The view before us is like no place else on Earth – king penguins as far as the eye can see. We’ve come ashore after an early breakfast to maximize our time observing the estimated 250,000 penguins and thousands upon thousands of fur seals. Words can’t describe the scene before us, making it hard to believe this is only the second largest breeding colony of king penguins on South Georgia!
We spend the morning wandering among the penguins observing their comical antics and social behavior. Molting penguins spread far and wide across the vast outwash plain created by the Grace and Lucas Glaciers. The morning starts out cold and gray, but by the time we are heading back the sun has broken through the clouds to paint the landscape, and the penguins, in warm sunshine. Everything in South Georgia is relative.
It’s early afternoon when the National Geographic Orion enters Fortuna Bay. Our itinerary again intersects Shackleton’s wake. In short order the Zodiacs are lowered and a large group of intrepid hikers go shore to walk the final 5.5 km leg of the historic trek across the island. Literally now in Shackleton’s footsteps, the hike takes us up and over a mountain pass to Stromness Harbour, past Creen Lake, and down the other side past the famous Shackleton Waterfall, and into Shackleton Valley where the historic whaling station is located.
It was here, on May 20, 1916, that ”The Boss” led his men to safety and organized the rescue of the three men left behind in King Haakon Bay, and the 21 men marooned on Elephant Island. One can only imagine the relief Sir Earnest Shackleton must have felt when he arrived exhausted and frostbitten to make contact with the world after a 17-month ordeal.
Arriving back at sea level, we find the National Geographic Orion nosed up to the shore, making the Zodiac ride back for cocktails only a two-minute ride. Fur seal pups entertained us as we explored and photographed the artifacts from the bygone days of whaling and sealing, a sad chapter in the history of South Georgia and Antarctic waters. Clearly, the fur seals are back. We can only hope that the great whales will also make a comeback, so that future generations can experience the bounty of life in the Southern Ocean.
