St. Andrew’s Bay & Grytviken, South Georgia
Why are they so many? We should have brought more Zodiacs ashore! Sorry, guys you are not able to travel with Lindblad Expeditions, we do not have space for you all on board! You are actually one of the main reasons why we come every year to visit this fabulous place, South Georgia!
In the early morning we landed at one of the most magnificent places on earth, St. Andrew’s Bay. On the flat land, below the amazing high glaciers, we found fur and elephant seals in large numbers, as well as numerous reindeer which were introduced by Norwegian whalers in the 1920’s. A good guess is that they probably wanted to have a change in diet! Whale meat, penguins... over and over is maybe not the greatest?
Nowadays the reindeer have become an intriguing conservation issue. Some want to maintain the introduced population, others want to eradicate them since they have a major impact on the flora.
The highlight of the morning outing was to look into the largest colony of king penguins found in this part of the world. Exactly how many penguins there are is hard to tell since this large and beautiful penguin has a strange breeding cycle, which takes almost 1.5 years. There are at least 100,000 and perhaps as many as 250,000. Somewhere in between we find the truth!
In the colony we could see birds incubating eggs. This large penguin together with the even more extreme emperor penguin, does not build a nest. Instead they set the egg on their feet and cover it with their ample belly flap.
As you got closer the main colony you could also hear the piping sound from endless numbers of chicks. Some are only a few weeks old. Also the larger brown “barrels,” chicks which are covered with a brownish down and able to maintain their own body temperature, are all over the colony.
Along the beach almost an endless number of penguins to add, either molting or pairs in courtship. Yes, it was hard to leave, even if we had almost four hours to spend. Sometimes time moves fast. How much film did we use?
While we were still asleep, in the very early morning, the ship had been to Grytviken to pick up some local guests. Before lunch, as we were heading back to Grytviken, Tim and Pauline Carr gave us an insight into living at South Georgia. With the small boat, the Curlew, they have been exploring the world but just as with many of us arriving to South Georgia, they got caught. The plan was to stay over one season but still now after 12 years they are still here!
The afternoon was dedicated to the former whaling station Grytviken. It is now more or less a ghost-town and a monument to the heyday when whales still were roaming the Southern Ocean. In the period from 1905-1965 the modern whaling fleet was able to almost devastate the populations.
At least now, after almost a complete ban of any whale hunting since 1986, we can see many positive signs. Over this voyage we have been able to see several whale species, including southern right whale.
At Gryviken we could also visit the grave of one of many Antarctic explorers, Sir Ernest Shackleton. Maybe we can name him the most “successful failure” since he did four different expeditions to the south and never ever achieved his goals!
Through the last period of polar heroes, 1902-1920, South Georgia saw many famous explorers from many different countries pass by. Still maybe the most important for the impact of the island was Captain Larsen, on the ship Antarctic in 1902. As the Swedish scientist explored and named Grytviken (pot cove!) after the remains from early sealers in 1820’s, Larsen explored the island to find future bases for whaling operations.
After his famous over winter experience at Paulet Island, he was able to find money in Buenos Aires to set up the Grytviken whaling station. As a whaling center it was in operation until the mid 1960’s.
In April 1982 South Georgia and Grytviken became the main headlines worldwide, because of the Argentine invasion. The island was occupied for 22 days and liberated by British forces April 25.
We were able to read and learn a lot about the island’s natural history but also unique human history at the museum. The place also has a small shop and many of us arrived back to the ship with small bags.
Before dinner the local South Georgia manager Gordon Little and staff from BAS (British Antarctic Survey) gave a great recap about the current operations at South Georgia. Not only science, but right now they have a big operation going on to partly clean up the site Grytviken. We are already looking forward arriving back in November, 2004! Why not join us?
Why are they so many? We should have brought more Zodiacs ashore! Sorry, guys you are not able to travel with Lindblad Expeditions, we do not have space for you all on board! You are actually one of the main reasons why we come every year to visit this fabulous place, South Georgia!
In the early morning we landed at one of the most magnificent places on earth, St. Andrew’s Bay. On the flat land, below the amazing high glaciers, we found fur and elephant seals in large numbers, as well as numerous reindeer which were introduced by Norwegian whalers in the 1920’s. A good guess is that they probably wanted to have a change in diet! Whale meat, penguins... over and over is maybe not the greatest?
Nowadays the reindeer have become an intriguing conservation issue. Some want to maintain the introduced population, others want to eradicate them since they have a major impact on the flora.
The highlight of the morning outing was to look into the largest colony of king penguins found in this part of the world. Exactly how many penguins there are is hard to tell since this large and beautiful penguin has a strange breeding cycle, which takes almost 1.5 years. There are at least 100,000 and perhaps as many as 250,000. Somewhere in between we find the truth!
In the colony we could see birds incubating eggs. This large penguin together with the even more extreme emperor penguin, does not build a nest. Instead they set the egg on their feet and cover it with their ample belly flap.
As you got closer the main colony you could also hear the piping sound from endless numbers of chicks. Some are only a few weeks old. Also the larger brown “barrels,” chicks which are covered with a brownish down and able to maintain their own body temperature, are all over the colony.
Along the beach almost an endless number of penguins to add, either molting or pairs in courtship. Yes, it was hard to leave, even if we had almost four hours to spend. Sometimes time moves fast. How much film did we use?
While we were still asleep, in the very early morning, the ship had been to Grytviken to pick up some local guests. Before lunch, as we were heading back to Grytviken, Tim and Pauline Carr gave us an insight into living at South Georgia. With the small boat, the Curlew, they have been exploring the world but just as with many of us arriving to South Georgia, they got caught. The plan was to stay over one season but still now after 12 years they are still here!
The afternoon was dedicated to the former whaling station Grytviken. It is now more or less a ghost-town and a monument to the heyday when whales still were roaming the Southern Ocean. In the period from 1905-1965 the modern whaling fleet was able to almost devastate the populations.
At least now, after almost a complete ban of any whale hunting since 1986, we can see many positive signs. Over this voyage we have been able to see several whale species, including southern right whale.
At Gryviken we could also visit the grave of one of many Antarctic explorers, Sir Ernest Shackleton. Maybe we can name him the most “successful failure” since he did four different expeditions to the south and never ever achieved his goals!
Through the last period of polar heroes, 1902-1920, South Georgia saw many famous explorers from many different countries pass by. Still maybe the most important for the impact of the island was Captain Larsen, on the ship Antarctic in 1902. As the Swedish scientist explored and named Grytviken (pot cove!) after the remains from early sealers in 1820’s, Larsen explored the island to find future bases for whaling operations.
After his famous over winter experience at Paulet Island, he was able to find money in Buenos Aires to set up the Grytviken whaling station. As a whaling center it was in operation until the mid 1960’s.
In April 1982 South Georgia and Grytviken became the main headlines worldwide, because of the Argentine invasion. The island was occupied for 22 days and liberated by British forces April 25.
We were able to read and learn a lot about the island’s natural history but also unique human history at the museum. The place also has a small shop and many of us arrived back to the ship with small bags.
Before dinner the local South Georgia manager Gordon Little and staff from BAS (British Antarctic Survey) gave a great recap about the current operations at South Georgia. Not only science, but right now they have a big operation going on to partly clean up the site Grytviken. We are already looking forward arriving back in November, 2004! Why not join us?
