For whatever reason, our arrival to South Georgia was delayed from our original schedule. The plan had been to arrive before breakfast, then complete two activites; one before lunch and one after lunch. However, we did not reach the island until 10:30, and the weather began to play a bigger part in our trip, with the wind now preventing our landing at Right Whale Bay, the first destination.
Unpeterbed we headed round to Salisbury Plain, but the wind here also prevented our landing. The weather generally was very unfavourable, with strong wings, snow and sleet and the persistent fog that had haunted our last few days at sea. Despite this, we could at least see the spectacular King Penguin colony on Salisbury Plain, even if we could not land to walk among them.
Despite this, the morning was still enjoyable and watching from the ship did bring its rewards. First I finally saw my first Blue Petrel, with one around the ship early morning. This species would be seen on and off throughout the day. Even better was the first Snow Petrel of the trip, but these sadly did not get encountered very often, with one early morning, one midday and two in the evening. The other birding highlight was a squad of 16 Snowy Sheathbill that landed on our ship when we approached Salisbury Plain. They continued to linger on the ship until dark, whilst ship hands tried desperately to scare them off, always in vain. It was very funny to watch.
We also had our daily cetacean encounter to keep the streak going for another day. The morning was very liverly with Humpack Whales, with probably 10 individuals seen before breakfast. This incredible start fizzled out somewhat but at lunchtime we had phenomenal views of a Humback Whale breaching next to the ship, several times!
At 16:30 we finally were able to land on South Georgia, at Possession Bay. Although not as spectacular as the other sites, it was still a great place to land. There were hundreds of Fur Seals on the beach, as well as a few King Penguins and Gentoo Penguins as well, although not in massive numbers. Although the pipit eluded us here, the South Georgia Pintail, for now considered a race of Yellow-billed Pintail, was present and we got very nice views as they swam between bathing Southern Elephant Seals.
At dusk we lingered on deck to try see Orca as we left the bay, but we saw nothing on that front. The sea was alive with birds however, as hundreds of Prions headed to the island to their breeding colony. There were other species mingled among them, including the aforementioned Snow Petrels and another couple of Blue Petrels. An excellent way to round out an otherwise very mixed day.
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