Last day at sea. Arrival to South Georgia, dropping anchor during the night at Right Whale Bay.

A week ago, we set sail from Falkland Islands and ventured into the open ocean on a week's journey to South Georgia. Today, we already spotted land around midday on a surprisingly calm and sunny day, which doesn’t happen so often here.

During these days, we have sailed as much as we could. We motored when the wind eased, and just a breeze blew into our nose.

The seas haven’t been too rough, the winds not the type you can easily encounter while sailing along the so-called latitudes of the Furious 50s.

For some, it has been a good sailing stretch of water; for others, not used to the sea-watch system and the motion of the ship, it has become a tough leg of the voyage.

But seasickness and tiredness seem to have vanished this morning while we sail on calmer seas and practically windless conditions, and not just this… the first thing today that caught our attention was the sight of an iceberg. Sure, there will be many more to come during the rest of our voyage. No doubt, at some point further south, we will have to carefully navigate amongst increasing concentrations of both glacier and sea ice, but there’s always great excitement the first time!

On our way to finally reach South Georgia, we also spotted, out at the open sea, lots of the seabirds that, from now on, we will see along the jagged coasts of South Georgia, their breeding grounds. We came across several Humpback whales that migrate to these rich waters for feeding during summer. Today, also, a Beaked whale swam past. Difficult both to spot and to identify, these whales are strictly oceanic, deep divers, not commonly seen to the point that some of the species have never been distinguished at sea and have been described only by beached individuals. But its distinctive bulbous forehead and quite large sickle-shaped dorsal fin can give us a hint to identify it as a Southern Bottlenose Whale.

But it hasn’t been only the wildlife around that has made the last week an unforgettable one. We all also joined the crew to pull ropes, set and douse sail, some even dared the rig and accompanied them aloft. Including this afternoon, when a good westerly breeze blew and squares from Topsails to Royals were sheeted down and hoisted. They took the light wind right until after dinner when Europa started approaching her anchorage at Right Whale Bay.

Many hours we have spent as well at the wheel and in lookouts. But from tonight onwards and for the length of our visit to South Georgia, we leave these duties behind and prepare ourselves to land, walk, and enjoy this remote and amazing island, where the concentration of marine life is considered one of the largest in the world.

South Georgia is surrounded by the cold Antarctic waters, as it lays well inside the Antarctic Convergence Area, despite being located at latitudes between 53º and 54º South. A combination that puts together two fantastic worlds, the Antarctic and the Patagonian/Sub-Antarctic realms.

Its coasts were first seen long ago. For all one knows, Amerigo Vespucci may have already sighted them in 1502. First officially reported in 1675 by the English merchant Antoine de la Roché, its shores teeming with Fur and Elephant seals, Macaroni, Gentoo, Chinstrap, and the majestic King penguins, will have to wait until January 1775 to see a human being walking amongst them. And it was no other than the famous Captain Cook. During his second voyage, Cook thought he proved that no continent was to be found south into the Southern Ocean. A couple of times, he steered the Resolution over the Antarctic Polar Circle, just to find increasing amounts of ice but no land. Nevertheless, still there was room for exploring large islands in places where nobody had been before or which had been discovered previously but not really explored. Who knew…, maybe one of those was part of the most sought southern continent.

Some Pacific islands were looked into on her route and meticulously charted by Cook. Then it was time to make way to the South Atlantic around the Horn. It was 14th January 1775 when land was seen which was at first mistaken for a huge iceberg.

There’s no doubt that many navigators of the old times of discovery who have reported land in these latitudes have been deceived after realising they took ice for land. So huge some icebergs could be. But on that occasion, the opposite happened. As they sailed closer, the looks of it changed, the sea bottom rose, the waves washed the rugged coastline of a landmass.

They just arrived at the northernmost islets neighbouring the larger island of South Georgia. Three days later, Cook was setting foot ashore.

The wild rocks raised their summits till they were lost in the clouds, and the valleys lay covered with everlasting snow. There was not a tree to be seen, or a shrub found, that was even big enough to make a toothpick. The only vegetation, that was met with, was a coarse strong-bladed grass growing in tufts, wild burnet, and a plant like moss, which sprang from the rocks.

• Andrew Kippis. Narrative of the Voyages Round the World Performed by Captain James Cook. 1788

Desolate, glaciated, mountainous, and ice-clad island, where he obtained provisions: seals, penguins, and shags, unpalatable, but welcome food to men who had so long sailed and lived on bad salty meat.

Though not very fond of these unforgiving lands, Cook still thought that the high mountain ranges and glaciers extending for quite great distances could be part of a southern continent. It didn’t take long until they could round the southern cape of the island and realise its nature, setting sail further into the south Atlantic to continue his quest on the 25th January.

Eight days the Resolution had been in the Island, eleven between the first sight and her departure. Enough for Cook to map most of its coasts and take possession of these lands for the United Kingdom and name it Isle of Georgia.

From tonight onwards, the EUROPA plans to spend a similar amount of time, just about a week, along the northeast coast of the island. Located far into the Southern Ocean and away from other landmasses and continents, weather systems, currents, and large swells that travel around the world unstopped along the southern high latitudes sweep over South Georgia, making for its famed rough seas, inhospitable coast, and ferocious winds. Ultimately, they will decide whether we will be able to land, where, and when.