South Georgia Orcas

Having dropped off the skiers last night we went round the west end of South Georgia to start our landings on the (more sheltered) north coast. At 06:00 we met our welcoming committee - a huge pod of orca hunting for breakfast. We could see 'blows' all around the ship, and the whales were clearly not worried by our presence at all.

We turned the ship round to cruise back through the hunting group. This big male popped up, just a few metres from my cabin window, to have a good look at us. After over an hour with the reception committee - we started the SG visits with a zodiac cruise around Prince Olav Harbour, a landing at Salisbury Plain - and finally for today another (rather wet) zodiac cruise around Albatross Island (where the elusive and endemic South Georgia pipit did put in a fleeting appearance. I'll be saying more about all the landings on my blog in due course.

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