South Georgia Island

January 6 – Cooper Bay - South Georgia Island

The Seabourn Quest arrived at Drygalski Fjord just after dawn. The winds were screaming down the fjord at better than 40 knots, so partway up the fjord the ship made a u-turn and headed for Cooper Bay, just a short distance away.  Finding a lee from both the wind and the swell, shore operations commenced at 0800.  Patrick took a kayak trip and Miriam took a Zodiac tour. There were two kinds of seals, four species of penguins and many seabirds. Getting up close and personal to the Macaroni Penguins was a real thrill, as were the seals coming close to the kayaks and zodiacs to investigate the yellow and orange strangers in their midst. Later in the morning Patrick took his zodiac tour.

Approaching Drygalski Fjord

 

Cooper Bay as we prepared to tour in Zodiacs

Lots of Fur Seals

Lots of sea lions also

The Gentoo Penguins and seals seem to coexist

The King Penguins also wander among the sea lions and seals

Here the King and Gentoo Penguins are together

Looks like a lot, but not compared to a later rookery

Lots of younger fur seals

The brown penguin is a immature King Penguin before molting

King Penguins in various stages of molting - they don not swim until in adult feathers

Petrels lurking waiting for a chance to catch something

The petrels are from the family of tubenoses

Antarctic Shap, a type of cormorant

Our first views of the Macaroni Penguins

Their rookery stretched to the top of a hill

Add caption

We decided Donald Trump modeled his haircut after the Macaroni Penguin 

A brochure moment paddling back to the Seabourn Quest

In the afternoon the ship once again tried to go up the fjord, but the winds and seas were still bad, so the ship did scenic cruising up the eastern coast of South Georgia Island, passing many pods of whales, both Minke and Humpback, We were treated to a magnificent rainbow before anchoring for the night in a protected cove. We sat in the Observation Bar before dinner watching as the guests ran from side to side trying to catch the moments on film. We were content to just take it in visually as we sipped our drinks and had caviar appetizers.

Our second unsuccessful try up Drygalski Fjord

The magnificent rainbow as we left Cooper Bay