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South Georgia

yacht charter & expedition support

Join SEAL on an expedition one of our favorite spots in the world. Ice, mountains, and the most impressive wildlife anywhere. Excellent voyage for bird watchers, hill climbers, mountaineers, and sailors looking for wild cruising.

Sample Itinerary (2007 dates)

27 October, Falkland Islands - We will meet the Lan Chile flight at Mount Pleasant Airport and bring you back to SEAL. (If you chose to come via the RAF TriStar from the UK, you will need to spend the intervening nights in a B&B in Port Stanley.)

28-29 October - Our preferred departure date is October 29, in order to give you a chance to recover from your flights and become used to living aboard the boat. However, weather dictates everything in these latitudes, so we could leave at anytime between the 28th and the 30th.

29 Oct-2 Nov - At Sea. We'll organize watches and set sail for South Georgia, a 750 mile / 1400 km voyage across the Southern Ocean, or approximately 4 days at sea. Guests are expected to stand watches and help sail the boat to the extent of their abilities. Birdwatchers in particular will enjoy their watches, as albatrosses and petrels soar around the boat.

3-15 November - During this time we will concentrate on the NW corner of South Georgia, where overwhelming concentrations of fur seals will make landing very difficult later in the month. Here, we will see large numbers of elephant seals - mothers, pups and battling males.

Many albatross species are beginning to nest at this time, and there may be opportunities of seeing Wandering Albatross courtship. Last year's Wandering Albatross chicks are now as large as the adults, but still a few months shy of leaving the nest and learning to fly.

We will visit Grytviken, the administrative capital of South Georgia, and now the site of the South Georgia museum located in a former whaling station. Ernest Shackleton's grave is here in Grytviken, and the hills behind the whaling station make for fairly easy hill walking without any specialist climbing gear apart from stout walking boots.

16-30 November - For the second half of our visit we will explore the SE part of the island. We will see enormous concentrations of King Penguins at St. Andrew's Bay, with elephant seal harems scattered around the bay. Glaciers tumble into the sea in many places, and the mountains rise straight out of the sea to a height of nearly 10,000 feet (3000 meters). The scenery is particularly spectacular in this area, and the variety and quantity of wildlife is staggering.

There are dozens of anchorages along this coast of South Georgia. We don't specify anchorages or dates in our itinerary; we will chose the best one at hand based on the weather at the time. Our aim is to spend one or two days at anchor for every day on the move, in order to maximize our time with the wildlife. The South Georgia government takes an active role in protecting the wildlife, and while we will endeavor to visit as many species as possible, certain areas may be closed off in the interests of protecting threatened species or colonies.

1-6 December (approx) - At Sea. In the last days of November we will begin to look for a weather window to make the sail back to Stanley. The prevailing winds in this region are from the westerly sector, so we expect to take a few extra days on the return passage. We will see numerous albatrosses and petrels on this voyage - sightings made even more remarkable, because we have now seen them in their breeding colonies in their "home port."

8 December - The Lan Chile flight returns to Chile; those taking the TriStar back to the UK will need to book accommodation in Stanley from the night of the 8th.

What's covered in the price

- Shared cabin
- Food (including table wine) and lodging, aboard Seal from the 11 am on on the scheduled start day until 4 pm on the scheduled end day of the charter.
- Port fees
- Use of safety equipment, including harnesses
- Sheets, towel, pillows

What's not included

- Transportation to and from the Falklands
- Shoreside accommodation
- You must have a valid passport, visas if required, and a flexible air or sea ticket from the Falklands to your home country
- Personal medical and evacuation insurance
- Personal clothing, including foul weather gear, seaboots, sleeping bags
- Permits for any projects ashore (climbing, research, etc.)

Book a private expedition for 2008-2009:

Level: Expedition
Best Dates: November
Minimum Charter: 35 days
Best Length: 40+ days
Start/Finish: Stanley, Falkland Islands

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