What will I do on a South Georgia cruise?
Each day your expedition team will usually organise two 2-3 hour off-ship excursions, though this can vary as a result of weather conditions and wildlife sightings.
- Meet the king penguins in the largest rookeries in the world
- Follow in Shackleton's footsteps and hike the final stage of his intrepid journey
- Visit historical sites and learn about the island's fascinating past
- Take to the zodiacs and explore the breathtaking scenery
Top Landing sites on South Georgia
Grytviken
The largest of the former whaling stations, sleepy Grytviken is a mandatory port of call for all visitors and where you can get your passport stamped.
The island’s best natural harbour, it's also home to the church, museum and post office. Raise a glass at the gravesite of Sir Ernest Shackleton and his loyal right hand man, Frank Wild, who are interned in the whaler’s cemetery. It's also a fun place to send postcards home.
St Andrews Bay
Imagine a pristine 2 mile/ 3.2km long beach commanding panoramic views, framed by a rugged mountainous backdrop and dense with up to 300,000 King Penguins - the island’s largest colony - as well as countless seals. It's an exhilarating location to put it mildly.
The colour, the noise, and the smell guarantee a visual and sensory overload matched by very few other wildlife destinations on earth.
Stromness
History comes into sharp focus at Stromness. It's not only the most well preserved of the former whaling stations, but it's also where Shackleton raised the alarm in 1916 after a gruelling journey and ultimately rescued his beleaguered men from Elephant Island.
Weather-permitting, hiking the last few miles from Fortuna Bay to Stromness on the Shackleton Walk following in his footsteps is well worth the effort.
Gold Harbour
So called because the sun's rays make the cliffs glow yellow in morning and evening light, this small bay is a beautiful place with the beach ringed in by a curtain of vertical cliffs and hanging glaciers.
It's also home to an abundance of wildlife, including a large king penguin colony and breeding elephant seals.
Salisbury Plain
One of the island’s ‘must-see’ landing sites and eagerly anticipated, the sheer profusion of wildlife is overwhelming.
Standing amongst the tussock grass above the beach with paired glaciers to left and right, the sight of up to quarter of a million individual king penguins - interspersed by vast numbers of fur and elephant seals - all scattered across the broad plain below is staggering and a challenge to really compute.
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