On the sunny afternoon of 8 March, we stopped in St. Andrews Bay for a visit to shore. I joined a group that hiked quickly up across the vast glacial plain formed by the retreat of the Heaney Glacier… and then up onto the glacier itself. Led by Eric, a member of the expedition team who is a glaciologist, we had an opportunity to learn about the dynamics of retreating glaciers.
On the way back we walked to an overlook where we had a sweeping view from the bay to the Buxton Glacier and across a massive colony of King Penguins – scientists estimate 130,000 pairs, which translates to nearly 400,000 penguins. In the photo above the shore at left is speckled white: those are penguins!
Read on and be sure to check out the gallery of photos and videos.
It’s hard to convey the experience of such a large gathering of penguins – especially the sound and smell. Below is one scene, but this brief video panorama captures it better. (The breeze creates a lot of noise, but you can hear the penguins as well.)
Earlier, on our walk to the glacier, we often had to wade through the interlaced rivulets of runoff. We saw, in real time, the glacier melting and carrying fine silt downstream toward the ocean. Once on top, we stared down into a moulin where the surface melt poured like a waterfall through a hole in the glacier, disappearing inside the glacier and, later, out from the face of the glacier. From the glacier, we had grand views of the peaks toward the center of South Georgia, including a glimpse of snow-capped Mount Paget, at 9,626′ (2,934m) the highest point on the island.
Lots more to see the gallery of photos – including some videos of adult fur seals snuggling on the beach, and King Penguins going for a swim.
David Kotz 