Friday, January 15, 2016, Morning: Anchored off Fortuna Bay, South Georgia

Weather Forecast: partly cloudy; temperature approximately 34°F; fresh breeze WSW 20 mph

Snow fell all night and we awoke to a white South Georgia with snow still coming down hard. We are anchored at Fortuna Bay, named after Fortuna, one of the ships of the Norwegian-Argentine whaling expedition under C.A. Larsen. The bay is sheltered so we were able to land on a beach teeming with fur seals. Adults snoozed as pups explored the curious visitors washed up on their shores.

From the head of the bay where we landed, we began a one-mile hike inland through the glacial valley by spectacular snow-covered mountains, King penguins traveling to and fro and an adorable fur seal pup.

We soon arrived at a King penguin rookery with adults and chicks as far as we could see. They huddle together in a tight group to to ward off the driving snow and sleet. Some were incubating eggs while others were returning with food to feed their chicks of varying ages. The adults and chicks call out to each other listening to their unique call in order to find each other. I could have stayed and watched them forever.

The youngsters were molting off their brown down as they grew into adults creating some awkward teenage looks and quite a few bad hair days.