Weather Plays Havoc in South Georgia

Position 9:30am 28 February 2024: 58°45’44”S 46°9’30”W (MAP)

We arrived in Fortuna Bay, South Georgia on Saturday 24 February as dawn was breaking. I opened our curtains to see mountains reaching high out of the fjord, the sun shining on a retreating glacier and King penguins gathered on a shoreline to our right. The intention was for us to land here and spend time with the Kings that nest here.

The bright orange and yellow feathers around the penguins heads and necks caught the light. Some that were out fishing, coming close to the ship to see what this big dark object was that was sitting on the water; groups of fur seals joined them.

At 7am Woody was explaining that the wind strength had picked up dramatically, with gusts of 50-60 knots at times, and even 90 knots (hurricane force) at one point. This meant that it was impossible for us to land here, and we were soon turning around and heading back out to the ocean to sail south east towards Jason Harbour where we’d be able to zodiac along the shoreline.

The ocean surrounding South Georgia are filled with icebergs, and with the sun shining in a cloudless (for now) sky, we saw some beautiful one gliding by in the deep offshore current that sits well east of the island. Some were huge tabular icebergs – others came in various smaller sizes and shapes, ocean waves bouncing off them and gradually re-shaping them over time.

Two important things specific to South Georgia this 2023/24 season:

Due to the rapid spread of Avian Flu in birds and potentially fur seals, the majority of places that we have visited on foot in previous years, are now off-limits for landings. Zodiac cruising is still permitted. Fortuna Bay is one place where we could still land. Biosecurity is taken very seriously – anything that touches the ground, including boots, hiking poles, back-packs are carefully cleaned, vacuumed and disinfected with Virkon.
Because South Georgia is on the migration path for many birds, all external lights were turned off each night, and blinds were closed on all windows.

One part of Jason Harbour has steep sided cliffs reaching high off the beach – on the other side there were interesting low rock formations with grassy rises behind. With World Explorer safely anchored, we were back in the Zodiacs for a “cruise” in the swell as waves came in from the ocean. Penguins led the way at times, occasionally slowing to look at us. As we came back along the coast, we could see them way up high. How they make their way up the side of these very steep slopes is quite something to see – just putting one foot in front of the other seems the way to go.

It was great to be off the ship, photographing penguins, elephant seals, flying birds and the geography of this place.

Our next stop was Grytviken, the old whaling station and the Administrative Centre for the UK in South Georgia. Since we had limited options for sites to visit here, I opted to stay on the ship and enjoy a relaxing afternoon.

The following morning we started very early to take advantage of improved weather – including some sunshine, at last! We Zodiac cruised in Cooper Bay and nearby Gold Harbour, an area I remembered fondly for wonderful walks amongst the King Penguins. I also remembered the its famous “hanging glacier” – this has now noticeably retreated.

The light was beautiful here, and although we were unable to land, we still enjoyed good sightings of a large fur seal that followed us closely, birds including the tiny Wilson’s Storm Petrels that flit across the water grabbing food from the surface.

On the way to Royal Bay in the afternoon, the wind came up (gusts of 50+ knots again), clouds rolled in and visibility deteriorated dramatically – although it did create an opportunity to photograph a rainbow over an iceberg! Our plans were “re-drafted” for the afternoon.

We would head north west to go back to Fortuna Bay with the intention to land there if the weather complied. Aside from being amongst the penguins, this is also the place that Shackleton & his men started their climb over the mountain and down into Stromness where they alerted the whaling station manager of their need for a ship to rescue his men.

The morning started well, and it really was wonderful to walk amongst the Kings. It’s been 7 years since I was in this region, and landing on the beach in the midst of these beautiful animals was as wonderful as ever. They are so trusting – and if you stand still, they accept you as part of the surrounds and continue to interact with the other birds around them.

They strutted and strode, and at one point I heard slapping – sure enough, one penguin was slapping another on the chest … hard! It didn’t provoke an obvious reaction – perhaps words were being said in “King penguin” that I couldn’t understand.

Even the baby fur seals were cute – well mostly. I was “mock-charged” by one that gave a warning growl before starting towards me. I turned and growled back, lifting my hiking pole high to warn it to not come closer. It worked!

In the afternoon we sailed to Stromness – it was a little cold and grey, but we could clearly see the mountain and the historic whaling station. We cruised the small bay, and were soon in the adjacent one, the site of a second very large whaling station. Although I’ve seen both these sites before, the scale of these sites somehow impacted me more this time.

Suddenly we heard that all Zodiacs were to return to the ship ASAP. A severe squall was on its way, and within moments it was blowing hard, snow was flying horizontally, and it was very, very cold.

Back on the warm ship, it was time to ensure that nothing would get loose in the cabin – we would be leaving South Georgia shortly, on our way south, south west to the Antarctic Peninsula.

In a couple of hours we’ll have our afternoon briefing with details of our ETA on the Peninsula, and the likelihood of seeing the giant A23a iceberg – perhaps this evening.