Excursion to Elsehul Bay, South Georgia

Our Zodiac boats cruise the shoreline of Elsehul Bay, observing the seals and penguins

 

Tuesday, November 7 -  Elsehul, South Georgia

Each Zodiac has a naturalist for its driver, so every group of 10 has a personal guide, here waiting to load their groups

We headed out to the Zodiacs by 9 for about an hour and a half cruise of the cove at Elsehul Bay.  Our start was later than expected, because the naturalist team discovered almost 20 dead seals on the beach.  They are fairly certain they are the victim of Highly Pathogenic Avian Flu and they have to report them and document them.  Once this task was completed, our Zodiacs are out on the lookout for 5 different types of nesting penguins, as well as fur seals and elephant seals here for spring mating season on the beach.

A group of three macaroni penguins climbing up a rather steep rock cliff

Michael and I were on the Zodiac with Conner Ryan, who is one of my favorite naturalists. We got to see grey headed albatross, who are nesting here for the first time. We also saw shags, and giant petrels. As we got closer to the shore and the cliffs, we could see the nesting macaroni penguin colonies. They climb up high to nest, scrambling and hopping up trails that lead back and forth to the water for feeding. We could see some fur seals on the paths, and the penguins just maneuvered around them. We saw two types of kelp, large, swaying fronds of bull kelp and giant kelp, macrocystis, which has leafy fronds and pneumocystis that help them float.

Macaroni penguins share these steep pathways with the fur seals, and must hop around them

Yellow crest of the macaroni penguin;  a rather large obstacle in the form of a fur seal

Macaroni penguins are fairly common; with red-orange beaks and pink feet

Beautiful fronds of bull kelp undulating in the tide

An unexpected Viking raid in South Georgia!

We were pleasantly surprised by hotel services manager Patrick and some of the crew.  They brought out a Zodiac to meet each of our groups.  They were wearing Viking helmets and made a lot of noise commandeering our boat - only to serve us hot chocolate, laced with lots of options, if we so desired.  I had mine with Frangelico - yum!

Big smiles for the hot chocolate and Frangelico!

A closer look at a group of king penguins and many seals

An elephant seal swims toward our Zodiac; a Giant Petrel spans its wings while swimming

We had lots of views of elephant seals, including a big bull mating with a female; he’s about 10 times her size.  There were also a number of king penguins, fur seals, petrels and others wildlife along the beaches.

A fur seal swimming with flippers elevated, lots of elephant and fur seals on the beach

King penguins and fur seals

This one looks so relaxed, don't you think?

Many seabirds swimming in the bay

A Northern Giant Petrel - large birds which feed on carrion

Lots of Giant Petrels gathered in the bay

The more delicate Cape Petrel

A great day for photography!