Antarctica

South Georgia

Wednesday 12 December

At sea – en route to South Georgia. Overcast today (some small patches of blue), and a bigger swell than last night (we did consider contructing a measure of the swell, similar to the Beaufort Scale, based on how much water slopped out of the on-board jacuzzis). Wind still around Force 4. International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators (IAATO) briefing – do’s and don’ts – mostly don’ts – on Antarctic territory, followed by hoovering of all external garments, rucksacks etc to remove seeds etc – to avoid possible contamination of South Georgia and Antarctica. Photoworkshop with Genna (ship’s photographer) after lunch – advice on composition of shots.
Passed through band of fog – temperature dropped down to less than 5 degreesC (water temp also down to less than 5 degrees – will drop to about 1 degree when we pass through the Convergence). Fog cleared, but sky remained overcast – very calm, Force 2. Vegetarian dinner – empanadas, potato, sweetcorn and roast garlic soup, polenta, avocado sorbet and quinoa pudding (which tasted like rice pudding) for dinner. Review of Falklands from Expedition team (in the Panorama lounge) after dinner.

Thursday 13 December

Very calm again (Force 3), and much colder (air temp 2.3 , water temp 3.2 degrees), as we enter the transition to the convergence. More birds around: Cape petrels, snow petrels, Antarctic prions, Antarctic tern. Scrubbed and disinfected the Muck Boots.

This was followed by lots (around 30) of humpback whales around the boat, also some fur seals. Shag Rocks visible on the horizon, we reached them around lunchtime (and Fram slowed down for photo oppotunities!). A few seals around the boat, floating on their backs with their flippers in the air. Still cold, but hardly a cloud in the sky and (virtually) flat calm sea. Seabird lecture after lunch, then tea (Swedish themed – nice gingerbread biscuits) in the lounge. Watched South Georgia video on in-cabin TV. As the video finished, there was a PA announcement ‘Whales!’. Dinner (1st seating) had just started, so this was postponed and the ship came to a halt for approx. 30 mins. Lots of humpback whales, blowing and diving, some within a few hundred yards – we could hear them clearly. Also lots of fur seals popping their heads out and porpoising. Could see whale blows from the cabin! Dinner (2nd seating) also delayed – knock-on from delay to 1st sitting. Arctic/Antarctic dinner – king crab, oxtail soup (this was reindeer soup on the menu – but apparently reindeer have other things to do in December!), Arctic char, rhubarb sorbet, lingonberry mousse with pancakes. Clocks forward one hour tonight.

Friday 14 December

Saw whales and lots of seals as we entered Cumberland Bay. Beautiful sunny day (11 degrees). Fram moored off King Edward Point (BAS base, and seat of South Georgia government), and we then had to wait for immigration formalities to be dealt with.

While we waited, Sarah (Director of the South Georgia Heritage trust) gave a talk on the rat eradication program on the island. The museum takes an intern from the St Andrews postgrad Museum Curatorship course for six months every year, to help in the shop and show people around Grytviken.
Took tenders to the landing site (just below the Grytviken cemetary – which includes Shackleton’s grave). Lots of fur seal pups on the beach – some of the adults aggressive and fast moving (fur seals are very territorial).

Walked round to Grytviken (pausing to avoid seals pretending to be rocks – easy to go too close to one seal while avoiding another). A few king penguins around. Main site very industrial-looking, lots of rusted machinery from the whaling station. Went to Post Office, bought, wrote and posted postcards. Went round the museum – saw bent harpoons (bent when they struck the whales). Lots of artefacts from the whaling station, recordings of people who had worked on the whalers. Joined tour of whaling station, led by Sarah, which described what some of the machinery was for, and some of the history of the place. Also had Shackleton tour (led by Finlay, the current St Andrews intern). At 4pm there was a toast to Shackleton in the cemetary, led by the Captain of the Fram (Teachers whisky provided – captain had a non-alcoholic alternative!). This was followed by a Christmas service in the church (austere Lutheran church – sent flat-pack from Norway in 1903, as the whalers were deemed to be in need of a Christian influence – they promptly used the church as a potato store). Gospel readings in Norwegian (from the Captain) and English (Mario – Expedition leader). Everyone then tried to tender back to Fram – only three boats running, plus due to the wind Fram had had to move further out, so this took some time (probably at least two hours). The weather had changed, there was some sleet and drizzly rain (with a rainbow visible in the distance) while we waited. We eventually got back on board around 7pm. Buffet dinner (Asian theme) so at least we could eat straight away (we hadn’t had lunch, as we hadn’t wanted to spend time travelling to and from Fram). Briefing for tomorrow at 9pm. Foggy outside, lots of bergy bits around the boat (and sometimes bumping it). Fur seals very noisy (we could hear the ones at King Edward Point from the Fram) – but not as tuneful as those on Eriskay.

Saturday 15 December

Sailed NW along coast of South Georgia overnight – woke to very foggy morning, with a bit of a swell. Arrived Elsehul approx 8:00 – few bergy bits around, lots of birds including grey-headed albatross. Air temp 3.9 degrees, wind force 6, 1m swells (which delayed getting the tender boats out), sea temp 2.6 degrees. About 8:45 decision was made that we would not be able to land at Elsehul. Fram therefore headed East towards our next destination. Looked at rocks from the Falklands with Regina (quartzite of different granularities (due to different rates of cooling and pressure), also sandstone from West Point. Also saw uploads of whale photos to happywhale.com.
Moored at Right Whale Bay, although it was not possible to land due to lots of aggressive fur seals. Zodiac cruise arranged for the afternoon – approx 45 mins cruising up and down the beach. Fur seals, elephant seals, King penguins, Cape Petrels (on the water feeding), Northern petrels, Southern petrels, Wilson’s storm petrel, snowy sheathbills, also petrels with bloody heads entering the water to clean themselves. The beach was noisy – penguins calling, plus seals barking, also quite smelly! Weather damp, cloud low on the hills. Difficult to take photos due to the movement of the boat. Lots of seals floating on their backs with their flippers in the air, then just rolling over and over in the water.
Had tea in the lounge – lots of seals and penguins porpoising around the boat. Buffet dinner – King crab claws (nutcrackers provided to crack the shells), Carcass Island lamb and trollcream (red fruit mousse).

Sunday 16 December

Awoke to find we had arrived in Fortuna Bay. Several glaciers visible, seals and penguins swimming around the boat. Low cloud, but little patches of blue sky showing. Air and water temperature both around 4 degrees. Muck boots were inspected on the way to the tender, to make sure no soil or seeds picked up in previous landings. Slightly soggy crossing (some spray entered the boat…), and a big jump from the tender to the beach. Had to run a gauntlet of fur seals on the beach, plus lots of pups looking cute and fluffy, and practising being aggressive for when they grow up. A few elephant seals around too. King penguins making their way along the beach, amongst the seals, nice waterfalls coming down from the mountains. Crossed slightly boggy, grassy ground with several small streams, to reach the penguin rookery. Thousands of King penguins, including a number of chicks. Lots of noise from the penguins. A few skuas swooping over the rookery. Walked back (gauntlet of fur seals again), washed both boots and trousers in the sea (grass and seeds on trouser turnups), then boarded tender boat. Hosed down as part of the scrubbing process when we reboarded Fram.

Shackleton Hike (following the last part of Shackleton’s route across South Georgia, just from Fortuna Bay to Stromness) cancelled due to poor weather, therefore stayed on the boat and sailed round to Stromness. Dramatic coastline – very contorted strata. Lots of seals swimming around the boat, plus a few penguins and seabirds. Passed the remains of the whaling station at Leith Harbour, then moored just offshore from the remains of the Stromness whaling station. These structures are considered unsafe (and contain asbestos), and are out of bounds (unless you’re a fur seal). Expedition team went ashore and established a landing, then the boat groups started going over. Lots of (rather agressive) fur seals on the beach, but they hadn’t gone very far inland. Once past the seals, we walked along a meadow, then a (dry) river floodplain to the Shackleton Waterfall (had to ford a few streams en route – straightforward in the Muck Boots). Waterfall spectacular – but did not look fun to climb down (as Shackleton and his two companions did). It took approx 35 mins to reach the waterfall, and it was drizzling and windy when we got there.

Walked back to the fur seals, rinsed boots in the sea and tendered back to the Fram.
Buffet dinner (Mexican theme) – excellent chocolate soup! Also variations on bean salad – mostly including avocado.

Monday 17 December

Sailed to Godthul overnight – very small sheltered bay. Beautiful sunny morning. Did not get to land till 11am, jumped off boat onto a steeply shelving shingle beach. Then climbed steeply through tussac grass up to the gentoo penguin colony. Lots of fur seals on the beach, and some lurking in the tussac grass, but none at the top. Very muddy in places (where the seals had wallowed). Stunning views of the bay, a small lochan and a large waterfall. The gentoos were coming and going, sitting on nests and arguing with each other. Also some petrels and skuas nesting in the tussac on the plateau.

Climbed back down through the tussac, rinsed boots and stick in the sea, clambered on boat (wet ride back), and were well hosed down on the Fram. We rechecked our boots and trousers later in our cabin.

We had lovely views of the coast of the coast as we sailed round to St Andrews Bay, and even glimpsed a whale from the cabin. Arrived at St Andrews Bay around 14:40, it was very cold, with the odd flake of snow – more penguins, more glaciers and fewer golf courses than Fife! The penguin rookery was very visible (and smellable) from the boat (200,000 pairs of King penguins, plus chicks). We eventually landed, with a heavy swell and sloping beach making landing difficult, so had to leap from the tender. A few fur seals about on the beach, lots of elephant seals and many, many penguins. Walked to RHS of beach to see the elephant seals, then up the river on the left, and upstream a little way. Lots of King penguins lining the river, plus some elephant seals wallowing hippopotamus-like in a very muddy pool. Good views of the three glaciers (one advancing, two retreating). It started snowing lightly. Reboarded tender boat (which involved a jump from knee deep water), and cruised along the rest of the beach (the river had been too fast-flowing to allow us to ford it) to see the rest of the rookery. The ship’s siren sounded while we were doing this – normally a signal for everyone to return at once, but on this occasion caused by an electrical fault on the bridge.

Tuesday 18 December

Woke up at 6am, misread watch and assumed it was 7am and time to get up. On deck, we could see Cooper Island and the entrance to Drygalski Fjord. The weather was not so good, low cloud and a few flakes of snow. There were a few whales about – turned round just in time to catch the splash from a humpback breeching. Entered the fjord – very narrow, with dramatic scenery, rocky with lots of hanging glaciers. Fram turned back once the fjord became choked with ice.

We then left South Georgia, and headed out to sea – destination Antarctic Peninsula. There was a big (4m) swell once we left the shelter of South Georgia, and I slept for most of the rest of the day (woke up at lunchtime as we passed 3.7km away from a 6km long iceberg). We had to spend some time re-arranging clothes in the wardrobe, as the swell was causing the coathangers to clatter together.