Into the wildlife...

South Georgia lies on the parabolic rim of the Scotia Sea. It is an island, but don't call it that - Tom Ritchie protests those that add the "island" word to the end of the name, because it is a broken off piece of continental land, being pushed away from Tierra del Fuego (from whence it came?) by plate tectonic movements.

The route from South Orkney to South Georgia.

South Georgia is an Overseas Territory of Great Britain. It was named by James Cook after King George III. It's administered from the Falklands, and there is no real permanent population here, but there are always a "dozen or so officials" in residence, at Grytviken which we will visit later. Argentina has territorial claims on South Georgia, but the British dealt with those during the Falklands War.

Iceberg near Cooper Island shows evidence of some ancient geological incident.

After moving our clocks forward one hour, our first landfall on South Georgia was at the south eastern corner, at the end of Drygalski Fjord, in a place called Cooper Bay (anmes after Cook's first lieutenant on HMS Resolution). The weather was so-so - it was windy and the bay was rough - but it was important to do the excursion offered because possibly the only sighting of macaroni penguins would be here.

Those pesky icebergs hiding away in inlets near Cooper Bay.

Small glacier amid green tussocks. We weren't allowed to land here for biosecurity reasons.

Coming into Cooper Bay we stopped for a pod of hump-back whales, and, much more exciting, glimpses of a giant blue whale and calf. We had an excellent close-up view of the blues from the ship's deck 4 lounge area, but we were not quick enough to get photos. Marieke had previously explained how to identify the various types of whales by their blow, so we were pleased to see the strong columnar type blow from this blue whale. The expedition staff and even the captain were beside themselves with excitement at the sight of a blue whale - it is a rare privilege indeed!

Humpback whale and calf in Cooper Bay, but missed the blue whale with the camera!

Many species of birds swirled around the stern of the Orion as we cruised into Cooper Bay. Sadly, we are not as competent as Doug Gould at identifying them, so no responsibility is taken for the names we have given them in the photos! Many are just best guesses.

Southern Giant Petrel.

Putting the anchor down so we can have a zodiac outing.

The scout party gets the first look at all the good stuff.

We chose a zodiac tour over an uphill hike to a rookery. Our zodiac captain, Steve Egan, showed he was an excellent pilot as he held the boat as steady as possible in rough rocky inlets. It was another challenging photographic exercise, because the bobbing around made it impossible to point the camera with accuracy. The only way to get shots is to set the camera to rapid-fire, point it in the right direction, and hold the button down. This approach uses up a lot of memory card space quickly!

An uphill hike through the tussocks to the macaroni penguin rookery.

Kelp, beach and macaroni penguins in Cooper Bay.

Checking out the macaronis heading up to their cliff-top rookery.

But the wildlife was prolific and extraordinary. It is all around you, everywhere! We are beginning to appreciate what the world's most productive waters actually means. The macaroni penguins were a special treat, with their flamboyant headgear. This particular species is common world-wide, but is rare in Antarctica. As penguins are wont, they stood around for us to take their picture, but the wobbly zodiac made that very hit and miss. Macaronis eat krill, and they lay two eggs a year, one much bigger than the other, and only the bigger survives. We also saw chinstrap penguins here.

The penguin highway to the rookery is paved in this case.

Dignified profile of a young fur seal.

Yankee Doodle stuck a feather in his cap and called it macaroni!

The Kelp Gull is common around the world, but is the only gull seen in Antarctica, and it stays here all winter.

Antarctic shag dries his wings.

Up on his flippers having a good look around.

Macaroni penguin on his South Georgia rock.

Chinstraps also call South Georgia home. It seems every Antarctic species has a presence here.

Scavenger of the seas, the Southern Giant Petrel.

Fur seals were here in abundance, and the juveniles were a delight. They frolic in the little rocky inlets and seem to be putting on a show for us, but Doug Gould saud that they are just having fun and burning off excess energy. There was lots of kelp about, colourful too and looking like giant tagliatelli pasta.

Kelp abounds in the water and on the wet rocks in Cooper Bay.

Chinstrap having a breather from his fishing expedition.

Macaronis on the beach, but the fur seal is warning us off.

They have to breathe air, but fur seals are most at home in the water.

Zodiac returning to the Orion after an expedition.

Our (all brand new) external clothing is performing admirably. We have North Face water and wind-proof overpants (from Paddy Pallin, Sydney) which tighten with velcro over our Bogs boots (from Swaynes Nursery, Dural). Our uppers are protected with an inner shell and orange-coloured expedition jacket with hood provided to all passengers by National Geographic / Lindblad. These not only make us easily identifiable at a distance, but give excellent protection against all elements. The jackets have an Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition Centenary patch featuring an embroidered image of Sir Ernest Shackleton.

Passenger modelling the Centenary Shackleton Expedition patch, attempting the impossible with an iPad.

How's that for a panorama?

Passengers enjoying a sunset party on the top deck.