2022 Antarctica: South Georgia Island, Royal Bay and Gold Harbour (12/12/2022)

Monday, December 12, 2022 (continued)

The Zodiacs are ready to load up for our
afternoon excursion to Royal Bay

Kent had the front seat, which is great for a photographer,
but terrible when the seas are rough and waves splash
over the bow to soak you in water that turned to sleet

We had to settle for viewing the Eudyptes chrysolophus/
Macaroni penguins from the Zodiac (KSS)

More Macaroni penguins

The Macaroni penguin is distinguished by the black
and orange feathers on his forehead

A better photo of the orange feathers (and pink feet!)
(by SteveAndEmma)

Here we go! A Macaroni penguin (by Charlie Wu)

The eggs of Macaroni penguins incubate in 34 days, and the
chick will be ready to go to sea in a little over two months

A mat of bull kelp

Chionis albus/Snowy Sheathbill (by James Moult)

Here the Snowy Sheathbill demonstrates that he is the
only non-web-footed bird in Antarctica (by Simon Gillespie)

Icicles hang from the tussac grass covered cliffs

The tussac grass creates unusual patterns on the mountainside

Swimming Gentoo penguins (by Simon Gillespie)

Oh! Our Zodiac joined others where a Hydrurga leptonyx/Leopard Seal was spotted hanging out in a bed of kelp. We arrived in time to see a penguin being grabbed by a foot and pulled underwater. A short time later a penguin popped up on the far side of the kelp and swam for shore. Then the leopard seal surfaced.

Charlie Wu caught the predator leopard seal on camera!

Suddenly most of the Zodiacs were zooming across the
large bay, due to a sighting of Megaptera novaeangliae/
Humpback Whales who cavorted among us

It was difficult to get a count of the humpback whales,
where up to four were seen at a time

When the back of the whale arched or humped, it meant
he was about to dive, which would result in the
tail fluke being raised (which we never caught on camera)

Each humpback whale has a unique pattern on its tail fluke, so he can be individually identified. At Happywhale.com, with a subscription, you can look for a match to identify the whale you photographed. If it is a new unique fluke, you have the right to name the whale.

Humpback whale fluke (by Charlie Wu)

This photo shows how close we were to the whales
(by Christopher Kirby-Lambert)

Coorsen was able to get two flukes at once!

Later, after Afternoon Tea, we had a Zodiac cruise and landing at Gold Harbour.

Bertrab Glacier

Gold Harbour is known for hanging glaciers, those that stop at a precipice
and do not connect directly with another glacier or the sea

Elephant seals in sea caves

More seals below cliffs with tussac grass

Xanthoria elegans (orange lichen)

Twin rock pinnacles

A young elephant seal "interferes"
with our landing at Gold Harbour

Unlike the territorial fur seals, the elephant seals
have no concept of personal space (KSS)

Don't think these Mirounga leonina/Southern Elephant Seals
are lazy; we are catching them during an energy-replenishing
break from deep-sea diving (by Roger)

The juvenile male elephant seal has not fully developed
his proboscis (by Christopher Kirby-Lambert)

All the fully developed male elephant seals have already returned to sea, having fulfilled their breeding duties.

We are now at the third largest King penguin colony
(~30,000 pairs) on South Georgia Island; most of these
adults are moulting, which means for a while they have a
double layer of feathers and become heated, thus they
stand in water to help cool themselves (KSS)

Lots of strong orange spots of mature adult King penguins

Preening to help remove the moulting
layer of feathers

A later stage of moulting

When moulting, King penguins may be
anxious and we were to keep our distance

A stray Pygoscelis papua/Gentoo penguin (by RBallance)

Due to the high rate of penguin infant mortality,
penguin skeletons and carcasses appear  to be the norm (KSS)

Okay, not as big as the other two King penguin colonies!

So yes, we had three Zodiac excursions today!

Kent & Tamiko at the rear of the Zodiac
with guide Kristoffer (by unknown)

Zodiac selfie by Kristoffer

Bottoms of the boots being pressure-washed
whenever we returned to the ship (by Coorsen)

Tonight we has a towel sculpture of a penguin (?!)

Towel sculpture penguin

Next: At Sea II.