With a 0555 wake up call it was an early start with a ship cruising at 0600 into Drygalski Fjord for 1½ hrs. It was quite stunning, even though it was overcast. I started on the bridge but soon moved out to the bow where it was blowing a gale, snowing lightly and freezing cold. Mind you, I wasn’t exactly dressed for the occasion. I had my sandals on without socks and only three layers. We passed many great geological land formations, glaciers and icebergs and I saw my first Weddell Seal and Snow Petrels.
Then it was breakfast and cruising to Cooper Bay. It was quite windy so we had to go around Cooper Island to get into the Bay. The beach was tiny in comparison to other places we have been and it was crowded with Fur Seals. I went straight up the hill to the Macaroni Penguin colony and tried to take some photos but there were too many people there so I headed back down to the beach and went zodiac cruising instead. I’m so glad I did because there were hundreds of Fur seals playing in the water and riding our waves and we saw some chinstrap Penguins, nesting South Georgia Shags, Mantled Sooty Albatross courting and Antarctic Terns.
We headed straight back to the ship for lunch and set sail for the South Orkney Islands. They managed to pop two more zodiacs whilst putting them away so hopefully they will be able to repair them and the other two popped yesterday before we get down to the peninsula. They decided not to put any lectures on in the afternoon so we could enjoy the view of the bottom of South Georgia and catch up on sleep and sorting photos.
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