Day 10 - Nov 17 - Hercules Bay and St. Andrews Bay - South Georgia

"King Weather is the tyrant of these latitudes, and he rules South Georgia with ruthless despotism." - Frank Hurley, Shackelton's Argonauts

This morning we sailed a short distance to a beautiful little fjord called Hercules Bay. This protected bay is a good place to see the dynamic little Macaroni penguins as they come and go to a colony on the tussock-covered slope above the rocky shoreline. We also observed many other species of birds which breed and/ or frequent the area including the light-mantled sooty albatrosses flying overhead, as well as elephant seals and fur seals.

There were no good landings here, so we cruised in Zodiacs in order to get close to the wildlife. The name "macaroni" derives from the eighteenth century dandies who made the Grand Tour to Italy and affected continental tastes and fashions, dyeing their hair in streaks and extending crests over their ears. Arriving back in England they were promptly called "macaronis" by the yokels, whose only association with Italy was the pasts with which they were familiar. Hence, on the American side of the pond, "Yankee doodle went to town, riding on a pony, stuck a feather in his hat and called it macaroni." On exploring Antarctica, both British and U.S. sailors, meeting the gaudily crested penguins, promptly christened them after their style.

Cruising Hercules Bay looking at the Macaroni Penguins.

Macaroni Penguins on the rocky slopes. Its amazing how they climb such steep slopes and that too slippery!

A Macaroni Penguin up-close

In the afternoon we sailed to St. Andrews Bay. It is the home to the largest King Penguin colony on South Georgia, numbering over 100,000 pairs. Not only does the penguin colony span the length of the glacial river, elephant seal haul outs seem to stretch on for miles ashore, making it look like a very lumpy beach indeed. They say "there are no boulders on the beach….there are only animals!"

Elephant Seals - the males have that snout nose and are ten time bigger than the females! One thing is that you never walk in between two male elephant seals. If they get into a fight anything and everything will be pummeled through. They are not trying to attack you rather trying to get to the other male Elephant seal who is most probably trying to steal the female! And did I mention, the males weigh about 3000 Pounds!

Elephant Seals carpeting St. Andrews Bay

Two male Elephant Seals in a fight

The largest King Penguin Colony in South Georgia!

This is just one frame of the total 14 frames I had to take to fit the entire colony…and by the way I use a Full Frame Camera! It was an estimate that there were at least 250,000 pairs in the colony at that time!