From Cape to Cape on the Explorer.

Ron! Just got back from our trip and have started reading your thread. Have to confess that I have not yet gotten through all of it but great so far.

I was glad to see that your chef was also Pia. She was on board Explorer for the cruise we just departed and I agree, the food on our cruise was excellent. In fact I am still carrying a lot of it around with me, it was so good. :eek:

Looking forward to catching up with the rest of your blog. Yours are very enjoyable, and you take such fun trips that I want to go along. I met a fellow CCer named zigtraveler on my recent Explorer cruise, and we were both commenting about how much we like your blogs! Call us the Drron fan club.

Thanks for all the comments,even those about whose government is worst.You may be surprised by my pick-Bhutan.

But back to beautiful Stromness where everyday you feel so glad to be alive with nature bestowing freezing winds and snow flurries so that even the perguins look cold.

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But then you are surrounded by Nature's beauty.

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After a while we spotted our destination-

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I'm sure I wouldn't have wanted to slide down that when it was frozen.

Time to turn around and prepare for the journey back to the beach-

Never so pleased to be back at the zodiac site.Again a wait for a return zodiac.So the old whaling station-

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And once again a cute little fellow on the beach-

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We now steamed north for Fortuna Bay.This was because it is a sheltered bay and a severe gale was predicted for Friday.We Are told the earliest we will be leaving is 1400 on Saturday.This means we will be late into Capetown on the 29th,no Immigration until the morning of the 30th so we would miss our early flight out of CPT.Decided to change to the latest flight that would allow us to connect to our SAA flight to EBB.

That night we had a special Shackelton centenary dinner.Yes it is 100 years since he made that amazing journey to South Georgia.

When we arrive in Fortuna Bay it was cloudy but looked OK-

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The outlook the next morning was encouraging.

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The Expedition staff decided to do a long zodiac ride to the beach in the first picture and then a hike to a king penguin colony.Now we had taken note of the previous evening's briefing and the weather report and decided we didn't need to see another penguin colony.By the time the zodiacs were returning we knew we had made the right decision-

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So I spent some time getting a pictorial record of the fantastic job done by the crew at the gate.

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The wind speed and the back bar-

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The first zodiacs back-

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Conditions at the side gate-

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Now series showing the fantastic job done by the crew.Not only those at the gate but the zodiac drivers.

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You can see the variation in the position of the side gate above the water.Sometimes well out and occasionally nearly under water-

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The crew on the side gate did a fantastic job getting everybody back on board with no injuries.There were quite a few falls and some tense moments.At times the crew for their own safety retreated.

The zodiac then had to stand off until safe to return-

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It was amazing how quickly they could get people back into the ship.it was not only the swell but the wind blowing the zodiacs around-

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Now back to the beach to bring back all the gear-

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I think you can see now why I am doing as much Expedition cruising as I can.Never know when it will be impossible.As well as why I do it with Silversea.

I somehow remember a cold water enema you received getting back on the ship from a zodiac.

Indeed I did experience that joy but moments later was hanging from the side gate as the zodiac suddenly dropped 6 feet.Those fellows are really strong. But back to South Georgia.

But the evening was magic.There were only half a dozen out on deck as it was bitterly cold.but nature excelled itself-

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Still going-

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Although I didn't see the sun go down this was one of the most enjoyable sunsets I have experienced.However time was going by and the recap and briefing had started.Only 2 of us left but we decided it was time to go inside.So the last of this sunset-

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Saturday morning and inside the bay it was perfect.The swell had gone so it was decided to do another trip to the king penguin colony.My decision yesterday in retrospect was right.Although a perfectly fine day it was really cold.

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This will give you some idea of the cold-

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So off on the hike-

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On Friday afternoon the geologist gave a fun filled lecture on the shape of rocks.I thought this looked like a baboon head.He didn't agree.

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So maybe Donald trump?

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OK I give up.

drron29 - absolutely gorgeous sunset shots. It must have been spectacular in person.

That last pictures of rock formation, I can definitely see the upper portion of a baboon there. It might be DT if the grass on top had less chlorophyll visible. (A little less green, and a bit more yellow. )

Good to read the seas were calmer today.

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But then another cutie caught my eye-

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Our marine biologist reckoned this one was female with all the followers.She lapped it up

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Meanwhile this little fellow was having fun.A thin layer of ice on the water so he was going under the ice,raising his head and cracking it-

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Time to say goodbye to the seals-

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Then came one of those magic interactions with animals.The fur seals took great delight in charging me.Not dangerous but exasperating.This fellow came and stood beside me for a while and the around to my other side-

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I thought he was indicating that I should follow him so I did.He proceeded to move everyone out of the way including humans-

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So for the next 500 metres he dealt with all the seals.He left when I was insight of the destination and seal free.A very special moment in time.

To the colony-

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Wonderful descriptions and pictures, Ron. Many thanks.

What a fabulous interaction with the wildlife. I am so glad you had the opportunity to take photos of the magical moment.