Our day starts at Gold Harbor, a small bay at the eastern end of South Georgia. Gold Harbor is so named because the sun’s rays make the rock faces yellow at sunrise and set. Its coastline consists of a large beach and moraine covered with tussock grass. Framing the beach are the hanging ice cliffs of the massive Bertrab Glacier.
Bertrab has been retreating over the last few decades leaving a perfect breeding ground for King and Gentoo penguins and Southern Elephant seals. The King colony is estimated at 25,000 breeding pairs (62,500 total counting young-ins) and some 300 Gentoo pairs (750 total). We weren’t sure how many of the elephants were there but it seemed like a lot!
Gold Harbor’s King Penguin rookery. Some 25K breeding pairs plus offspring.
It looks like Dick may get to kayak this morning and he heads off to join his kayak group, the Orcas. The Chinstrap zodiac group are the first group to go ashore today, so I layer up and head down. Just as I am in line to board the zodiac, the kayakers return. The swell picked up and it is too dangerous to go out. I headed out in the zodiac while Dick goes back to change out of kayak gear (a massive undertaking) and into landing gear. I waited on the beach for a while for him to come ashore and finally decided to explore on my own. There are massive Elephant seals all over the beach along with Skua and Snowy Sheathbill.
I walked along the shore as far as I was comfortable. After an hour or so I headed back to the zodiacs to get another look at the elephant seals. I’m almost back when I run into Dick who has just come onshore. So, we retrace my steps and enjoy the penguins together. There are Penguins as far as the eye can see. A lot of the babies are molting now and they look miserable.
There is an interesting looking trail that weaves through the tussock grass to a high overlook. It looks pretty serious and steep. Dick heads for the overlook while I wait for him to return.
After he finishes his climb we join back up and observe two penguin parents who have botched the egg transfer. They don’t seem to know what to do. A Southern Giant Petrel wasted no time in trying to steal the egg. It’s quite a delicacy for the birds. The parents try to battle him off, then two more Petrels joined the fight. It’s clear the Petrels are working as a team.
This was difficult to watch. Dick turned off the camera before the finale. Given the time of year, The egg was likely the 2nd laid by this pair and survival this close to winter was unlikely. Nature at work.
After about 5 minutes, the parents lose the battle. The petrel scoops up the egg and takes off to eat it. After the fuss dies down, I look back and the parent penguins are just standing close together. They don’t seem to understand what happened. Life is tough!
After lunch the Seaventure moves further south to Cooper Bay named after a lieutenant on James Cook’s HMS Resolution. The bay is quite sheltered, so the kayakers are a ‘go’. Dick heads out with his group.
I join a zodiac cruise of the shoreline. There is finally a sighting of Macaroni Penguins. We also spotted the rare South Georgia Pipit, the only songbird in the Antarctica region.
There are giant kelp beds in the bay which attracts penguins along with the penguin’s main predator, leopard seals. As our zodiacs near the kayakers we observe a giant leopard seal who seems to be stalking them. The seal is as big as the tandem kayaks are.
The kayak the leopard is behind is Dick & Ralph’s. The video narrator had it right, “holy shit”.
The kayak support zodiac watches for a while and starts looking very concerned. He moves his zodiac closer to the group in case things get dicey. The kayak guide lets the guys know it’s time to get out of Dodge. Very scary – we’ve seen videos of leopards lunging onto ice packs to snatch penguins.
After what seems to be an eternity, the leopard gets interested in our zodiacs, swims around us and pops up quite close. We spot two more, one larger, in the water and another hanging out on a rock. The kayak guide said later he had never been so concerned while kayaking. While paddling back to the ship he said to the group “Well, that’s not something that happens every day – getting sized up by a leopard seal trying to decide which one of us to have for lunch”.
Once all are back aboard, the Seaventure sailed around Cooper Island and Cape Disappointment (so named because someone thought they had discovered the Antarctic Peninsula until they rounded it). Adios South Georgia. Hannah L. recommended motion sickness medication for this evening as we are heading out to the Scotia Sea and on to Antarctica.
Mary
Penguin count: 62,500 (King), 750 (Gentoo)
Total trip penguin count: 633,150.