King Haakon Bay, South Georgia
Close your eyes and try to imagine being shipwrecked. After your ship was crushed by the ice, you’ve just crossed over 800 miles of the stormiest ocean on the planet, sailing your 22-foot lifeboat to a remote sub-Antarctic island. Cold, wet, and starving from 16 days at sea, you crawl ashore to find shelter in a shallow cave. But still you are not rescued, and after only 3 days of rest you realize you must hike up and over glaciers and scale 3,000 foot peaks to find help on the other side of the island.
This is what Earnest Shackleton faced when he and five men from the Endurance came ashore in King Haakon Bay along the western end of the south coast of the island of South Georgia on May 10, 1916. Landing the James Caird in what would later be named Cave Cove, the men found shelter here in a shallow rock overhang before moving camp down bay to Peggotty Bluff, where Shackleton and two other men would set out in search of help. Arriving three days later at the whaling station of Stromness, the rest, as we say, is history.
Today National Geographic Explorer follows in the wake of Shackleton’s historic adventure. King penguins and elephant seals greet us as we go ashore at Peggotty Bluff after breakfast. Male elephant seals tipping the scales at over 4 tons patrol their harems consisting of dozens of females. Epic battles ensure, with the beach masters successfully driving off the challengers, but not before beating each other to a bloody mess. We walk the beach, which is alive with the sounds of braying pups, some only days old with the umbilicus still attached.
In the afternoon we explore the rugged coast along Cape Rosa by Zodiac, where Cave Cove is located. Light-mantled sooty albatross glide past a large iceberg washed by currents all the way from the Antarctic continent. The ocean swells make getting a good look at the cave itself difficult.
Back on board the National Geographic Explorer for a hot shower and afternoon tea, we realize that this is South Georgia at it’s best. It’s springtime in the southern latitudes, and the rugged island of South Georgia is teaming with life. Today has been a great introduction to this wilderness paradise, and a photographer’s dream.
But the day is not yet over. After dinner the National Geographic Explorer approaches a large tabular iceberg. It’s a true Antarctic moment, and a nightcap to an extraordinary day.
