- A trip to the end of the earth – Falklands, South Georgia & Antarctica–Explorers & Kings
- Ushuaia–Fin del Mundo
- Ushuaia–Day 2
- Waiting for my ship to come in…
- Come sail away…
- Day #1 & 2 – En route to the Falklands
- Day #3 – West Point Island & Saunders Island, The Falklands
- Day # 4 – Stanley–more British than Britain
- Day # 7 – Right Whale Bay & Salisbury Plain–Kings, kings & more kings
- Day #8 – In the footsteps of Shackleton
- Day #9 – Elephants & Kings – St. Andrew’s Bay & Gold Harbour
- Day #10 – Cooper Bay & Drygalski Fjord
- Day #13 – Elephant Island
- Day #14 – Setting foot on Antarctica
- Day #15 – Whales, whales and more whales – a “Tail” of a perfect day
- Day # 16 – Deception Island & Half Moon Bay
- Day 19 & 20 – Buenos Aires
- Antarctica Photo Gallery
Up bright and early for a landing before breakfast- our wakeup call was at 6 with a gangway time of 6:30! This day was more about history than penguins and seals; our first stop was Stromness, just east of Fortuna Bay.
Ernest Shackleton was one of the most well known of the Antarctic explorers; he was the leader of the ill fated Endurance expedition. In 1914 he and his crew set out aboard The Endurance to cross Antarctica (by land) via the South Pole. Early in 1915 the ship became stuck in the ice and after ten months, fearing that the ship was about to sink, the crew abandoned ship to live on the ice. Finally in 1916 they they saw an opening in the ice and set out on 3 small boats, eventually landing at Elephant Island (more on that later). Shackleton and 5 others set out for South Georgia, 1300 km to the east, in one of the boats and miraculously made the trip in 16 days. Unfortunately, they landed on the wrong side of the island. Shackleton, Worsley & Crean crossed the mountainous terrain of the island on foot, arriving at the base of the waterfall at Stromness and walking the river bed to the whaling station. Many modern day groups have tried to replicate this trek and all have failed.
We walked to the waterfall where Shackleton, Crean & Worsley came over the mountain in their epic quest for help after the ill fated expedition. For many people this was a pilgrimage; to see the rugged terrain first hand and to walk in the footsteps of Shackleton, Crean and Worsley. For me, while I understand and appreciate the history, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to photograph a waterfall!
Stromness is an abandoned relic of the past; having operated as a whaling station from 1907 to 1932 and a ship repair yard from 1932 until 1961. It’s now off limits, a grim reminder of the whaling past, and home to fur and elephant seals as well as a few penguins.
The next picture is of a pair of fur seal pups, the white one is “leucistic”. It’s not albino, it just lacks the pigment on the skin, not the eyes. We actually saw quite a few of these over the course of the trip.
The South Georgia Pipit is the only indigenous songbird in South Georgia. It was almost driven to extinction by the rats that came to the island aboard the ships. The South Georgia Environmental Trust has undertaken a rat eradication program over the last few years and the Pipits numbers are starting to increase. We were lucky enough to see a few of them, much to the delight of the expedition team.
A sleeping elephant seal
Some antarctic shags nesting at the end of the abandoned dock; you can see their blue eyes in the first picture.
The old Leith whaling station, which operated from 1909 until 1965 and was the largest in South Georgia, is abandoned and off limits to everyone except the seals, penguins and other birds.
Back to the ship for lunch and to sail to our next stop – Grytviken. Grytviken was a hub for the whaling operations in South Georgia for almost 60 years. Unlike the other decrepit whaling stations that we visit, there are still people at Grytviken. The 30-60 “residents” (depending on the time of year) run the museum, gift shop and post office. But most people visit Grytviken to visit Shackleton’s grave and make a toast to him; we were no exception, making the toast with Irish Whiskey and sharing a bit of it with him.
This little fur seal pup was determined to “attack” someone; he will be the master of the beach some day.
It never ceases to amaze me how these places are just abandoned; everything sits the way it did when they walked away. I was told this is done (partly) so that we never forget the horrible things that we’re capable of. Unlike the other stations we saw, we were able to tour what remains of the whaling station here, all of the asbestos has been removed.
The church (in the background) is the only building still being used for it’s original purpose; it’s maintained by the South Georgia Heritage trust.
This is the Petrel, built in 1929 she served as a whale-catcher until 1956 when she was converted to a sealing vessel.
These are the Dias and the Albatros. The Dias was only used as a sealing vessel in South Georgia; the Albatros like the Petrel started out as a whale-catcher and was later converted for sealing.
And no day would be complete without a penguin photo! So here it is – one lonely, random Gentoo penguin who was too busy to look at me….
Wow! Haven’t seen green grass in a while! Thanks!?
Another great instalment, thanks.
So interesting! I had no idea there were so many abandoned whaling stations.