A passage leads between Cooper Island and the mainland. It is straightforward if the Cooper Bay shore is favoured. There are rocks off either shore and beds of kelp, but there is plenty of room to tack through.
On the several occasions that we passed through the Sound, the current usually ran eastwards.
To the W of Cooper Bay there is a colony of Chinstrap penguins on the beach, the only one in South Georgia. Further W on the hillside, is a very large colony of Macaroni penguins.
54o46'S 35o49'W
Chart 3597, South Georgia
Two good anchorages are available within the bay.
THE LAGOON
To the E of the entrance to the inner bay, is a small lagoon formed by the shore and a ring of rocks. The entrance is between the most W rock and the shoreline. There is kelp in this narrow channel, but it is at its thinnest near to the rock. We found a minimum of an estimated 1.8m at low water.
The lagoon itself offers complete protection from the sea, but it is very small, and a yacht must be moored if it is to stay in the centre of the lagoon, where the depth is 2.7m. At the E side, there is a drying rock, off which are several underwater rocks with less than 1.3m over them.
There is a Macaroni penguin colony around the headland to the E of the lagoon. Ashore are a lot of Fur seals, but it appears to be a non-breeding beach.
THE LAGOON, LOOKING SW TOWARDS COOPER SOUND
INNER BAY, LOOKING SE TOWARDS COOPER ISLAND
INNER BAY
At the NW head of the Bay is an inner bay, offering good protection from the sea from all directions, with the exception of SE. Although large amounts of kelp grow along the edges of the bay, there is a relatively clear patch in the middle.
Anchor in about 5m.
54o45'S 35o51'W
Chart 3597, South Georgia
Two miles NW of Cape Vahsel is a small bay, giving good shelter from the sea from all directions but the NE.
The bay is identified from the tussac-covered island in the middle and is about 1 mile SE of a conspicuous tussac-topped island, standing a short way off the coast.
There is an above-water rock N of the SE entrance to the bay. Pass between this rock and the E side of the island in the bay.
Anchor at the head of the bay, S of the kelp that extends from the island to the shore in about 9m, good holding.
Spread along the beach at the head of the bay are the bones of a large whale, possibly a Blue or Fin and next to one piece of backbone is a rusty harpoon head.
WIRIK BAY, LOOKING NE
54o37'S 35o56'W Chart 3585, Gold Harbour
This harbour gives much better shelter than first appears on looking at the chart, with protection from the sea from SW through W and N to NE.
Anchor off the beach to the N of the Bertrab Glacier between the rocks off the beach and the first stream, in about 9m. There was no kelp here and very good holding. On Badger's visit, we sheltered from a NW gale in relative comfort and experienced no violent gusts.
The glacier is divided in two by a sheer rock face. The northern part calves into a lagoon behind a very shallow moraine spit, which seems to contain all the ice. The southern part calves into the sea, but it is some way S of the anchorage and in the conditions we experienced, there was no sign of ice in the harbour.
Alongside the banks of the stream, behind the beach, is a reasonable-sized King penguin colony. If the surf makes landing difficult on the beach, it may be easier to row over or around the moraine spit and land in the lagoon. Care should be taken to avoid several below-water rocks.
GOLD HARBOUR, LOOKING E
54o35'S 35o55'W
Chart 3597, South Georgia
We sailed in to look at this bay, N of Gold Harbour. The head of the bay has a beach, but off it the kelp was very thick, with only some small holes in it.
It would be possible to anchor in these holes in a depth of 12m. Close inshore, several drying rocks were observed.
There is another cove to the W, but this also had large quantities of kelp.
54o31'S 36o04'W
Chart 3585, Moltke Harbour
Royal Bay appears to be another windy place in South Georgia. There is a low pass at the head of the Ross Glacier that leads to the SW coast and this may well account for the strong winds blowing from the glacier on our visit. On entering and leaving the Bay, a fresh to strong W wind was blowing off the glacier, but offshore and N and S of the Bay there was a light NE wind. There was a belt of confusing winds and a nasty short sea between the two.
The W corner of Moltke Harbour near the SW end of the beach seemed to give reasonable shelter from the W wind with only a few squalls. From the sea, it is sheltered from S through W to NE.
Anchor in 7.5m, no kelp. There was only one small piece of ice in the harbour when visited, but S or E winds could well send in a large quantity. The Pilot warns of extremely strong gusts in this harbour, no doubt associated with gales.
This is the furthest south that the southern reindeer herd ranges, as the Ross glacier forms an impassable barrier. An old BAS hut, which is used as a refuge, is sited on the NE side of the valley. The roof of the hut was rotten, when visited.
On entering the Harbour, the remains of the German South Georgia expedition of 1882-83 can just be made out, situated on the N shore. A landing can be made on the beach by the site, but it is a long row from the anchorage, especially if a fresh breeze is blowing. It should also be possible to walk round from the head of the harbour, but this would mean traversing a couple of scree slopes.
MOLTKE HARBOUR, LOOKING SE
