March 15 - Morning; Fortuna Bay

For our last day in South Georgia, we had two expeditions planned, one in early morning (Red Group disembarked at 7:10 am) at Fortuna Bay, and the second one in mid-afternoon at Grytviken.  Breakfast was available starting at 6:00 am in the 3rd Floor lounge, which is where we gather to put on our boots and parkas before heading out on deck to board the Zodiacs.  The landing was a wide flat beach full of King Penguin and seal activity.  In fact, there were so many inquisitive penguins and seals at the landing site, it was hard to get off the Zodiacs without stepping on one.

To the left of the landing spot the beach extended towards a winding stream of glacial runoff, and way beyond that was a large King Penguin colony.  It was about a 20-minute walk through the rocks, across streams and grassy meadows, surrounded by high mountains on the right and the bay on the left.  Hundreds of mother and pup seals dotted the meadow, and the little ones were so inquisitive and endearing.  They would come right up to us, with absolutely no fear whatsoever, and follow us along as we walked towards the colony.  On the left, penguins trudged along with us to and from the water.

When we got the actual colony, there was a steep little hill off to the side, which we climbed up to get a good view of the whole area.  This is considered a “small” colony.  We saw lots of them still incubating eggs, as well as many fluffy brown chicks, but since this is relatively late in the season, our naturalists told us that these chicks would probably all have difficulty surviving the coming winter since they were so late.  The sights, sounds (and smells) were just amazing.

We walked along their “penguin highway”
back to the colony from the beach

Looking across the whole colony from up on a little hill;
9,000 breeding pairs in there

Here there are several adults incubating eggs;
Also a bunch of fluffy, brown chicks in the center of the photo

After returning to the ship, there was still time to grab a late breakfast and regroup while we sailed to Grytviken for the final expedition ashore, later in the afternoon.