We woke to our first sight of icebergs in the Southern Oceans, snow and an ominous sky – welcome to South Georgia. South Georgia is often called the “gem” of sub-Antarctic waters, due to its abundance of wildlife that cannot be surpassed with its awesome mountain and glacier scenery. South Georgia is also claimed by the UK and the island played an important role in the development of Antarctic exploration.
The island is exceptionally rugged and amazingly beautiful. On our first day, we explored Elsehul (one of the original Norwegian Whaling Stations) by zodiac, seeing huge numbers of fur seals, king and macaroni penguins. In the afternoon, we took to Salisbury Plain in the Bay of Isles, which is really indescribable – a unique penguin colony, where there are over 500,000 king penguins.
We were able to literally walk with and amongst these birds, so inquisitive and mesmerising to watch – it was often the case that you would have a pair or a brave single penguin come right up to you to check you out and behind you another 4 penguins were doing the same. Just brilliant!
