South Georgia III: Gold Harbour / Cooper Bay / Drygalski Fjord

11 January
Gold Harbour Zodiac cruise (5:00 am) and landing (7:30 am)

It was rainy on the Zodiac but quite pleasant once we landed. Fine plain with glacier above and very large King Penguin colony. The best of the elephant seals and harems. Most Antarctic birds. Gold Harbour is named for the color of the landscape in the morning and evening; the Bertrab Glacier looms over it.

Cooper Bay Zodiac cruise (1:00 pm)

Macaroni penguins. Wind caves, high cliffs, kelps and algaes, most Antarctic birds. Chinstrap colonies with random Gentoos. The South Georgian Pipit. Light-manteled Sooty Albatross. Cooper Bay is on the main South Georgia Island just across from Cooper Island, and off the mile-wide Cooper Sound.

Drygalski Fjord ship cruise (3:00–4:30 pm)

Drygalski Fjord lies at the end of South Georgia Island.We cruised leisurely to the end and then left South Georgia after three fine days

Almost immediately, late that afternoon, we spotted a very large Southern Right Whale with fine encrustations, and ended up chasing it about for quite some time. Note especially the fine shots of the baleen.