Scotia Sea
Today we continued our course 352o heading for the Falkland Island. The sea was very gentle and of course sea birds like albatrosses and petrels were our companions throughout the day. The day was also full of activity: lectures and pre-caps about our upcoming visit to the Falklands and recap rounded up our South Georgia and Antarctica experience.
Many of us had a moment to contemplate and talk about the adventure we recently encountered. South Georgia is probably the pearl of wild life and maybe you could say that Antarctica is the scenery. Still both house everything! Words like spectacular, impressive, amazing… feel small after this adventure. Yet, one word always fits any visit to this area of the world: “close.” Wherever you go, land or cruise with a Zodiac you always feel very near to everything you see. The wildlife often approaches you, with Zodiacs get in almost touch-distance to the wildlife, in kayaks you feel the freedom and spirit of the pristine continent. As you walk in colonies with 1000s of penguins and watch this endless amount of different behavior our mind often slip into thoughts about life in general. Many times through out this expedition we even get close with the ship. During this cruise the captain and his crew very often brought the ship nearly right onto the beach. In this picture you see the ship almost touch the beach at Stromness, South Georgia.
To walk out to the bow and touch and icebergs or look down at fur seals, king penguins… Yes, getting close is something you truly experience onboard the M.S. Endeavour.
In the late afternoon we saw the most isolated island of all in the Falklands, Bechene Island, way south of the two main islands. This island was discovered in 1701 but still it is very rarely visited. This is a sea bird mecca and every sea bird species breeding in the Falkland Islands breeds here. The sea conditions were remarkably calm and again the captain gave us a very close approach. Nowadays the island is protected area and landings are not allowed.
The colony with Black-browed Albatross is huge and last estimate was about 110,000 pairs! Still an enormous decrease as the colony had about 180,000 pairs some 10 or 20 years ago. Longline fishing is the main reason for the huge decrease in albatrosses all over Southern Ocean. Fortunately, Bird Life International has put in a huge effort to create an awareness and stop this rapid decline. About 40,000 albatrosses are estimated to be killed every year! But even with small improvements onboard any fishing vessel the numbers killed and drowned can be limited to just a few. A great example of this is South Georgia, where until recently, about 3,000 birds were killed every year; but last season, with improvements in place, only three birds were killed!
This is very typical for nature conservation: a few small changes can often rapidly improve the potential for survival. The main problem is to convince people to change their habits!
Today we continued our course 352o heading for the Falkland Island. The sea was very gentle and of course sea birds like albatrosses and petrels were our companions throughout the day. The day was also full of activity: lectures and pre-caps about our upcoming visit to the Falklands and recap rounded up our South Georgia and Antarctica experience.
Many of us had a moment to contemplate and talk about the adventure we recently encountered. South Georgia is probably the pearl of wild life and maybe you could say that Antarctica is the scenery. Still both house everything! Words like spectacular, impressive, amazing… feel small after this adventure. Yet, one word always fits any visit to this area of the world: “close.” Wherever you go, land or cruise with a Zodiac you always feel very near to everything you see. The wildlife often approaches you, with Zodiacs get in almost touch-distance to the wildlife, in kayaks you feel the freedom and spirit of the pristine continent. As you walk in colonies with 1000s of penguins and watch this endless amount of different behavior our mind often slip into thoughts about life in general. Many times through out this expedition we even get close with the ship. During this cruise the captain and his crew very often brought the ship nearly right onto the beach. In this picture you see the ship almost touch the beach at Stromness, South Georgia.
To walk out to the bow and touch and icebergs or look down at fur seals, king penguins… Yes, getting close is something you truly experience onboard the M.S. Endeavour.
In the late afternoon we saw the most isolated island of all in the Falklands, Bechene Island, way south of the two main islands. This island was discovered in 1701 but still it is very rarely visited. This is a sea bird mecca and every sea bird species breeding in the Falkland Islands breeds here. The sea conditions were remarkably calm and again the captain gave us a very close approach. Nowadays the island is protected area and landings are not allowed.
The colony with Black-browed Albatross is huge and last estimate was about 110,000 pairs! Still an enormous decrease as the colony had about 180,000 pairs some 10 or 20 years ago. Longline fishing is the main reason for the huge decrease in albatrosses all over Southern Ocean. Fortunately, Bird Life International has put in a huge effort to create an awareness and stop this rapid decline. About 40,000 albatrosses are estimated to be killed every year! But even with small improvements onboard any fishing vessel the numbers killed and drowned can be limited to just a few. A great example of this is South Georgia, where until recently, about 3,000 birds were killed every year; but last season, with improvements in place, only three birds were killed!
This is very typical for nature conservation: a few small changes can often rapidly improve the potential for survival. The main problem is to convince people to change their habits!
