South Georgia to the open sea

Monday – February 23, 2009
Today we visited two sites. The first was Godthul where we went on a along hike (and rubber boots are not a good substitute for hiking boots), through mud and tussock grass, dodging baby fur seals and seeing gentoo penguins, some of which had to be walking a good mile from the beach and about 600 vertical feet above the ocean. There were reindeer off in the distance, some which had more than 20 points on their antlers, caused by inbreeding.
Then we landed at Jason Harbor among fur seal babies and king penguins. It was not quite as intense as the large colonies, but actually easier to get photographs. It is always interesting to see how the Kings and seals manage sharing the same area. Actually they do quite well together.
Tuesday – February 24, 2009
Our first stop was Prion Island in an area known as the Bay of Islands. It is a difficult area to land, as the government of South Georgia is trying to protect the nesting area of many sea birds, and permission to land is difficult to get. Prion Island is free of rats, which make it desirable for birds like the wandering albatross, giant petrels and others to nest. Most of the albatrosses we saw were just sitting on their nests (which are on the ground), but a few were soaring on the wind. None were landing, so it was very different from what Karon and I saw in Dunedin, New Zealand, a few years back. There the birds were in a courtship mode, and making all the overtures of one in love. But today it was mostly about incubating the egg in the nest. This island again was shared with fur seals, gentoo and king penguins, and many different birds.
The weather finally caught up with us Tuesday afternoon. We were to have a zodiac ride (meaning no shore landing due to the topography, but a close up look at the area) at Hercules Bay. The highlight was to be the macaroni penguins. The only other place I saw these flashy penguins didn’t have any light at all, so my photographs are blurry and/or dark (besides the low light, I was shooting from a bobbing zodiac). When we approached Hercules Bay the weather had turned to wet and windy (50 knots), which is not safe for zodiac cruising. So we will head for Cumberland Bay and anchor there at Grytviken off King Edward Pt. Grytviken was the first shore-based whaling station and is the final resting place for Sir Ernest Shackleton.
Geoff with King and Gentoo penguins on Prion Island.
Wednesday – February 25, 2009
Rain and wind were on hand when we stopped at Grytviken today. The highlight was the visit to the cemetery there, and seeing Shackleton’s grave. What you have to do there is toast the ‘Boss’, which is what Shackleton’s men called him. The toast was made with rum, so while some touched my lips, non was consumed. After a sip, we threw the remains onto his grave. The rest of the time there was spent viewing the remains of the whaling station and the museum and gift shop. The funny thing about gifts shops is that there is one at a British post in the Antarctic, and not to be outdone, Chile and Argentina are setting up gift shops at their outposts in Antarctica.
The wind got a lot worse as the day wore on. We were to duplicate the last 4 miles of Shackleton’s walk across South Georgia from Fortuna Bay to Stromness (another whaling station and one that Shackleton knew about before his expedition became one of survival). The 4 mile hike was not a trivial hike and with the wind blowing at a constant 60 knots, with gusts to 95-100 knots, the hike was scrubbed. So that left us with a short walk in Fortuna Bay – relatively sheltered, but still windy with a little rain, which later turned to sleet.
So the Antarctic portion of the trip is over, and we have now entered the Southern Seas, for the 4 to 4 ½ day voyage to the small island group of Tristan da Cunha and Nightingale Island. As I write this, the ship is already doing that roll thing from side to side. Earlier in the day we had a wave that hit the bow and the spray got all the way up to the bridge (some 30-40 feet above the sea).
Things will be pretty boring the next few days, unless we see some whales or some albatross. There won’t be much to write home about.