Ocean Harbour sunrise, South Georgia
Fujifilm GFX100S II, 32mm, f4 @ 1/70 second, ISO 400

Many years ago, I was off the coast of South Georgia. It was cocktail time. The sky was dark and overcast, although sunset wouldn't be until 10 or 11 that night. I put my cameras away as there was nothing happening. Someone offered me a cocktail. I end up having two. After dinner, at around 8.00 p.m., I went to bed as I don't usually drink two cocktails.

Bad move.

The next morning I woke to the chatter and excitement of the other photographers. They all looked at me disapprovingly, laughingly and with a modicum of false pity. Where were you last night, Pete? Have a few to drink? At first I thought they were referring to an expected hangover and while I readily confess to being an alcoholic lightweight, I was not suffering - physically. However, emotionally, my world was about to implode.

I was on the old Polar Pioneer and somewhere on board was a photograph pinned to the wall with these incredibly stacked lenticular clouds picking up the orange and red hues of an amazing sunset. I had often commented how I hoped, one day, to find clouds like these. No doubt remembering my comments, one of the photographers kindly sat down next to me and opened her computer laptop. There on the screen was the most amazing set of lenticular clouds rising into the heavens and the EXIF data proved it was taken the previous evening. While I was asleep.

Now gentle readers, I have lived with this shame for some ten years or so. No matter how poor the light seems, never put your camera away because you simply don't know. It's advice I have given time and time again. Advice I should have taken myself.

Last month, I was back on South Georgia with Tony Hewitt and eight keen photographers. The memory of my experience was never far away. Sunrise was at a respectable time and getting up at around 6.00 in the morning seemed to do the trick. Of course, on the new Greg Mortimer ship, all our cabins have a spacious deck from where we can take photographs, but looking out my window, I had a feeling there was something more on the other side of the ship. So I dressed, ran up onto the top deck and within a few minutes, this is what I saw!

No, it's not quite as good as the lenticular clouds I missed all those years ago. In fact, I don't think I will ever see clouds that good again, but then again, this isn't a bad sunrise. Not that I'm into sunrises or sunsets, for that matter, but when you see a cloud like this, it's hard to pass it up!

Our voyage was 'late season', meaning autumn as the Antarctic region begins to close down for the winter. I love this time of year. If you're interested in joining me on a similar voyage next year, check out this voyage on my website: https://www.betterphotography.com/photo-tours/workshops/sandwich2026-detail. And to see my late season photos from 2020, you can see a portfolio on my personal website here: https://www.petereastway.com/antarctica---late-season?ct=2