Danzenbaker Tour Journal: Day Five in South Georgia

Adult Gentoo Penguin and its fuzzy chick.

January 10: Godthul and schedule flexibility
 
We had traveled south during the night with intentions of making an early morning landing at the immense King Penguin colony at St. Andrew’s Bay. Unfortunately, the weather was still uncooperative and the swell on the beach would have been too overpowering for a safe landing.

Moving on to Plan B, we sailed into the safe harbor at Godthul, which offered a protected cove with a Gentoo Penguin colony and some King Penguins on the landing beach. We held out hope that we would also be able to visit a Macaroni Penguin colony, which lies across the bay.

Weather is always the big question mark in this corner of the world, thus even the best laid plans can fall apart. Ours were in serious jeopardy. It quickly became apparent that the Macaroni Penguin visit would have to be scrapped. None of us was anxious to make a James Caird-like bouncing zodiac ride over to the far side of the bay, followed up by a difficult ascent through an Antarctic Tern colony. Reluctantly, we opted for the landing of least resistance.

Fur Seal-infested landing sites are a constant on South Georgia. When we do land, our first job is to gently blaze a trail to a less densely packed section of beach.

The first landing party had already established a trail through the Fur Seal infested tussock grass to a ridge where a Gentoo colony was located. We found it a bit befuddling that it took us considerable effort to get to the colony while simultaneously watching Gentoos, whose legs are considerably shorter than ours, traverse the same terrain with comparative ease. Passengers found particular joy in watching Gentoo Penguins bath in a hilltop pond before descending to the sea. We also watched seal pups playing games along the shoreline, which was littered with a multitude of bones. Snow kept flying even as the last minutes of our visit ticked away. Lunch never tasted better.
 
Back aboard the Polar Star, the afternoon was spent traveling south along the east coast of the island to its southern tip and Drygalski Fjord. This narrow fjord separates the island of South Georgia from a section of sea floor crust that was thrown upward many millions of years ago. Impressive
geologic formations were interpreted by Hugh Rose on the intercom. At the end ofthe fjord, the Risting Glacier dumps brash ice, bergy bits, and larger chunks into the pure glacial water. We glimpsed a Leopard Seal on one floe but it slithered away before more than a handful of us were able to find it. We spotted our first Snow Petrels of the trip, a beautiful species of seabird never found
far from the ice. Our evening ended with a delicious dinner and, unfortunately, scrubbed plans for zodiac cruising in Larsen Harbor. Once again, mounting ocean swells were not dove-tailing with our itinerary.

All photos by Jim Danzenbaker