Summer in the Southern Ocean – 7, Cruising in South Georgia

6th January 2024

Lynne was awake early to see the first islands of South Georgia. Although the weather was overcast, the glare from the cliffs was bright. Our first stop was Elsehul, a little bay, home to Albatross, Fur seals and Macaroni penguins. There was too much swell for any passengers to leave the ship, even for cruising in Zodiacs or paddling in kayaks. So, we set off for the Bay of Isles for Zodiac cruising, but not before we had got soaked trying to see the wildlife from the ship in the rain.

Right Whale Bay

We then went for a long Zodiac cruise around the bay where we saw thousands of fur seals, elephant seals, king penguins and petrels. Our cruising was interrupted by an engine which kept cutting out when idling, while allowing us to watch and photograph the wildlife.

One passenger looked green with seasickness and was returned to the ship. We had to make a second approach to dock with the ship after the first failed due to the two metre swell. Two more passengers also bailed out, as it was very wet and cold.

Forty-five minutes later, Lynne was beginning to wish she had done the same, as all the three pairs of gloves she was wearing, were wet through. When we rounded the rocks to an amazing sight of hundreds of tiny fur seal pups, including four cream-coloured ones and many king penguins, (but no Macaroni penguins), we felt it was well worth the endurance!

As we ended our cruise and approached to board Seaventure, the swell was so great, that we had to sail away and wait for the ship to reposition itself, allowing us to retreat happily inside to warm up and dry off.

Salisbury Plain

The afternoon saw us kayaking in the Bay of Isles. We were glad we were equipped with dry suits, as our outer gear from the morning’s Zodiac cruise was still very wet. In fact, Peter bought some Gore-Tex gloves from the ship’s shop, which will also be great for skiing, even if they don’t prove their worth on this voyage.

We managed to master getting into our double kayak off the side of the Zodiac. We paddled through Giant Kelp to see thousands of king penguins, fur seals and some elephant seals.

We then sailed as close as we could to an iceberg. The weather was misty but not raining. We were pleased with the whole experience, but Peter was reminiscing about our kayaking expeditions in the cold of Milford Sound and the North of Norway, preferring the warmer climes of Costa Rica!

Let’s hope the weather and with it, the visibility improves.