January 9

Days 12-15  South Georgia (cont'd)

Wow!!  Bright sunshine streaming in my window this morning.  This morning is our scheduled visit to Grytviken - South Georgia's only whaling station that can be visited, and the site of the governing presence.  Jeff and Gaby were off to shore early this morning to deal with paperwork and bring back a representative of the South Georgia Heritage Trust organization as well as bio-security inspectors.  The SGHT rep gave us a short presentation on the area and their mandate.  The inspectors gave a pretty thorough inspection before we got off the ship.  Grytviken's whaling station has had its hazardous material and dangerous structures removed (at a cost of 7.5M pounds).  It was the island's first and longest-running station.  It operated from 1904 to 1965.  

In addition to seeing abundant wildlife (fur seals, a few elephant seals, king penguins, and a few gentoos) we visited a few key sites and wandered about the village around the remnants of the whaling operations.  Oh - and saw other human beings!

The Whalers' Cemetery:  Shackleton's grave is the highlight of the whalers' cemetery.  'The Boss' is buried at the left rear of the graveyard.  He died here January 5, 1922.  In November 2011, Frank Wild's ashes were buried alongside Shackleton's after a ceremony in the church attended by Shackleton's and Wild's descendants.  There are 63 other graves here, including nine who died in a 1912 typhus epidemic.  One grave holds the remains of an Argentine soldier killed during the Falklands War.  Leo gave a toast to Shackleton and we all drank a wee dram of whiskey in his honour.  

The Whalers' Church:  The restored Whalers' Church, consecrated on Christmas Day, 1913, is a typical Norwegian church.  It was originally erected in Strommen (Norway) before being dismantled and shipped here.  Visitors are invited to go upstairs to ring the two bells (which I did).  There's an amazing library at the rear of the church which houses many books from ships from the early days.  Most are written in Norwegian, but there is a small English section.  Amazing to think about where these books have been and whose hands they have been in.  

Post office and souvenir store:  I didn't send a postcard, and I bought a fridge magnet and a keychain.  Whoopee!

South Georgia Museum:  It is housed in the former station manager's house, built in 1916.  "It's filled with fascinating exhibits on South Georgia's history and wildlife.  The shop sells an amazing array of clothing, souvenirs, and books."  I quite liked the looks of the toques, but at 70 pounds (close to $130), I wasn't very tempted.  The  museum looked pretty interesting, but due to time constraints I gave it just a cursory look.  I did,  however, go on the guided walk about town provided by one of the museum staff - a young lady from the islands in the north of Scotland.  She gave lots of good info on life (and equipment) in the whaling times. 

We moved to Godthul during (and after) lunch.  Lots of whale sightings along the way.  Another beautiful harbour with a few icebergs about.  Named 'Good Cove' by the Norwegian sealers who began working here in about 1905, Godthul never had a shore whaling station.  Instead, a floating factory with two attendant catchers anchored here in the summers from 1908 to 1917 and from 1922 to 1929.  Today, an amazing number of whale- and elephant-seal bones litter the rocky beach, and several wooden boats used in flensing whales alongside the factory ship are now falling to pieces among the tussock. 

We were supposed to be doing a hike, but we had a last minute change in plans.  Initially they said that the wildlife was too aggressive for us to land.  Then they said there were a lot of dead seals on the beach which likely indicates avian flu (or some other disease).  Apparently both were reasons.  So - we did a zodiac cruise for a few hours.  Pretty chilly (we bounced from sunshine to snow showers all day), and not terribly interesting but we did see wildlife in a few places (and in the water) and explored some coastal features.   

After being chilled from the zodiac cruise, the last thing I really wanted to do was to dine outdoors tonight.  But - BBQ night, so dine outdoors on the 8th deck we did.  It actually wasn't that bad.  And the food, as usual, was terrific.  Ice cream for dessert ensured that I didn't linger too much longer.  They had funny hats for us all to wear.  Too bad my camera was back in the room charging.  Oh well - another great day.  And - hopefully tomorrow we'll get to recreate part of Shackleton's walk into Stromness.  Over 40 people signed up for that one.  Gotta go re-read that section of the book now.