A small group of king penguins standing together on snow at Right Whale Bay, South Georgia.

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South Georgia
I went to South Georgia for the king penguins. I got them, along with elephant seals, fur seals, a lot of noise, and a smell nobody warns you about.

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A line of gentoo penguins climbing a steep snow slope in blowing snow on Danko Island, Antarctica, with brash ice and dark water behind them.

Collector Edition

The Kings of South Georgia

Right Whale Bay • South Georgia Island

Collector Edition of 25. Signed, numbered, registered.

We'd meant to land at Elsehul that morning, but the sea wouldn't allow it, so we ran further around the coast and put the zodiacs in at Right Whale Bay. The beach was rutting elephant seals; the noise and the smell were the first things I remember. I hiked a mile or so up the valley. Most of the colony was mid-molt and ragged. This group had kept to itself in the snow, clean-feathered, unbothered, close enough that they'd have had to step around me. They look to me like they're holding court, away from the chaos of the larger colony.