We awoke this morning to the gentle radio voice of our fearless expedition leader, Shaun Powell, convincing us to witness the pre-dawn light as it turned the clouds red and the snow dusted mountains of Royal Bay orange. Once the sleep was rubbed out of our eyes it was obvious why we were here. Our trusted Zodiacs and drivers carried us bravely over the moraine and through the surf to the calm waters inside the bay. Juvenile fur seals escorted us to shore, where we would find a shoreline littered with king penguins. It was hard to believe that this colony of 30,000 pairs is one of the smaller colonies on South Georgia. No amount of photos can capture the magnificence of this scene, with mountains, glaciers and penguins in every direction we looked. Some of us just sat down amongst the penguins and soaked it all in. We then braved the seas yet again, and made it back to the ship for lunch and a brief siesta, only to be awed into silence at our next destination.
This ride on the Zodiacs proved to be a bit more exciting as we stormed the shore break at St. Andrew’s Bay. The scene on shore was completely overwhelming. Over 200,000 king penguins and their chicks stood—preening, courting, feeding, calling, incubating, nurturing, fighting, resting, and curious about who these new visitors were on their beach. Some of us hiked up the bluff to get a better look at the entire colony, while others opted to stroll the beach. The afternoon sun set the perfect scene, and there we sat, in, around and amongst a grandiose spectacle of nature. Our journey back to the ship was just as exciting as our expedition leader, his staff, and the ship’s crew bravely battled the frigid surf zone pushing us off the shore to the comforts of the National Geographic Orion.
The day was long and I wouldn’t be surprised if we all heard the majestic call of the king penguins in our minds as we drifted off to sleep.
