February 18,

0600 I awoke to us moving. The yacht was already repositioning to St Andrews Bay. We had overnighted in Cumberland Bay, but we never saw the bay due to it being dark when we arrived last night and dark we had started out (I assume, since I wasn’t awake when we had started). I went out on our balcony last night and was able to see a handful of stars amongst the clouds. Now a couple of facts I didn’t mention yesterday: first South Georgia only had 15-16,000 tourists last year and nobody lives here year round; secondly, our yacht only comes to South Georgia one time each season – and we are on it!!!

At 0700 we started getting around, when we stopped in St. Andrews Bay. Just as we were ready to go out, we heard an announcement by Chad that the landing here was cancelled, due 50 knot winds! He encouraged us to go to the Dome to view the 400,000 pairs of King Penguins that call this bay home. We were first to arrive, surprisingly.

The bay is situated with three majestic glaciers grinding and swirling down to the ocean – two of these glaciers wrapped around a single mountain. Anyway, in the foreground were numerous white and black dots in a 180 degree span, Pequins in incredible amounts. With the binoculars you can make out that it was in fact, wall to wall amounts of penguins. The doors were opened and we went out in the fierce blowing wind. Immediately, we were first, overwhelmed with the potent smell of so many penguins with their excrement. But once past that, seeing the sheer numbers of them was so crazy!!! Many more fellow yachters were here now – some had their two foot long lenses taking pictures, others just their cell phones, but everyone was fighting the wind blasting us. It was, unfortunately, wise to have called off the venture.

We went to breakfast as the ship started leaving the bay. I ordered Egg’s Benedict. Jeff did various things from the buffet. By 0830 we went back to our room. I blogged and watched the scenes from our window until our room attendant came to clean, so we went back up to the Dome. It’s a better view up here anyway.

The yacht pulled into Moltke Bay and Chad made the announcement saying we would Zodiac cruise here. First section- groups 8-5 went out first at 1000. We were the very first out at the 1100 one – groups 4-1. Maria was our cruise guide with Jan. There was a mild breeze but the water was pretty smooth. We motored to the shore and took in baby Fur Seals in “school,” Maria said. We watched them for a bit: frolicking, play-fighting, and splashing about. Then we moved on and saw a few King Penguins with the far fewer Gentoo Penguins mixed in. There were even some seals chasing some penguins! One seal, a bully, actually bit at a penguin!! Maria talked of the King Penguins strange behavior – that we had previously witnessed- three of them “playing follow-the-leader.” She said that this was two males vying for the leader – a female – attention. Next, we saw a few Elephant Seals, lazily basking in the sun. They were actually going through molting and will return to the water when done. There was a lot of kelp and the propeller kept getting choked with it. Maria hit three rocks also. Ouch! We were out for an extended time- went in at 1225. We were pampered again with warm wash clothes and warm tea.

We went back to our room, changed to regular clothes and went to lunch. We both just did buffet items. We saw the Zodiacs being loaded and felt the ship take off. After lunch we went back to our room for a siesta. At 1415, Chad announced an early Briefing and Recap in the auditorium. During this we found out we were going to Gold Harbor and that tomorrow they were planning for three excursions. Then Q&A and we were dismissed.

We were the first ones to go out again, so we went back quickly to get ready. The yacht stopped, but we saw the staff attempt to unload a Zodiac, the wind gusted and whipped it back. WOWZA!! Chad came on and announced there were 80 knot bursts and canceled this outing. He said they were looking at other options…so thwarted again?!? But again, wisely, this site was canceled! We went up to the Dome. Gold Harbor is beautiful with all the sunlight streaming on it, but blasting wind. Ocean spray and even starts of water spouts could be seen.

A lecture was set up from Natalia. Meanwhile, Chad came back on stating that no alternative excursion could be found…so on with the lecture. It was on Nordenskjold. We went to watch it from our room. Natalia’s speaking is hard to follow as she has a thick, Norwegian accent. I blogged while we semi watched her lecture. Then there was an impromptu Q&A for an hour, which we attended. It was during this we discovered we were in hurricane level winds! After that, we went back to our room and showered. They offered a movie,but we skipped it. I blogged.

We went to dinner at 1900, having starters of White Radish Carpaccio with olives, vodka raisins with mango dressing; Harira Soup- fruity tomato, chick peas and Moroccan spice; Creamy Risotto with crispy guanciale, baked apple, and hazelnuts; Smoked Seasonal Vegetables with charred herb oil. Then mains were seared Tuna with miso glaze, sesame seed, and wilted green veggies(Jeff says he understands now what seared Tuna is all about); and Red Fish (from the red snapper family) over garlic corn/green beans, with a Zingara sauce and onion cream. We also had desserts: Souffle au Grand Marnier orange sauce; and Baked Emmental Cheese in a zucchini with a sage sweet mustard. When we finished we went back to our room, took a dramamine and went to bed.