South Georgia & South Sandwich Islands
South Georgia
South Georgia: Shackleton's Grave, Whaling Stations and King Penguins
South Georgia is a mountainous island in the far South Atlantic, reached only by sea and with no accommodation for visitors ashore. Around 15,000 people a year visit, and everyone goes ashore by boat from a ship. There are no medical facilities or rescue services for visitors on the island, so everything you need has to come from your ship.
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Landings by Boat
Visits ashore are made by boat from your ship, at sites the island's government authorizes, and every visitor needs an entry permit, which the expedition operator arranges. Grytviken, a former whaling station at the head of King Edward Cove, is the island's port of entry and a popular stop for cruise ships.
- South Georgia lies roughly 1,400 km east of the Falkland Islands. It is about 170 km long and up to 35 km wide.
- The highest peak, Mount Paget, rises to 2,935 meters, and glaciers cover much of the mountainous interior.
- There are no roads, so any visit beyond the landing is on foot.
- Landing sites can be closed in the breeding season or when conditions make a landing unsuitable, so the sites you visit can change.
- Mail can be sent from Grytviken, and there is no public internet ashore.
Visiting Rules
Everyone who goes ashore follows the government's visitor code of conduct and acts on the advice and instructions of the leaders and staff who take them ashore. The rules protect the island's wildlife, plants and historic remains.
- Stay with your group and do what the landing staff tell you.
- Give animals the right of way and keep a respectful distance from them, selfie sticks included. Do not use flash when you photograph wildlife.
- Leave everything where it is. Stones, shells, bones, eggs, plants and relics of the whaling and sealing days all stay, and removing anything without an export permit is an offense.
- Keep off moss banks and the edges of streams and lakes, which are easily damaged, and do not walk onto glaciers or snowfields without the right equipment and experience.
- Food may not be taken ashore unless an expedition has permission for it.
- Do not smoke, light fires, leave litter or write on rocks or buildings.
- If you think you see a rat, report it to your expedition staff.
A Brief History
South Georgia had no native population, and its recorded history begins with passing ships in the 17th century. Sealers came first, then whalers, until whaling ended in the 1960s and the island was left to scientists, a small government staff and visitors.
- 1675: Anthony de la Roché, a London merchant whose ship was blown far off course near Cape Horn, anchored for two weeks off an unknown island that was almost certainly South Georgia.
- 1775: James Cook made the first landing and survey. On 17 January he took possession for Britain and named it the Isle of Georgia after George III, and 17 January is still a public holiday on the island.
- 1786 to 1913: Sealers hunted the fur seals almost to extinction and then turned to elephant seals for their oil.
- 1904: Carl Anton Larsen, a Norwegian whaling captain, founded the station at Grytviken on 16 November. His team of 60 Norwegians had the whale-oil factory working by 24 December.
- The whaling years: Six shore stations worked the island's bays, and the last of them closed in the 1960s.
- 1916: After their ship Endurance was crushed in the Weddell Sea ice, Ernest Shackleton and five men sailed the small boat James Caird to the island's south coast. Shackleton, Tom Crean and Frank Worsley then crossed the mountains to the whaling station at Stromness and organized the rescue of the men left on Elephant Island.
- 1922: Shackleton died of a heart attack on 5 January while his ship was at Grytviken, and at his wife's request he was buried in the whalers' cemetery.
- 1982: Argentine forces took Grytviken on 3 April after a fight with a small Royal Marines detachment. British forces retook it on 25 April.
- Restoring the island: A campaign to clear the rats brought ashore by sealers and whalers began in 2011, and the island was declared free of invasive rodents in 2018. A cull of the reindeer that whalers had introduced began in 2013.
- To learn more ashore: The South Georgia Museum at Grytviken, in the house built for the whaling station's manager, covers whaling, sealing, exploration, natural history and the 1982 war. It opens during the summer visitor season.
South Georgia with Children
A South Georgia landing suits children who can cope with cold, changeable weather, walk on rough ground and stay quietly with the group near wildlife. The animals are the reason to come, and many can be seen from the landing itself.
- Younger children: Keep small children close and on the staff's route. At Elsehul in December and January, fur seals crowd the beach so densely that landing there is almost impossible.
- School age: Make a list to tick off: king, gentoo and macaroni penguins, elephant seals and fur seals, albatrosses, and the South Georgia pipit, a small bird found nowhere else.
- Teenagers: Follow Shackleton's story from the James Caird landing to his grave at Grytviken, where the ashes of his right-hand man Frank Wild were placed beside him in 2011. Some visiting groups walk the last low-lying stretch of his crossing, about 6 km from Fortuna Bay to Stromness.
Accessible Travel
Getting ashore in South Georgia always means a boat transfer and there are no roads, so the island is hard going for anyone with limited mobility. Ask your ship before you book how passengers get in and out of the boats and what help is available.
- At Prion Island, a boardwalk leads from the landing point, which makes the walk easier and protects the vegetation.
- There is no search and rescue service on the island, and visiting ships must provide their own medical cover.
- Seasickness is likely on the open-ocean crossing, whatever the size of your ship.
- The weather is unpredictable and can turn severe quickly, so bring clothing and equipment made for Antarctic conditions, even if the day starts fine.
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