South Georgia - Larsen Harbour, Drygalski Fjord, Cooper Bay

Thursday, 27 February 2020

Our first day on South Georgia, and South Georgia lived up to its reputation for weather that changes minute-to-minute.

We're at the far southeastern end of the island, and the weather was cold, snowy, and rainy. This is the entrance to Larsen Harbour, a small side channel off Drygalski Fjord.

We had a Zodiac cruise in the well-sheltered waters here. Numerous small waterfalls came down to the ocean. Green plants have been added to the Antarctica color palette.

There were lots of Antarctic fur seals at the base of the glacier at the end of the harbor.

About 1 in 1000 fur seals are a blonde morph. They generally don't live as long as their darker brethren because they stand out to predators.

Drygalski Fjord.

Three glaciers merge at the end of the fjord.

During lunch the ship repositioned a short distance away to Cooper Bay. The landscape and weather were dramatically different. Here we encountered tussock grass for the first time. The tall grass provides cover for both seals and ...

... macaroni penguins. The macaronis live up on the slopes. This was our only opportunity to get close to macaronis -- their breeding season is over, and the vast majority have already left for winter at sea. The name "macaroni" does not refer to pasta, but is an obsolete term for fancy-dressers, a reference to their head feathers. (This is also the same use of "macaroni" as in "Yankee Doodle": "stuck a feather in his cap and called it macaroni". Same feather idea!)

Hundreds of king penguins lined the beach as we approached in Zodiacs.

It's a king penguin beach party! The fur seals also liked to get in the water, but the elephant seals preferred to just "wallow" on the beach while they go through their annual molt.

After our excursions, we got to see blue whales,  the largest mammals on earth, spouting near the ship. You really don't get to see much of the body, but just knowing what they are is special.