Fortuna Bay & Stromness Harbour
This morning we landed at Fortuna Bay where last night’s snowfall and a series of dramatic icebergs added to the immense beauty of the mountains that surround us here. Onshore, penguin tracks dotted the fresh snow. No matter where we turned there was great wildlife to be encountered.
The highlight for many was walking inland to our first king penguin colony. Here, we saw crèches of young king penguins, called “Oakum Boys” by the early sailors in the region after the hemp rope and tar mixture used to caulk boats. All brown and very fluffy, these chicks hatched in the previous season and have survived the harsh winter months, their parents only now returning to feed them in the Antarctic spring. We found many of them to be as curious of us as we were of them.
After lunch we set off in a gentle snowfall for our second landing of the day at Stromness Harbour, landing near the remains of an old whaling station. On December 5, 1914, Sir Earnest Shackleton set off from South Georgia with 27 men on his ship, the Endurance, on an ill-fated expedition to cross the Antarctic continent. The whaling station at Stromness is where on May 20, 1916, Shackleton essentially returned from the dead (in the eyes of the world), arriving here in search of help to rescue his men who remained behind on Elephant Island.
Today, hikers headed up to the Shackleton Waterfall, returning on the same path as Sir Earnest, Crean and Worsley back to Stromness. Elephant seals littered the beach in front of the old station buildings, groups of reindeer occasionally galloped past, and king and gentoo penguins made their way from the sea across the glacial plains.
We returned to the National Geographic Endeavour to find we had special guests aboard, including National Geographic photographer Paul Nicklen, who told us a bit at recap about his experiences here and the story he is currently working on here on the island.
All in all, it was a terrific day in South Georgia.
This morning we landed at Fortuna Bay where last night’s snowfall and a series of dramatic icebergs added to the immense beauty of the mountains that surround us here. Onshore, penguin tracks dotted the fresh snow. No matter where we turned there was great wildlife to be encountered.
The highlight for many was walking inland to our first king penguin colony. Here, we saw crèches of young king penguins, called “Oakum Boys” by the early sailors in the region after the hemp rope and tar mixture used to caulk boats. All brown and very fluffy, these chicks hatched in the previous season and have survived the harsh winter months, their parents only now returning to feed them in the Antarctic spring. We found many of them to be as curious of us as we were of them.
After lunch we set off in a gentle snowfall for our second landing of the day at Stromness Harbour, landing near the remains of an old whaling station. On December 5, 1914, Sir Earnest Shackleton set off from South Georgia with 27 men on his ship, the Endurance, on an ill-fated expedition to cross the Antarctic continent. The whaling station at Stromness is where on May 20, 1916, Shackleton essentially returned from the dead (in the eyes of the world), arriving here in search of help to rescue his men who remained behind on Elephant Island.
Today, hikers headed up to the Shackleton Waterfall, returning on the same path as Sir Earnest, Crean and Worsley back to Stromness. Elephant seals littered the beach in front of the old station buildings, groups of reindeer occasionally galloped past, and king and gentoo penguins made their way from the sea across the glacial plains.
We returned to the National Geographic Endeavour to find we had special guests aboard, including National Geographic photographer Paul Nicklen, who told us a bit at recap about his experiences here and the story he is currently working on here on the island.
All in all, it was a terrific day in South Georgia.
