Hanseatic inspiration - Grand Expedition Antarctica (2025): Part 4 (South Georgia)

On the second sea day after the Falklands, we passed by the six Shag Rocks, where cormorants breed. The following three days were spent in South Georgia, where we stopped at various landing sites from west to east.
We started off with Salisbury Plain in full sunshine, where a massiv king penguin colony (about 70,000 to 80,000 pairs plus chicks) lives together with fur seals.
In the afternoon, we visited Fortuna Bay, which also is the home of a huge king penguin colony. We then passed by Leith Harbour in the evening, which is a former whaling station.
The next morning, we anchored at Jason Harbour, where we could enjoy the views of the bay from a nearby hill and, of course, more king penguins and fur seals.
After a quick cruise close to Nordenskjöld glacier, we went to Grytviken, where the British administration of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands is located (but no permanent population). It is another former whaling station, but also famous as the last resting place of Sir Ernest Shackleton. A small museum is well maintained. At Grytviken, we saw our first larger group of elephant seals.
Quite a big number of those massive animals live together with yet another huge king penguin colony at Gold Harbour, which we visited the next morning. Plans for the afternoon at Cooper Bay were dropped due to the swell and fog, but we saw many icebergs that have stranded there.

00:00 Shag Rocks
01:10 Salisbury Plain
05:49 Fortuna Bay
09:14 Leith Harbour
09:55 Jason Harbour
11:41 Nordenskjöld Glacier
11:59 Grytviken
17:01 Gold Harbour
20:25 Cooper Bay