January 10

Days 12-15  South Georgia (cont'd)

Well, I'm wondering if our good luck with the weather may have come to an end.  Snow squalls onshore this morning and new overnight snow has come down quite low.  It may be deemed too slippery for our planned hike this afternoon.  We'll see.......

This morning we're landing in Fortuna Bay.  The landing site is thick with penguins and we will be walking (about 15 minutes) inland to even more penguins.  What a fabulous site!  Well - I guess someone sometime made that walk in 15 minutes, but with stopping to look at wildlife it took much, much longer.  It's a beautiful expansive plain filled with tussocks, streams, ponds - wildlife!  Fur seals, king penguins, and a few elephant seals.  





While we're doing a hike from Fortuna Bay to Stromness, the rest of the folks will do a zodiac cruise from Leith Harbour to Stromness, in Stromness Bay.  In the day, Leith Harbour was the largest of the seven whaling stations.  Since 2010 access to the station has been prohibited due to the dangers posed by asbestos and collapsing buildings.  Stromness is famous for being the destination of Shackleton's overland rescue journey in 1916.  The buildings and equipment here are also off-limits for visitors due to the dangers posed.  There is a fund-raising effort underway, though, by the SGHT to restore the manager's building where Shackleton & crew stayed when they first arrived.  

Things are looking up.  Just finished lunch and we now have blue skies and sunshine.  The hike is "on".  

Oh man - what a gorgeous hike!!  An initial tussle with the tussock bushes (and their hidden fur seals) on a rather steep incline, but shortly up into the alpine.  Beautiful, and easy walking on broken shale.  Passed Crean Lake (which Tom Crean) apparently fell into, with Samson Peak behind it (named after one of their dogs).  Just stunning scenery.  Snacks near the high point and then some challenging scree on about 3 downhill sections.  I can only imagine the Shackleton men seeing the ocean for the first time, and then having the whaling station come into view.  Gives me the shivers......  


Once past the waterfall it's an easy meadow walk to Stromness.  We couldn't access the town site, but could view it from afar.  I'm so glad they put this hike on for us and we really lucked out with the weather!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Introduction

Image
The outing that I've chosen is called "Falklands, South Georgia & Antarctic Peninsula".   "This epic voyage takes you on an incomparable journey, visiting enigmatic Subantarctic Islands and the Antarctic Peninsula...... discover the fascinating history of the islands and encounter the spectacular birdlife found here.  Feel awed in the presence of the king penguin colonies in South Georgia, some of the largest on Earth.  Immerse yourself in the serene grandeur of the Antarctic Peninsula as you embrace the true spirit of exploration and adventure."     There are lots of providers running expedition cruises to the Antarctic these days.  As I started looking at this in the summer I came across a website with a fairly comprehensive "Cruise Comparison" chart.  It listed no fewer than 42 ships representing 22 different companies, ranging from Ultra Luxury to Budget.  I'm in the "Premium" category, just above "Budget".  I'm goin...
Read more

January 16

Days 19-21  Falklands-Malvinas (Cont'd) After three days at sea we pulled into Stanley Harbour just before breakfast this morning.  It's a Falklands requirement that we go to Stanley before we land anywhere else, so given that we want to be back at sea by mid-afternoon that kind of limits our options for seeing much of the islands.  Oh well - we've been lucky with the weather up until now.  We probably missed out on seeing nesting albatrosses and rockhopper penguins but we've seen albatrosses in the air and, lord knows, we've seen hundreds of thousands of other penguins.   I see my phone automatically updated to a new IOS overnight.  What I didn't realize right away was that when it did that it took my phone off airplane mode and dropped the wifi.  So - I can't wait to see my bill for roaming charges; ugh.......... We started ferrying guests to land shortly after 8.  They had arranged for a big bus to take us out to Gypsy Cove.  I signed...
Read more

January 17

Day 22  At Sea With lectures and film presentations to complete our Antarctic experience, there is still plenty of time to enjoy the magic of the South Atlantic Ocean and the life that calls it home.  There is time for reflection and discussion about what we have seen and experienced.  We hope you become ambassadors for the Antarctic region, telling your family, friends, and colleagues about your journey to this magical part of the planet, advocating for its conservation and preservation so that they might one day visit the region to experience what you have been lucky to see and do here. As we approach the tip of South America, our Captain may sail close to legendary Cape Horn, weather and time permitting.     Well, this was pretty much a wind-down day.  A session on procedures for tomorrow.  A last trip to the gym.  A hilarious and very successful auction run by Gaby to raise money for two charities  - South Georgia Heritage Trust and ...
Read more