As I post this, I'm now back at home self isolating after having completed my spell at Arrowe Park in Merseyside. Assuming I don't show any symptoms and my blood test results remain negative I'll complete the 45 day isolation period on June 24th (inclusive). So far so good!
5th April 2026
My fourth visit to South Georgia and i'm still seeing new places. It is an incredible island with some phenomenal wildlife experiences.
The weather was too severe to be able to land at Salisbury Plain so we were going to make our first zodiac landing at a more sheltered location called Godthul Bay.
Some spectacular scenery as we sailed down the north-east side of the island.
Glacier from Caird Nunatak reaches the sea, with Mount Woodward in the background.
Iceberg offshore at South Georgia
Suddenly there was a Blue Whale next to the ship!
Some photos showed Killer Whale teeth marks from an attack along the dorsal ridge behind the dorsal fin.
Arriving at Godthul Bay
We'd been advised that South Georgia Pipit had become difficult to see as the population had appeared to decline for an unknown reason starting shortly after 2023/24. However, there had been some reports of the pipit around the Godthul Bay area. Before we had even arrived at the Bay as we sailed down the island one gave flight views as it flew over the ship and came from the seaward side!
Zodiac operations begin
The landing beach
The welcome committee and the trek through the tussock grass up the stream to reach the Gentoo penguins and the lake.
On the way through the tussock grass you would come across an occasional Antarctic fur seal and for the most part they would just look and ignore you but this one was a little bit wary and didn't like anyone wandering past too close. The lady in the distance is holding her hand up to try and ward off a fur seal coming towards her that was using a gully to ambush people walking past. The lady was doing the right thing but the seal was a bold one, so I wandered back down to help her get past the fur seal as it looked like she was having a bit of trouble. Knight in shining armour badge award, I think. Whilst the fur seals coming towards you and snuffling and barking seemed a little bit ferocious, in fact all you had to do was walk towards them and they would back off. Good job they weren't mature bulls though, otherwise it would have been a totally different experience!!
Once the climb up the stream was complete the ground flattened out and there were some small groups of moulting Gentoo Penguins. It also started to lightly snow.
The expectation that had been set was that seeing a South Georgia Pipit was going to be unlikely given the sharp drop in the population. Therefore, it was a welcome surprise that there were two foraging along the tideline at the landing beach!
One of them was incredibly tame and if you stayed still and moved very slowly it would wander towards you within foraging within inches. They would also fly out and land on floating mats of kelp to forage.
Signs of the appalling and barbaric commercial whaling industry were apparent even on this small beach.
People on the cruise had different priorities, some kept an island list and were here to visit the various islands, some were here for the birds and general wildlife, some just for the experience, some were social media influencers and some to take loads of photos.
I think these folks were taking photos of a Snowy Sheathbill.
