South Georgia day 4 - Cooper Bay and Drygalski Fjord

The second landing of the day was in Cooper Bay, again another spot where due to the limited scale of the site it was necessary to split into two parties, with a brief shore landing before or after a zodiac boat trip.

On the boat trip we enjoyed watching Light-mantled Sooty Albatross flying together as well as calling, an eerie but delightful sound, this species was a real highlight of the whole trip:

Snowy Sheathbills moved around on the rocks:

The reason for this landing though was our one and only encounter with Macaroni Penguins:

This pair were allopreening and generally fussed each other for the duration of our landing:

A group emerged from the sea together and made its way to the main colony:

Out at sea a small group of Gentoo's went past:

It was on the ride back to the ship that I was put off zodaics.  We'd already been told they had a tendency to flip, we were back heavy, I'm always carrying all my gear.  Our driver for this trip decided to go flat-out back to the boat, causing the lady next to me to have a panic attack.  I decided after that trip I would pick and choose zodiac landings to suit me.

We sailed from Cooper Bay to Drygalski Fjord to enjoy the scenery:

and wildlife including this lone fur seal on ice:

The clouds came in and wreathed the fjord, limiting visibility but we did sail right up to the glacier and then turned around and headed back out to sea.

In the fjord we got our first proper taste of glacial ice:

The temperature dropped, the wind picked-up, it was time to head in for dinner.