For The Love of Travel

King Haakon Bay lies between Nunez Peninsula and Bomford Peninsula near the western end of the south coast of South Georgia.  It was here that Shackleton and crew arrived in the James Caird in 1916, after another gruelling voyage from Elephant Island. Despite unchartered waters and a jagged reef to manoeuvre past, they guided the vessel into the protection of the bay and found a small cove and cave to offer protection from the elements. Here among the cliffs at Cape Rosa’s headland, Shackleton’s men found fresh water and albatross chicks for fresh meat, which sustained them over the next 4 days while they recuperated and repaired their boat. They then sailed further into King Haakon Bay, landing at Peggotty Bluff, and made a 36 hour trek across the island to the Grytviken whaling station to reach help.

Today our first stop is at Peggotty Bay, another early 5.45am first light zodiac anding. Bleary-eyed, we stumble onshore and walk for a while. Then the sun comes up and the landscape is transformed – I stand on a hillside and view the delightful scenery.

To my left, rivers of silver glisten in the rays, with soaring cliffs covered in cloud and glaciers as a backdrop.  

To my right, squishy mossy green turf, with small water holes, glacier topped mountains in the distance and a bright blue sky! Magic!

Next to Cape Rosa headland in King Haakon Bay – it is a dramatic, weather-beaten fjord, surrounded by snow clad mountains rising to over 1,000m.

We briefly visited Cave Cove, took a photo outside the cave Shackleton and his men lived in for 4 days, and jumped back into the zodiac (big waves coming into shore so we had to be nimble!!) to journey back to the ship. 

We saw a South Georgia Pippit!  A bird once made almost extinct by rats on the island is now breeding again, thanks to a rat extermination/baiting program implemented over 125 square kilometres by the Heritage trust over the past 5 years. Very cute colours and we saw about a dozen in  an hour’s zodiac cruising. Also, a Kelp Gull, a Brown Skua, South Georgia Pintail and a couple of Imperial (Blue-Eyed) Shags.  

We sail through the Willis Islands with a breathtaking iceberg appearing out of nowhere….calved off a glacier at some stage and with brilliant blue hues! Gorgeous!  

Early morning visit to Salisbury Plain on the Bay of Islands. I decided not to do the sunrise zodiac landing and slept in to 7.15 – the 9am call for my group 3 was early enough for me!  The plain and tussock slope behind the Lucas glacier is home to one of the largest penguin rookeries in South Georgia with about 80,000 pairs.

We watched King penguins walk from the colony on the hillside, down through muddy guano (stumbling, falling and getting stuck in the muck – even to the point of ending beak down), and then heading off to the beach to get clean again. It was quite a sight.  

You would think they would experience that once and would then signal to others to avoid that stretch of land, but no…..waves of different penguin groupings wandered down and repeated the experience…..

On our return to the zodiac, we suddenly saw a huge elephant seal heaving its way up the shore, landing on a moss covered landing with other seals and penguin. No other species were squished in this journey!  

In the afternoon we visited Prion Island to see the magnificent Wandering Albatross nests. There are also some small seabirds, Prions, there. But our major goal was the albatross (4 metre wing span!). And we saw some Giant Petrels as well, and a little Petrel chick.  

Fortuna Bay, Stromness – it is here that Shackleton arrived after a 36 hour walk from King Haakon Bay on the other side of the island! (after gruelling months on ice floes trying to find land)…to reach help and save his men on Elephant Island. The beach and plains are rich with wildlife – penguins and seals. We do a walk to a waterfall in the distance, not very speccy but good to stretch the legs.

After lunch, we travel across Cumberland bay to King Edward Point, and land at the former whaling station of Grytviken, established in 1904 by the Norwegian sea captain Carl Anton Larsen. We visit the museum which is a tribute to Antarctic explorers, (mainly Shackleton) and has memorabilia from when the place was a whaling station. The Lutheran church building on the island has had a few uses, cinema, post office, now a church. We toast Shackleton at his gravesite.