A visit to South Georgia provides incredibly beautiful sceneries and an overwhelming amount of wildlife. On this first day of exploring the wonders of this island we certainly got a convincing proof! The first wake-up call sounded at 04:45, and quite a few guests took the opportunity to get ashore before sunrise. We were at Gold Harbour, one of South Georgia´s most spectacular landing spots. Gold Harbour is formed like an amphitheater, with a wide, flat beach, framed by lush slopes and steep rocks with a glacier on top. The beach is home to a colony of king penguins as well as fur seals and elephant seals. Those who got up at normal wake-up time were shuttled to the beach just after breakfast and spent the whole morning ashore.
11/14/2024
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National Geographic Explorer
Elephant Island
This morning National Geographic Explorer arrived at Antarctica after a calm crossing of the Scotia Sea from South Georgia. At 6am, our expedition leader announced that we had arrived at the iconic location of Shackleton’s epic Elephant Island. The majority of adventurous souls on board headed for the bow or bridge to see Point Wild. For Shackleton’s men this was the first time in sixteen months they had been on land. After the Endurance sank, they spent 5.5 months camping on the ice and seven days in their rowboats to Cape Valentine. Realizing that beach was no safe-haven, Frank Wild took one of the lifeboats to seek a safer camp and found Point Wild, which was a miserable place. From the bow we could see the monument of Captain Pardo, commander of the Yelcho, which rescued the 22 men after Shackleton found help on South Georgia. A blustery day (gusts of 40 knots) around the island did not allow for a Zodiac cruise but we continued around the coast of Elephant Island and checked out Cape Valentine and Cape Lookout before heading across the Bransfield Strait to the Antarctic Peninsula.
