South Georgia is an extremely remote and rugged island, situated far to the northeast of the Antarctic Peninsula and surrounded by the cold and wild Southern Ocean. About half of it is covered by ice, and glaciers flow down its valleys to the sea. Even so, during the summer, millions of seals and a mind-boggling 65 million seabirds mate, raise young, and molt in its ice-free places. In the 1800s and 1900s, sealers and later whalers hunted until there were no more animals to be found. Today we saw seals in abundance, and just offshore, two blue whales! At Grytviken, we visited Shackleton’s grave and the whaling station and museum. Just down the coast at Ocean Harbour, many of us enjoyed a hike up along the ridge overlooking the valley and harbor.