Atlantic Odyssey - Coopers Island and Drygalski Fjiord

7th April 2026

Heading in to Drygalski Fjiord with penguin rookeries of Chinstrap, Macaroni and Gentoo. A colony of Snow Petrels occur within the Fjiord which is unusual given it's distance from the Antarctic Peninsula. We managed to get great views of a pod of Orca's including a cute small calf. It was sad to say goodbye to South Georgia.

Macaroni Penguin rookery

Southern Giant Petrel

Northern Giant Petrel

Pintado Petrel

Patterns in the ice

Looking for Orca in the Fjiord

Orca mother and calf

Snow Petrel

The head of the Drygalski Fjiord

A small section of the Chinstrap Penguin rookery

Chinstrap Penguin porpoising 

Coopers Island

Leaving South Georgia

Atlantic Odyssey - Gold Harbour

7th April

Gold Harbour is so called because the sun's rays make the cliffs yellow with their light in the morning and evening. However, we had overcast skies in the morning on arrival but the hanging ice cliffs and the Bertrab Glacier were impressive.

Between the King Penguin rookery and the hanging glacier there is a lagoon which you can't see in the photos.

There was a rough surf crashing on to the steep beach and a bumpy swell causing any attempts at photography and video to be tricky. However, the King Penguins took it all in their stride with small flocks seeming to handle the rough looking conditions with ease.

As well as Antarcrtic Fur Seals a number of Southern Elephant Seals were also hauled out on the beach.

Cute Antarctic Fur Seals just mucking about

Atlantic Odyssey - St Andrews Bay - Part 2

6th April 2026

The awesome sight of the King Penguin rookery at St Andrews Bay is just sensory overload.

The main part of the King Penguin rookery

Flipper fights look bruising

Orderly queue returning to the zodiac

As the weather started to close in and thanks to Josh one of the Ornis guides, I managed to get on the last zodiac offering a coastal cruise past the rookery.

Brown Skua (Subantarctic Skua) Stercorarius [antarcticus] lonbergi

Antarctic Fur Seal, they look very cute (and are at this age and younger) but.....

Bandit country, the Antarctic Fur Seals always won, at least they thought they had. This couple survived.

Too close!

Atlantic Odyssey - St Andrews Bay - Part 1

6th April 2026

Having spent a superb morning at Grytviken we cruised to St Andrews Bay and hopefully a zodiac landing at a King Penguin colony.

The scenery en-route to St Andrews Bay was spectacular

Black-browed Albatross

Antarctic Tern

Southern Right Whale

King Penguins

Southern Elephant Seals

King Penguin