Signy

After leaving King Edward Point we sailed west, back around the north coast of South Georgia, then headed south for Signy island.  Before we left, we called in to visit a huge king penguin colony at Fortuna Bay. 

Fortuna Bay is home to thousands of king penguins and their fluffy brown chicks.  As king penguins don’t breed on Bird Island, this was a special treat for all of us. 

It was a nice excuse for the crew to use the various boats we have onboard…

The weather was wild and wet and the landscape was vast and windswept… 

When sailing at night in the southern ocean the ship uses ice lights.  When its foggy and dark these give quite a dramatic view…

After 3 days at sea we arrived at Signy.  It was nice to see very little had changed there, and I was able to go ashore and help out with the closing down of the research station (Signy is a summer-only station). 

We were able to get out for a couple of short walks and revisit some of my old haunts.  This is the Orwell glacier which has melted quite a bit since I last saw it.

Signy treated us to a nice sunset…  

After 2 days at Signy, the station was winterised and everyone was onboard.  We finally set sail home, heading northwards towards the Falklands.