Travelling to South Georgia

AT SEA ONCE MORE

With two more days at sea before we would reach South Georgia, there was ample opportunity to look for wildlife along the way and practice photographing flying birds...even the small ones!

We had more whale sightings. Some people were lucky enough to have some close encounters and see tail flukes as the whales dived down, but it was all a matter of timing. You had to be out on deck at just the right time and on the right side of the boat to see it. The birders were almost always out, keeping an eye open for interesting birds flying by, so it wasn't suprising they had the most luck with the whales too. However, I was pleased to see two Humpback Whales not too far away, together. Their dorsal fin is a lot smaller than others and you can really notice their humped back as they dive deep.

We continued to see dolphins too. One time, when Bob and I were on the bow of the ship, we could see a small group of Peale's Dolphins swimming towards us. It was as if they intentionally wanted to ride alongside us. The weather was much better for a while and the water so much clearer. It was fabulous to see them just by the hull of the ship, beneath the surface. It was quite a reach over the edge to see them porposing, but I managed just this one semi-okay photo!

Our constant companions whilst at sea were the birds. We were still enjoying regular sightings of the Cape Petrel, with its lovely black and white checkered/spotted pattern. It has a wingspan of 80-90cm, so it's quite a large bird. But, now we were also seeing other species of Petrel, including the Atlantic Petrel, which has less patterning on the wings and is fractionally larger with a wingspan of just over 100cm. I was also fortunate to be able to photograph two together revealing their underside, though sadly the weather had clouded over again.

We also saw a Blue Petrel (above) though its grey feathers and pattern resembled a Prion more than the Petrels we'd seen. It was also smaller than the other two species, with a wingspan of 62-71cm. You can see how similar it is to the Slender-billed Prion (below). However, notice how the Blue Petrel has no white eye stripe and the tip of the tail is white compared to the prion's black tail tip. The Slender-billed Prion has a wingspan of 56cm, so is slightly smaller. It was much harder to photograph these smaller birds as they were so damn fast! Plus, there was a lot less for the camera to focus on!

All of these were new species for me and Bob, and we both enjoyed photographing them, though he stuck with it a bit longer than I did and has some cracking shots, which you can see on his blog. He particularly loves the Northern Fulmars, which he can see locally on the coast of East Sussex. I've also seen them in the Arctic, when I went on my first photographic holiday. Down south, it was the Southern Fulmars we saw. They're slightly bigger than their cousins with a wingspan of about 110-120cm, so these were another of the larger bird species we saw flying around the boat.

Bigger still were the Albatrosses and once again we had some lovely encounters. Although we were still seeing good numbers of Black-browed Albatross, they'd now become a bit passé and were no longer 'new'! Our attention was more focused on the other species we occasionally saw, including the mighty Southern Royal Albatross. At least one came quite a bit closer than previously, so I was really glad to have such better photos.

It's easier to appreciate the white leading edge of their wings in both these photos. Plus, check out that amazing wingspan! It's such an immense bird. Stunning!

We were also treated to a few other lovely sightings. The Light Mantled Sooty Albatross was a lovely dark coloured bird with a small arc of pale feathers just behind the eye. It's one of the smaller sized Albatross with a wingspan of only 2m!!! Yes, I know - not exactly small!!! I think this might have been the only one we saw at sea.

We also saw a handful of Grey-headed Albatross flying by (above) which are marginally bigger with a wingspan of 2.2m. It's another beauty, with its elegant eyes and distinct black bill that has yellow upper and lower ridges and a pink-orange tip. I think this one might have been my favourite of the Albatross species we saw. (You can see another photo at the bottom of this page with its wings outstretched.)

The weather on our journey was very changeable. Sometimes we'd experience a pocket of sunshine and other times the clouds and mist almost enveloped us and we could barely see any distance from the ship. The sea conditions were thankfully okay though, and we were allowed out on deck most of the time. On our last morning at sea it was quite murky looking and very poor light. But, we were treated to sightings of Antarctic Fur Seals sleeping in the water. They were just bobbing at the surface, seeimingly holding flipper to tail. As soon as they heard the ship though, unlike the dolphins that swam towards us, they swam and porposed away.

When we were approaching South Georgia we had our first sightings of Snow Petrels. They literally are all white. They weren't as small as the Prions, but not as large as the Fulmars, with a wingspan of about 75-95cm.

I noticed it was much colder the closer we were to South Georgia, though I don't think the temperature had dropped below freezing. When we started seeing icebergs float past the ship, there was a real sense of where we were. They were large. Larger than our vessel, and that's just considering the portion above water. I've read that 87% of its mass is below water.

Finally, South Georgia came into sight and although its peaks were consumed by the clouds, we could at least see and appreciate the dramatic coast.

At this point Bob and I were at the aft of the ship on the starboard side, admiring the coastline. Then suddenly someone shouted, 'Iceberg!', and we looked behind us. A really large amazing blue iceberg was alongside us, not too far away. It was the most stunningly beautiful iceberg I've ever seen. It's the kind I'd dreamed of laying eyes on and photographing. We rushed to the port side and started snapping away completely in awe. It was mesmerizing. Then, as the back portion glided past us we all saw a small group of Chinstrap Penguins on the top. Amazing! It was our first time seeing this species, so that in itself was special, but to see them on the iceberg was like the icing on the cake! A photographers dream shot!

We all were wondering how on earth they got up there and more importantly, how were they going to get down? I'm not sure I would have wanted to slide head first down the side of the iceberg into the water, even if I were a penguin!

Soon after this, someone said they'd spotted a King Penguin in the water. Suddenly, my eyes were scouring the ocean, trying to catch my first glimpse of yet another penguin species. It didn't take me long before I saw a few, then a few more, and sometimes even groups of them. Magical! The yellow-orange patch behind the head and orange on the bill make them quite distinct from the other species, let along their size - 85-95cm. They are the second largest species of penguin after the Emperor Penguins. As an aside, we wouldn't be seeing the Emperor Penguins on our trip as they breed in a different area of the Antarctic than where we were heading. Although there was always a chance we might see a lone one swimming around the waters nearer the Antarctic Peninsula, we never did.

Porposing dolphins used to be one of my favourite wildlife spectacles, but now porpoising penguins has taken over.

The excitement was really building up as we sailed closer towards Salisbury Plain. It's home to the second largest King Penguin colony in South Georgia and one of the largest in the world. There are an estimated 60,000 pairs breeding at this site. As we approached land, we saw masses of them on the beach and on the snow covered hills. All the tiny black specks are penguins!

The brown ones are the chicks! They are dependent on the adults for 14 months before they're ready to leave the breeding site and fend for themselves. This means you can always see chicks at breeding sites at any time of year.

We were so close, and yet, we weren't able to land. Sadly, the conditions weren't safe for the Zodiacs to be used - the swell was too high - and we had to abandon the hope of seeing this colony up close. It was really disappointing. We had no idea if there would be another opportunity like it and even if there were, might the conditions prohibit us again? It was a very real possibility. Someone Bob knew who'd been to South Georgia the previous 'summer' season only had one landing on the island, though I believe Bird Flu was the main reason for this. As we were amongst the first people to be visiting the island at the start of the season, we were at least more optimistic that Bird Flu was not an issue for us. But the weather? That remained to be seen!

I was glad we were at least able to enjoy seeing them at a distance before we left the site.

Thankfully, we were distracted for a time, by the attentions of some Snowy Sheathbills that not only landed on the ship, but also on people's heads!

Although we couldn't land at Salisbury Plain, not all hope was lost. There was a chance we might be able to land at Fortuna Bay, just a little further along the coast. It was in a more sheltered position, so the chances were better. It would be lovely to see the King Penguins there, though the size of the colony was tiny in comparison, with a mere 4,000 breeding pairs. But, at that point, I would have been happy with whatever we saw.

I tried to remain optimistic and hopeful, as the ship sailed onwards. It stayed closer to the coast and it was lovely to be able to enjoy the stunning views of the snow mountains and the glaciers below.

The day was slipping away and we knew we'd have limited time when we reached Fortuna Bay, even if we were able to land. Despite this, I was still very excited about what lay ahead over the next few days. Even if we couldn't land, I knew that going on Zodiac cruises was an option potentially and we'd still get to see lots. In fact, when I reflected on what we'd already seen, I was really happy. We were hopeful of seeing 7 different species of penguin on this trip and we'd already seen 6 of them by this point: Magellanic, Rockhopper, Gentoo, Macaroni, Chinstrap and King Penguins. The final species for us to see would be Adélie Penguins, however, they breed mostly in the Antarctic, so we'd have to wait longer to see them.

You'll have to wait until the next instalment to find out what happened when we reached Fortuna Bay!