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New England Seabirds
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January 23 - January 25 Scotia Sea On Route To South Georgia By noon the swells are back to 10-13 feet and the ship is rocking and
rolling again. The next two days were spent on deck watching seabirds
and attending movies and lectures in the warm lecture hall. By now we
are used to seeing penguins porpoising along on their way to and from
the rookeries. January 25 Elsehul, Right Whale Bay on South Georgia Late in the afternoon we sight Willis Island part of South Georgia.
There is Kelp in the water for the first time. Shackleton and his men
knew that kelp and Shags were signs they were approaching land. We sail
into a bay on the west end of South Georgia. There is a flock of 20
Gray-headed and Black-browed Albatross on the water. It is very
windy. There are lots of Prions ( Antarctic Prions) and
Northern Giant Petrels. January 26 Grytviken In the morning the British Harbormaster of Grytviken ( Grit vic ken) arrived aboard to stamp all our passports. The ship keeps everyone's passports and presents them to the Harbormaster. We land in our zodiacs opposite the cemetery. |
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King Penguins greet us on the beach and there are feisty
juvenile Fur Seals. It is another sunny balmy day. We first visit the
cemetery and Shackleton's grave. (center ) Shackleton returned on a
second expedition and died of a heart attack on South Georgia. The group
wanders though the rusted remains of the whaling station. Two Elephant
Seals are fighting on the old dock. After one is pushed out of the
territory, the other lifts his head and bellows. Steam comes from his
mouth. The territorial dispute settled, they both go back to sleep. |
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The first building we passed was the white hydro power house pocked marked with shell holes from the Falklands war. The metal whaling station buildings have rusted to a rich brown color. The former manager's villa a white wooden building with a red roof is the museum and gift shop. In front of the museum are three large metal pots which were found here before the whaling station was built. The town is named Grytviken which means Pot Cove. Whaling continued here until 1965 when it became unprofitable because the whales were all gone. I always thought whaling ending in the days of Moby Dick. |
Behind the museum I meet "Skua", a wild Brown Skua who has become
somewhat tame. He is one of the stars of the Carrs book and is pictured
leaning down into Curlew's galley looking for a handout. The gift shop
has all the usual postcards, coffee mugs, T-shirts, patches, pins. I
bought a nice baseball hat with two King Penguins and the logo South
Georgia. When I wear it, I am sure people will assume I am supporting a
hockey team somewhere south of Atlanta. It will be a little geography
lesson. |
January 26 Fortuna Bay King Penguins In the afternoon we landed at Fortuna Bay to visit a colony of
100,000 King Penguins. On landing we were greeted by rambunctious
juvenile Fur Seals. Adult fur seals are huge animals and barely open
their eyes when you pass. The juveniles however are frisky. They hide in
the tussock grass, rising up to bark at you and sometime to charge. They
can be frightened off by barking back, waving a stick or knocking two
stones together. After a short while they are little more than a
nuisance. January 27 Gold Harbor South Georgia On a day that alternated between bright sun and high winds, we
explored Gold Harbor. There were Fur Seals and huge Elephant Seals,
King Penguins, Gentoo, Blue-eyed Shags, Brown Skuas, Snowy Sheathbills,
and the South Georgian Pintail Duck.
January 28 Bay of Isles and Prion Island We made an early morning landing at the Bay of Isles for a last look
at a King Penguin Colony. When on shore it rained, snowed and
even hailed. Getting back in the zodiacs was difficult as the wind was
very strong. Just as I went to sit on the edge of the zodiac, it moved
and I fell into the water up to my waist. I was very grateful that my
camera and binoculars did not get wet. Usually, I put my camera in a
plastic garbage bag and then place it in my backpack. Later people asked
if the water was cold and truthfully I don't remember. My boots however
got wet on the inside and that was cold. I used the hair dryer in the
cabin to dry my boots. Think of Shackleton's men who slept in wet
sleeping bags during the Antarctic winter.
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1. Introduction | 2. Drake Passage - Antarctic Peninsula | 3. Scotia Sea to So. Georgia | 4 Falkland Islands |Appendix A So. Georgia Bird List | Appendix B Costs, leaders | Top of page |