South Georgia Landing Sites

Elsehul
This little sheltered cove sits on the northwestern extremity of South Georgia on the eastern side of the rugged Paryadin Peninsula, blocking Southern Ocean westerly winds with 400-meter walls built of ancient sedimentary rocks folded and stacked during the formation of the Andes. Later in season, the beaches of Elsehul will become prohibitively dense with fur seals, so this is a great time to visit to see the sublimely beautiful gray-headed albatross nesting on steep tussock grass slopes. Gray-headed albatross are the first to lay eggs here, so you are sure to find them sitting on nests looking over Elsehul’s dramatic cove, a sight that few can hope for in a lifetime of travel! Black-browed albatross and macaroni, gentoo, and king penguins nest here, plus southern giant-petrels quietly incubating as long as you keep your distance.

Right Whale Bay
Fur seals are starting to set up territories here at this time, a beach that in the height of the breeding season looks to be alive with a constant frenetic movement of seals. At the east end of this dramatic walled cove, you’ll find a colony of king penguins, many lounging in front of a waterfall pouring out of the island’s interior.Salisbury Plain
60,000 pairs of king penguins call this glacial plain home, making it a beloved site for any who explore South Georgia. Salisbury is located in the Bay of Isles, looking out on the wandering albatross breeding islands of Prion and Albatross. If you sit down quietly, you may find yourself the subject of king penguin curiosity as one might try to see if your shoelaces will detach with a tug. King penguins have a staggered breeding season where each adult’s activities are dependent upon what they did the season before. Those that had no chick or an early fledging chick the previous year will be courting and mating, whereas those that did have a chick in the previous year may delay breeding. These early breeders have the best chances of successfully fledging a chick this year. You will find molting penguins lining the freshwater streams that run from the glaciers to the sea. The charming South Georgia pipit, the world’s southernmost passerine (perching bird), will look upon us curiously while singing. Hopefully snow will still be on the ground around the colony, a canvas of white upon which the penguins walk. The king penguins share the beach with fur seals and elephant seals, and many giant-petrels will be patrolling the shores to forage for the penguins that did not make it through the winter.

Prion Island
You arrive just before the young, overwintering wandering albatross fledge, starting years of seafaring life before finally returning as young adults to breed. Each pair of albatross has a private estate with at least 30 square meters of open space around its nest site for courtship and takeoffs and landings, a real contrast with the king penguin’s territory of less than one square meter. Tragically, wandering albatross are declining rapidly because of illegal fishing vessels mining ‘white gold’, another name for Chilean seabass or Patagonia toothfish.

Grytviken and King Edward Point
Grytviken was one of the most active whaling stations in the history of whaling, but the flensing plan is now empty and the boilers silent. More than 60 years of whaling history is told in the exhibits of the South Georgia Museum. The natural history exhibits are enriching, and after browsing and perhaps doing a little museum store shopping, take a short walk around the bay to visit the whaler’s graveyard where Shackleton and his right-hand man Frank Wild lie. The history of Antarctic exploration comes alive as you listen to tales of the adventures of Sir Ernest Shackleton. This famous explorer crossed the rugged backbone of South Georgia from the west to arrive at Stromness seeking help for his men stranded on Elephant Island. The crew of the Endurance, hand-picked by Sir Ernest Shackleton in England for his 1914–1917 expedition, survived on the nutritious, though unappetizing, penguin and seal meat while waiting for rescue on Elephant Island. Their ship, the Endurance, was crushed by ice in the Weddell Sea, and eventually Shackleton and his men sailed in small boats and landed at Elephant Island with hardly any room below the steep cliffs along the shore. From here, Shackleton and a handful of men sailed in a small boat to South Georgia, returning to Elephant Island 105 days later to rescue the men.

Fortuna Bay
In the lee of the central rib of South Georgia’s impressive mountains, you will have good chances for clear skies and calm conditions. Fortuna Bay ends in an extended glacial alluvial plain covered with a fine grass where a photogenic king penguin colony resides. Search for nesting light-mantled albatross on the steep tussock slopes.

Shackleton Walk to Stromness
Shackleton, Crean, and Worsley were very near the end of their dramatic and perilous self-rescue when they stumbled down into Fortuna Bay from the interior of the island. They had just one short hike remaining, a westward walk of about three miles to Stromness Harbour to reunite with civilization after over 17 months in the Antarctic. You’ll retrace their trek over a 300-meter ridge with a stunning view across the König Glacier down to Stromness’s rusting inactive whaling station to reunite with the ship.

Hercules Bay
Macaroni penguins are the most numerous of any penguin on South Georgia, yet the most difficult to visit. They tend to nest on steep tussock slopes and are especially fond of inhospitably exposed beaches. We hope to slip into Hercules Bay to see these striking penguins as they return from eight months at sea with a waterfall as a backdrop to add to the dramatic scene.

Godhul
Gentoo penguins are now the principal resident of this site where whaling once dominated. Starting in 1908, whaling vessels anchored here and left remains of whalebones and wooden platform boats called jolles. Two waterfalls feed small lakes on the shoreline before jagged peaks. Listen for the beautiful light-mantled albatross courtship calls as they soar in synchronized flight overhead.

St. Andrews Bay
Few places in the world are so far beyond description that any attempt rings hollow. St. Andrews Bay is one, with more than 150,000 pairs of king penguins forming a colony that covers a vast landscape. You will be mesmerized as you view penguins spanning multiple football fields. As you walk over the glacial moraine bordering the colony, the mass of penguin calls and smells hit you, blended together into one vast wave. You must see, hear, and smell it to believe it.During this time of year, king penguins will be far from the only attraction at St. Andrews. The southern elephant seal, the world’s largest seal, gathers here by the thousands creating one of the densest concentrations of life on the planet. Expect to see thousands of females with young pups nursing. You can hope to encounter beachmaster combat and breeding bouts. Given St. Andrews Bay’s reputation for volatile weather because it lies at the foot of three glaciers, you are very fortunate to experience the elephant seal breeding season. Cold air can pour off these glaciers turning a calm quiet morning into a howling, harrowing landscape of katabatic winds in an astonishingly short time, so do pay attention to our expedition leaders!

Gold Harbour
This is one of the most protected sites on South Georgia with great chances for clear blue skies. Fair or foul, you will find a beach at least as densely packed with southern elephant seals as St. Andrews Bay (though a smaller beach, so fewer numbers overall), about 25,000 pairs of king penguins, which line a glacial meltwater river winding behind the beach, a gentoo penguin colony, and steep but hikeable slopes with light-mantled albatross nesting on their flanks. All of this with a tumbling icefall bordering the back of the harbour making for stunning landscapes and the occasional explosion of glacial blocks tumbling down.

Royal Bay
Several landing sites attract us to Royal Bay, though accessing the exposed bay is very weather dependent. A growing king penguin colony has topped 30,000 pairs at Brisbane Point in recent counts, with constant activity upon the cobblestone beach boulders through what can be heavy surf. A fjord-like glacially carved valley empties into Moltke Harbour, a backdrop for up to 1,000 elephant seals.Cooper Bay
A colony of marvelous macaroni penguins and South Georgia’s only colony of chinstrap penguins reside here. A hike up through tussock slopes will reward you with macaronis in a frenzy of early breeding season activity. You are sure to see chinstraps traveling through the surf and loafing on the beach or an iceberg. The Government of South Georgia has restricted access to the main chinstrap colony here and on Cooper Island due to a 2004 outbreak of avian cholera, and the colony will probably still be closed to landings. Cooper Bay sits just inside from Cooper Island, a rat-free island that is extremely important breeding habitat for burrow-nesting seabirds and South Georgia pipits.

Drygalski Fjord and Larsen Harbour
Southern South Georgia differs strikingly in geology from the remainder of the island, and in the sheer-walled Drygalski Fjord you can really see this difference. As you cruise up the fjord, you can see granite, gabbro, and metamorphic rocks to starboard (ship’s right), remnant of the Gondwana continental margin. To port (ship’s left), the mountains are built of the ‘Larsen Harbour Complex’, uplifted ocean floor basalt and granite that rose in the formation of the Andes, and then was ripped and rafted east to its present location over the last 40 million years. The Risting Glacier calves frequently into the fjord’s waters, stirring up marine life that is quickly snapped up by Antarctic terns and perhaps a few snow petrels. A small colony of Weddell seals who are likely to have pups ashore with them reside in Larsen Harbour.Cape

Disappointment
Captain Cook was the first to lay eyes on South Georgia and his great hope was that he had found the tip of a great southern continent. The name Cape Disappointment reflects his feelings when he found that South Georgia was no continent at all. He was not too impressed with South Georgia without apparent exploitable resources, but the black-browed albatross that breed in large numbers on the sheer slopes did not mind his departure. Although they are less numerous because of long-line fishing practices, they are still impressive in numbers.