Stromness, South Georgia, Antarctica, 23 Jan 2008
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20080123 Wednesday Day 8 Still at South Georgia
3 degree in the morning. Our original plan was to make one landing in the morning but the sea and wind conditions were not favourable and we had to wait to see the weather condition would become friendlier at a later time. It did get better and we made a landing at Fortuna Bay and the weather was beautiful (much better than the day before), so the cameras were happily working in dry conditions and we took some video shots too. In summary, king penguins and fur seals were everywhere on this bay and we also saw elephant seals, and reindeer at a far distance. Often the fur seals are very curious and would come up and inspect us. Now because we were late on our schedule which did not leave enough time to do the final 5km of Shackleton trail from Fortuna Bay to Stromness whaling station, it was supposed to be one of the highlights of this trip, this showed we were in a region where we were very much at the mercy of nature.
After an early dinner, we were able to go onshore again, this time landing at Stromness Bay whaling station where Shackleton found safety after his 2-year failed journey to cross the South Pole during 1914-1916. The whaling station had ceased operation since the late 1960s and had not been made safe for tourist to visit. By the time we land, it was already getting dark, we made a short walk to see the waterfall where Shackleton climbed down, we had to be extra careful not to step on the baby fur seals which looked exactly like the bumpy mud in darkness.
We met a couple from US who had publised a book with photos taken from 50 countries!
Right Whale Bay, South Georgia, Antarctica, 22 Jan 2008
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20080122 Tuesday Day 7 South Georgia - Right Whale Bay and Elsehul
Again weather was getting colder around 10 degree in the morning. We finally saw land during breakfast. It was raining in the morning. Finally after over 2 days at sea we got to land again. Since it was cold and raining. We put all our water-proof gear on to prepare for the landing. There were huge colonies of fur seals and king penguins on Right Whale Bay, absolutely everywhere. The seals population has both adults and pups and they were very cruious about us. At times, we were being chased by the seals and we couldn't quite tell whether it was an act of aggression or simply their ways of saying hello. Many of the penguins were molting and could look rather ugly. We were amazed by the sheer number of animals on this bay. There were some birds and we even saw a skeleton of a whale scattering on the bay, the vertibrate of the whale made a rather good small bench with flat surface on both ends. Occassionally we spotted some dead seals bodies and the birds were helping themselves to a nice meal. The fur seals also swam around our zodiacs, while they looked clumpsy on land, they were very good and smooth swimmers, they swam along the zodiacs in small groups and in harmonic motions. The rain and the wind made it very difficult to take pictures, my small camera had stopped working after too much water got into the case. Nonetheless we had some nice pictures and movies to remind us how beauitful this place was.
The afternoon session was a ride on the zodiac to see the coastal area called Elsehul where more king penguins, fur seals were found, also spotted some Gentoo penguins and elephant seals. The elephant seals just laid there doing nothing, looked rather lazy!!! But then what would you do if you have almost no predator and food is abandunt. Irene thought the ride would be too cold for her and she opted out. With the experience of the rain this morning, I decided not to take out the camera too often under this kind of weather and thus only took a few pictures, it was hard to take decent pictures against the distance, the wind, the rain, the rocking zodiac and fellow passengers cramped on the same boat.
During the briefing section, Roger the Expedition leader explained about the potential Sheckelton walk on South Georgia, the final march to his rescue in 1916. We might do the final 5km of his walk if weather permits, not an easy trail and Roger was trying to scare some people off just to make sure that only the really fit would join, because there was no turning back and the walk was difficult for some.
The dinner had a Russian Theme and the waitresses all dressed up to the occasion.
We watched a documentary on Antarctica by David Attenbourough produced for National Geographic, great summary of the wild-life in this region.
The Sony camera after much hair-dryer blowing finally sprung back to life.
Stanley, Falkland Islands, Antarctica, 19 Jan 2008
20080119 Saturday Day 4 Stanley, East Falkland Island
Town visit, lunch onshore, posted 3 postcards. Christ Church Cathedrale, Falkland Islands Museum, Cartmell Cottage. Met a gentleman who visited Hong Kong in the 1960s, he had picture of a woman smoking opium inside Walled Village.
13 degree on land in the morning. Our knowledge and awareness of the Falkland Islands were limited to the Falklands war in 1982 which we understand very little of it. It was interesting to finally set foot on the island. The key highlights of the visit were the Cathedrale that has a small mouement outside made of whale bone; The museum though small had good collection of items that represented the Falklands such as items used by early settlers, animals samples of those found around the region, news and bomb shells of the Falklands War; The Cartmell Cottage was the first house built on the island. We posted a few postcards and had lunch in one of the local restaurants, our first onland meal since our sea journey began a few days ago.
Irene: lunch was a highlight at the Brasarie and had a nice dafe latte,
though penguin gifts are v. cute, we didnt buy any.
Met Jutta at dinner, from Germany living in London beteen Heathrow and central london. collected penguin items for 20 years+, went on icebreaker from Tasmania to Antarctica in 2000.
Carcass Island2008, Falkland Islands, Antarctica, 18 Jan 2008
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20080118 Friday Day 3 Carcass Island (Falkland Islands)
13 degree, McGill family, birds (including Penguins) 2-hour hike
First Zodiac ride and landing, saw some birds and penguins, only a few here and there, this was only the beginning, more animals to be expected in the other island. The 2-hour hike was a much needed exercise, as we had been having good food in large portion and no exercise so far. Finally reaching the other side of the island where the McGill family - owner of the island hosts a small tea party for us, there were plenty of nice cakes that were served with tea and coffee. It was rather hot after the long hike especially once we got inside the house.
Irene: the small hike here liked those we did in small islands in HK.
the cookies and cakes with english tea at McGill house was rewarding.
Met Kochava, Isreal.
Saunders Island, Falkland Islands, 18 Jan 2008
20080118 Friday Day 3 Carcass Island (Falkland Islands)
Saunders Island has a very rich animal population dominated by penguins and other birds, we saw plenty of Gentoo penguins and Rockhopper penguins, we also saw some Magellanic penguins and King penguins. The King penguins were not moving an inch because they are protecting their precious eggs underneath their belly! The Rockhopper penguins were busy hopping upwards from the sea through the beach and up towards the hill, at some point we were in their path and they waited patiently until the path is clear again. We also saw an amazing colony of black browed albatross, the chicks were sitting comfortably inside the nests and waiting for their parents to feed them. It was fantastic to see how these animals co-exist in harmony. On our way back to the boat via Zodiac, a dolphin paid us a visit.
Lyubov Orlova (Part4), Antarctica, 16 Jan - 3 Feb 2008
Lyubov Orlova was our expedition ship with a capacity of 110 passengers + about 80 crews (sailors, hotel staff and expedition team). Apart from guest cabin and catering, it has a lecture room, library, bar and gym. We love spending time in the library and on the deck. We were well fed, the food was excellent, with 3-course lunch and dinner everyday, tea/coffee was served around the clock.
There were plenty of lectures on Antarctica related topics in fields like marine biology, history, geology, birds life etc. We also had safety drill where we had to put on our life jacket and made our way to the lifeboat. We washed our boots for each landing making sure that we didn't carry foreign soil from one island to another. Each landing was done with Zodiac that carried 10 passengers at a time.
Lyubov Orlova (Part3), Antarctica, 16 Jan - 3 Feb 2008
Lyubov Orlova was our expedition ship with a capacity of 110 passengers + about 80 crews (sailors, hotel staff and expedition team). Apart from guest cabin and catering, it has a lecture room, library, bar and gym. We love spending time in the library and on the deck. We were well fed, the food was excellent, with 3-course lunch and dinner everyday, tea/coffee was served around the clock.
There were plenty of lectures on Antarctica related topics in fields like marine biology, history, geology, birds life etc. We also had safety drill where we had to put on our life jacket and made our way to the lifeboat. We washed our boots for each landing making sure that we didn't carry foreign soil from one island to another. Each landing was done with Zodiac that carried 10 passengers at a time.
Lyubov Orlova (Part2), Antarctica, 16 Jan - 3 Feb 2008
Lyubov Orlova was our expedition ship with a capacity of 110 passengers + about 80 crews (sailors, hotel staff and expedition team). Apart from guest cabin and catering, it has a lecture room, library, bar and gym. We love spending time in the library and on the deck. We were well fed, the food was excellent, with 3-course lunch and dinner everyday, tea/coffee was served around the clock.
There were plenty of lectures on Antarctica related topics in fields like marine biology, history, geology, birds life etc. We also had safety drill where we had to put on our life jacket and made our way to the lifeboat. We washed our boots for each landing making sure that we didn't carry foreign soil from one island to another. Each landing was done with Zodiac that carried 10 passengers at a time.
Lyubov Orlova (Part1), Antarctica, 16 Jan - 3 Feb 2008
Lyubov Orlova was our expedition ship with a capacity of 110 passengers + about 80 crews (sailors, hotel staff and expedition team). Apart from guest cabin and catering, it has a lecture room, library, bar and gym. We love spending time in the library and on the deck. We were well fed, the food was excellent, with 3-course lunch and dinner everyday, tea/coffee was served around the clock.
There were plenty of lectures on Antarctica related topics in fields like marine biology, history, geology, birds life etc. We also had safety drill where we had to put on our life jacket and made our way to the lifeboat. We washed our boots for each landing making sure that we didn't carry foreign soil from one island to another. Each landing was done with Zodiac that carried 10 passengers at a time.