Hippo Ears

Imperial Cormorant (Blue-eyed Shag) at Cooper Bay, South Georgia Island

A molting adult King Penguin at Gold Harbour

Cooper Bay, South Georgia Island

Northern Giant Petrel nibbling a Macaroni Penguin skin at Cooper Bay

My friend from South Africa mentioned to me as we passed by two icebergs in Drygalski Fjord this morning that she calls icebergs hippo ears. The majority of the iceberg is below the surface. I’d feel a little more confident cruising by icebergs if we had some way to detect the underwater portion by sonar ahead of us but we only have the depth finder. We see our second large iceberg this afternoon as we buck away from the southern tip of South Georgia Island. I say buck away because I got up on the bow with the several other thrill seekers and we went way up the swell and crashed down, spray pushing out and blowing over us.



The barf bags are back up lining the railings for impromptu use. After spending most of the early afternoon outside watching the prions, albatrosses, and petrels zoom by on wind-whipped seas, I head to bed for a long afternoon nap. Surprisingly, I don’t roll around too much with these rolling seas. Instead I just get lullabied to sleep. Not as many people at dinner tonight. I can understand the desire to just stay in bed but with a 50-hour crossing to the Orkney Islands, I have to be semi-productive with this rare down time.

The patch seems to once again be saving me from seasickness so it’s more of an issue not getting hurt going up and down the 3 flights of stairs I take routinely from my room on the 4^th deck to the bridge on the 7^th deck, then back to the library (my hang-out) on the 6^th deck. Ted reminds us constantly to “save one hand for the ship” because it’s so easy to lose your balance on the steep steps. A few years ago, a passenger had both hands full with snacks and cameras, lost her balance, hit her head on a railing and died. I usually try to keep both hands free to grab the railings. Today I got a bit greedy and zoomed from the 6^th to the 3^rd deck (bar area and lecture room) to get a chocolate chip cookie (afternoon fresh baked cookies everyday!). I made it down fine (empty hands), but coming back up with only one hand for the railing and another for the cookie, I tripped and tossed my cookies! Well, I just wanted to say that phrase but I did break off a corner of my cookie on the stair, but ate the rest.

King Penguins and Elephant Seals at Gold Harbour, South Georgia Island

Southern Elephant Seal

Impressive nails on a Southern Elephant Seal at Gold Harbour.

After seeing the “hippo ears” in the fjord today, I went on a Zodiac cruise in Cooper Bay and spotted a couple new species of birds and got lots of photos. Then it was up to the Macaroni Penguin colony for my last chance to see chicks with lots of seal pups on the trail up. The final trip away from South Georgia Island was wavy and windy with icy, craggy peaks slipping away from view as the next big iceberg came into focus. I’m heading south to see even more sights come to life from my imagination.