What? More Penguins?!!

This morning, we had a very rainy, snowy, wet, grey, and windy beginning. We visited Gold Harbour, another King Penguin colony site. Unlike us humans, the penguins and other creatures seemed unaffected by the weather. They were designed to be wet. Penguins are seabirds. Check out the very wet Oakum Boy. He seemed a little humiliated.

Drizzly Oakum Boy



We visited Godthul this afternoon. We saw a cow-calf pair of Southern Right Whales on the way. Upon arrival, most passengers either enjoyed a quiet afternoon or went for a short hike. The remainder of the hardy crew just couldn’t resist another challenging hike. The motivation was the Macaroni Penguin. Although we’ve been inundated with Kings, the Macaroni is the most common Penguin on South Georgia Island with over five million pairs! They are more challenging to observe, as their colonies are located on hills or sides of cliffs. They have funky golden-orange plumes. The hard work of hiking on steep hills and tussock grass in Wellington boots paid off with close views of the colony and its inhabitants.

Macaroni Penguins







This evening we rendezvoused with our sister ship, the Explorer. She’s on her way to Cape Town, South Africa, followed by a tour of the Indian Ocean. We had an opportunity to tour the ship and visit with the passengers and crew. It’s a larger ship (~150 passengers compared to Endeavour’s ~100 passengers), and seemed much more “glitzy” (more like a cruise ship and less like an expedition ship). Despite this, I certainly wouldn’t mind cruising with Lindblad on the Explorer. Their trip to the Arctic to see the Polar Bears sounds fascinating. We wish the Explorer Godspeed as she makes her way further east. It will take her ten days to reach Cape Town. Hmm…How about another species of penguins? The Jackass Penguin can be seen at Cape Town!