Blue Whale Harbour & Bay of Isles, South Georgia
The day began bright and early with a pre-breakfast Zodiac cruise of scenic Blue Whale Harbour. The morning light was inviting and although there were signs of high winds aloft, we found ourselves in calm and protected waters. For those with growling stomachs, the emergency relief Zodiac pulled alongside and offered a well-appreciated cup of hot cocoa. Once fortified, we continued to explore this small, narrow, steep-sided and picturesque inlet.
A few hours later (in the Bay of Isles) it was time to hike up tiny Prion Island in search of the magnificent Wandering Albatross. With their snowy white feathers, they were easy to spot in the green tussock grass. With 11-foot wingspreads, they fly with what has been described as “peerless grace” while covering thousands of miles in a single feeding foray. They mate for life and can live for more than 60 years. Their future is in jeopardy. Always at sea in search of food, they gather around fishing boats that bait thousands of hooks with squid. As the lines go overboard, the albatrosses snatch the bait, get hooked, and drowned. At present rates of decline, these birds could be extinct within 100 years. Efforts are underway to encourage the fishing fleet to use heavier-weighted lines that would sink faster, and could be deployed under the cover of night. On this day we spent a couple quiet hours in the presence of snowy white adults on their nests, and full-grown chicks as they tested their wings – wings that in a few years would make them unparalleled masters of the sky.
As if these two events weren’t enough (and they were!), we had one more in store, a visit to Salisbury Plain. Yowzers, we’re talking king penguins! One of the guests said it best, “it was overwhelming – but in a good way.” Almost too much to absorb, the sheer number of these penguins staggers the imagination. It’s something you have to experience, as mere words do it no justice. We wandered amid the colony for hours before calling it a day.
The day began bright and early with a pre-breakfast Zodiac cruise of scenic Blue Whale Harbour. The morning light was inviting and although there were signs of high winds aloft, we found ourselves in calm and protected waters. For those with growling stomachs, the emergency relief Zodiac pulled alongside and offered a well-appreciated cup of hot cocoa. Once fortified, we continued to explore this small, narrow, steep-sided and picturesque inlet.
A few hours later (in the Bay of Isles) it was time to hike up tiny Prion Island in search of the magnificent Wandering Albatross. With their snowy white feathers, they were easy to spot in the green tussock grass. With 11-foot wingspreads, they fly with what has been described as “peerless grace” while covering thousands of miles in a single feeding foray. They mate for life and can live for more than 60 years. Their future is in jeopardy. Always at sea in search of food, they gather around fishing boats that bait thousands of hooks with squid. As the lines go overboard, the albatrosses snatch the bait, get hooked, and drowned. At present rates of decline, these birds could be extinct within 100 years. Efforts are underway to encourage the fishing fleet to use heavier-weighted lines that would sink faster, and could be deployed under the cover of night. On this day we spent a couple quiet hours in the presence of snowy white adults on their nests, and full-grown chicks as they tested their wings – wings that in a few years would make them unparalleled masters of the sky.
As if these two events weren’t enough (and they were!), we had one more in store, a visit to Salisbury Plain. Yowzers, we’re talking king penguins! One of the guests said it best, “it was overwhelming – but in a good way.” Almost too much to absorb, the sheer number of these penguins staggers the imagination. It’s something you have to experience, as mere words do it no justice. We wandered amid the colony for hours before calling it a day.
