Zodiac trip ashore was a short ride and, as we approached the beach, there were large numbers of king penguins swimming around us. We could see thousands of birds on the beach and also lots of young fur seals.
Landing on Salisbury Plain
Fur seal cub
King penguins
Richard Sidey, expedition photographer in action
The weather was very different from our last visit in 2008, when there was glorious sunshine. This time, it was drizzly rain and very overcast. Still, the sight of so many penguins and seals more than made up for the wet day. Interestingly, there were no elephant seals, which we had seen in large numbers in 2008.
We walked along the beach to the main penguin colony, which was as large, if not larger than when we were last here. The numbers are simply staggering and, even though there were some young in their brown downy coats, there were far fewer chicks than before.
'Ugly duckling'
Mud everywhere!
Young chick
The dramatic contrast between the babies and the adults
Protecting their young
The vast size of the colony stretching up the hillside and, in the foreground, the red coats of the passengers.
There were chicks at all stages of development, and some penguins still hatching eggs. The nearly fully developed penguins were in various stages of moulting and, until they have lost all their baby feathers, they cannot go into the water to feed and are entirely reliant on their parents.
Above the colony, skuas were flying around, looking for dead birds to feed on or young chicks to pick up and carry away. The noise of so many birds was incredible and incessant. The high-pitched sound of the chicks enables the parents to locate them in the vast colony, as each young bird makes its own individual sound. Nature is truly amazing!
A skua waiting for a meal!
We spent about an hour at the colony and then slowly walked back to the Zodiacs. The wind had risen and, as we were boarding our Zodiac, a huge wave came in and the boat was lifted right up at one end. Daniil, who was our driver, and Stefan and Peter, who were on the shore, managed to grab the boat and pull it down again on to the water (with us all in it!) and we had to speed away quickly before the next wave and gust of wind. The bottom of the Zodiac had over a foot of water in it, which drained out as we headed back to the ship. All around us were penguins and seals swimming in the water. Pretty wet, we arrived back at the ship and were served hot chocolate before our meticulous boot-cleaning duties.
Returning to take the Zodiacs back to the Explorer
Afterwards, we went to the Panorama Lounge for a light breakfast. Whilst we were eating, the ship was repositioned a short distance to an anchorage off Prion Island, one of the nesting places of the wandering albatross.
We dressed in our wet gear again and took the Zodiacs ashore. We were greeted by dozens of young fur seals playing in the kelp beds by the shore.
One of the many fur seals on the beach at Prion Island
Led by Kara, we took the boardwalk up to the albatross site. On
the way, we went past hundreds of fur seals resting in the tussock grass.
Some of them were quite aggressive and tried to follow us up the path.
It was quite exciting trying to dodge them!.
Too close for comfort!
David Grant following us up the boardwalk
Looking back down the boardwalk to the sea
At the top of the hill, we saw about a dozen wandering
albatross on their nests. They are beautiful birds with huge wings.
Unfortunately, we didn't see any taking-off or landing because there was
insufficient wind at the time. Still, we felt very privileged to be so
close to these magnificent birds.
Two nesting wandering albatross
An albatross on its nest in the tussock grass
There was also one southern giant petrel chick sitting on its nest.
Southern Giant Petrel chick
We returned to the beach where we saw our first South Georgia pipit. This bird has been decimated by the rats on large parts of South Georgia but here, on Prion Island, there are no rats so the bird thrives.
The South Georgia Pipit
A group of fur seal pups playing at the water's edge
We returned to the ship where we had a good lunch with Luqui, Richard Sidey and the MacDonalds, Fran and Steve, from Sydney. We sat and talked for a long time.
The ship then repositioned to Hercules Bay, a truly beautiful bay with high cliffs surrounding it.
Hercules Bay
As we arrived there, we passed a couple of small icebergs.
One of the ice bergs at the entrance to Hercules Bay
We dropped anchor in the middle of the bay, where we were surrounded by magnificent mountains that rose nearly vertically from the shore. There was a beautiful waterfall cascading down from a narrow gorge to a small beach, where there were elephant and fur seals as well as gentoo, chinstrap and macaroni penguins.
At 4pm, we boarded the Zodiac for a tour of the bay. Our driver was Uli, who gave us the best possible commentary of the wildlife and flora of
the bay. It was a fascinating tour. First we headed out to take a look at the icebergs.
Approaching one of the icebergs
We then turned back towards the shore and saw our first
group of large elephant seals on a small beach with a dramatic waterfall
as a backdrop. Quite a picture!
The waterfall and the beach with the seals and penguins
Uli
Uli explaining how kelp floats
Happy explorers, Rob and Gayle
There were rockhopper penguins nesting up the sides of the steep cliffs. We watched them climbing up and saw many of them sliding backwards and having repeatedly to try and reach their nesting sites.
Rockhopper penguins clinging to the rock face
After about an hour and a half, we returned to the boat.
Waiting to re-board the Explorer
Once we had taken off all our gear, we headed for the theatre and the daily recap. It was then down to the dining room for our evening meal. Our first full day on South Georgia had lived up to my expectations in every respect. I am really looking forward to tomorrow!
Distance Travelled: 95 NM
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