Farewell to South Georgia

10 March 2025

Farewell to South Georgia

The last two days on South Georgia were magical. After Saint Andrews Bay, we headed to Gold Harbour, nicely sheltered from the wind, which immediately made it feel much warmer. The sun came out just as we started the shuttles. Landing on this beach was spectacular, but we all made it to shore with dry feet. Imagine a beach, penguins all around us, calling loudly to each other and to us. Young fur seals who were incredibly curious and seemed to love running after people (when you run, they only chase you faster!). And a stone’s throw from where we ginned ashore a ‘pile’ of young male elephant seals lying lazily in the sand.

These huge animals are intimidating just because of their size. Some even showed us their teeth and shouted at each other, which was quite something to take in! After walking carefully around these giants at an appropriate distance, we were treated to the incredible spectacle of a giant colony of king penguins. So many, in fact, that it was difficult to comprehend the sheer mass. And all with a dramatic backdrop of high mountain peaks and glaciers. Back on board, we rounded off our day with some Shackleton whisky, chilled with glacier ice from a small iceberg we had passed earlier in the day and ‘harvested’ with a boat hook and bucket.

The next day we had a final visit to Dryglaski Fjord scheduled. On the way, we slalomed through a field of small and medium-sized icebergs which provided some great photo opportunities. We sailed into the narrow fjord and stopped when we came to a dense ice field. From the dinghy, we had a great view of the Oosterschelde with tall mountains on either side and a huge glacier in the background. We then left and by the time night began, we had left the coast of South Georgia far behind us. We will all remember this island for a long time, with its dramatic scenery and fantastic wildlife.  In a fortnight, we hope to have land in sight again.