Another early start to the day, rising at 5:45 am for a planned 6:30 departure. Ours is the first zodiac group out the door which always ratchets up the pressure.
But we’re rewarded with this stunning view:
Mount Paget glows beneath the light of dawn – the highest peak in British territory
Our pastry-hunting efforts in Panorama previously frustrated us, so we opt instead for room service. The range included on the menu – 6:00 to 6:30 am – is cause for concern, but we spoke to our butler the evening before to ask him to please do his utmost to deliver as soon as feasible.
Success! Pastries and coffee arrive at our room at 6 am on the dot.
Bing-bing-bong. While the weather may look stunning, unfortunately we have rolling waves coming past the ship – the end result of our recent storm. It’s causing swells of up to 2 metres, which would make zodiac embarkation extremely difficult. We can but hope while the Captain repositions the Wind.
We sit on the edge of our beds with rainpants on. Waiting.
And… success! It takes a combination of measures – namely running the engines, engaging stabilizers and nosing into the wind – but we are able to depart for Saint Andrew’s Bay.
Our careful preparations allow us to be the first guests in the first zodiac. There’s an added bonus platform added ontop of the regular pontoon to prevent it from being swamped, but we board with minimal drama.
We are the first passengers ashore – and it is absolutely stunning:
An elephant seal – one of the dominant males considered a ‘beachmaster’ (minus his harem)
We spend more than an hour soaking it all in, then it’s back to the zodiac for a cruise around the bay:
One of the expedition guides mentioned that he’d been at this spot six different times, and this was his first landing – and on those other occasions, visibility had been poor with heavy cloud cover. We absolutely lucked out.
Back to the Wind for a spot of late breakfast, where I ordered a smoked salmon bagel instead of my usual smoked salmon toast:
Then off for trivia. It was category-based trivia today, and I helped us sweep the airport codes. Famous faces were difficult to recognize, as no one got Sean Connery. We also missed the number of penguin species (18) and the flags for Corsica and Colombia. Still good enough for a third place finish, however – always nice to be on the podium.
We then head for lunch at the Grill. We started with chips and salsa:
And then my wife and I tried the skillet sirloin, without the bell pepper ragout:
It was very tender – they must marinate it for quite a while.
The scenery was stunning and I dashed down to get my camera:
Then off to a midday briefing, which should allow us more time for expedition activities in the afternoon. Marieka showed us some footage of the conditions from this morning:
Ocean Harbour is no longer workable as a zodiac cruise location, so we are headed to Leith Harbour instead. We should be embarking around 4 pm, while later groups will be getting more of a ‘sunset tour’ that will wrap closer to 7 pm.
And a surprise announcement – we are also going to attempt a cruise-past of iceberg A23a tomorrow, while enroute to Elephant Island:
It is getting exceedingly close to South Georgia! We’re all hoping it does not impact the seal and penguin breeding grounds.
Martin then got up to deliver his riveting and accessible lesson:
Better known as “sexing penguins” – quite interesting that their call is one of the most diagnostic factors when determining king penguin sex.
Time to head to Leith Harbour. Our expedition guide initially described it as something of a back-up plan with little in the way of wildlife – but South Georgia had another surprise in store for us:
Not only is there an old whaling station here…
… there’s also plenty of wildlife:
After, we zipped off to Stromness in a different section of the bay – the whaling station where Shackleton arrived while seeking help for his crew marooned on Elephant Island:
And we spot it – a rare treat indeed!
Back to our rooms to shower and change for dinner:
No middle pages photographed tonight as they have not changed for several days – but we should have a new menu tomorow.
I had the veal chop:
And my wife ordered the pork medallions – which were promptly stolen by the children:
My son had the tiramisu:
While I had the dark gianduja:
All very tasty, though one of the veal chops was rather fatty – but we found enough lean meat on it to make it worthwhile.
Back to the room, where we read through tomorrow’s Chronicle:
Kids are keen on the seal and penguin lectures, but otherwise we’re planning to catch up on writing and homework. Also looking forward to tomorrow’s Venetian society cocktail party.
One final night of blackout mode but we took a final sunset photo from our balcony before dinner:
