January 2, 2023June 26, 2023

Right Whale Bay, South Georgia

This post is part of our epic adventure to the Falklands, South Georgia, and Antarctica. In case you don’t want to read this sequentially, or you are looking for a specific part of the trip, here are some shortcuts:

Right Whale Bay, South Georgia – January 2nd

54°0’0″ S, 37°40’59” W

2 Celsius / 35 Fahrenheit – A mix of fog and clear skies

We expected another day at sea, so were surprised after lunch when Greg announced that we were approaching South Georgia. From the front of the ship we saw thousands of tiny dots on the shore, and could hear vocalisations from both penguins and seals. Curious seals and porpoising penguins escorted the ship as we approached the dream-like landscape.

Because we were doing a check-out snorkel, we would be the first to go ashore after the expedition team had secured the landing site. We went to the mudroom and suited up. Underneath the dry suit I wore two base layers and my puffer jacket on top, and one base layer and fleece pants on the bottom. I also wore two pairs of wool socks. Our “good cameras” were in their housings for snorkelling, so we were using our backup camera bodies with zoom lenses for the landing.

Arriving on the beach was, in two words, mind-boggling and surreal. We were surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of King penguins and antarctic fur seals, and the shore was shrouded in thick atmospheric fog. The seal pups were impossibly cute and I kept having to remind myself to take a deep breath and take it all in. We crossed a stream and made our way to the King Penguin colony where a few hundred birds were in various stages of molting. It looked like a quite annoying process and I felt especially bad for the awkward looking juveniles. I’m sure they felt the same for me awkwardly squatting in my dry suit. We weren’t allowed to sit or kneel due to outbreak of avian flu.

After about an hour and a half, our snorkelling group boarded two zodiacs for our checkout swim. I must admit, a tinge of nervousness fluttered in my stomach. The water temperature was about a degree warmer than the air temperature, which was a frosty 2 celsius / 35 fahrenheit. The coldest water I had ever experienced was a mild 15°C/58°F, and I had never worn a dry suit before. To add to the challenge, there was no ladder to easily climb back into the zodiac. However, I was determined to give it a go because this was likely the only opportunity that I would have in my entire life to try polar snorkelling. I cautiously hopped into the water, leaving my big camera behind in the zodiac, just in case I needed a quick retreat. Once in the water, the dry suit felt a bit cumbersome. Despite my best efforts to “burp” it on land, the trapped air inside made me surprisingly buoyant – at least I had a foolproof safety measure against drowning! Thankfully, the suit kept me warm and dry without any leaks. But WOW, was the water cold when I dipped my face in! The visibility was far from perfect, barely allowing me to see my own fins. The presence of seals was a great distraction, so I swam back to the zodiac to grab my camera. I managed to stay in the water for 45 minutes, although my feet and legs started getting a little chilly towards the end. I made a mental note to wear warmer fleece pants and an extra pair of socks next time. Getting back into the zodiak was as awkward as I’d imagined, and I wound up face down in the centre like an oversized tuna. Overall, I appreciated the calm conditions for our checkout swim and had loved seeing the seals from this unique vantage point.