Day 8 - Saturday 28th December

It was a bright and sunny morning – 15C and a 20kt breeze (like a summer day in Newhaven) – when we moored in Fortuna Bay – we were last off the ship for a zodiac cruise around the bay and then landing on the beach where we saw all the usual suspects - King Penguins, Fur Seals, Elephant Seal pups and lots of seabirds.

In addition, we managed to see a number of South Georgia Pipits – we could hear them in the grass but they moved too quickly for a good sighting. However, one of them came down to pose for Linda as he picked the insects off an old seal carcass on the edge of the beach.

As we strolled along the beach - always wary of the fur seals which can be very aggressive if you invade their territory, our historian, Miko, pointed out where the sealers of old had built a shelter in a cave behind the beach which had now been reclaimed by the fur seals. As we were heading back to the ship, we could see the clouds rolling in over the glacier.

Back on board and a short voyage to Cumberland Bay and Grytviken Harbour where we had a talk from the director of the South Georgia Heritage Trust while the customs and immigration formalities were completed. 

Then a short but bumpy ride ashore for a visit to the old whaling station and museum which included a tour of the whaling station, a visit to the church and walk up to the cemetery to pay our respects to Ernest Shackleton who died here in 1922 and his right-hand man, Frank Wild, whose ashes were brought here in recent years.

Whaler Petrel abandoned on the beach

 We toasted their memory with a plastic cup of Bushmills and on our way back to the zodiacs, we saw that a young newlywed Chinese couple had arranged for the Captain to bless their wedding in the church and they posed for some very special wedding photos –

Of course there was a shop and a post office which were doing a good trade – interesting to note that they reckon on 90 ship visits during their summer season – November to March

While the Heritage Trust are working to restore the site as a museum, the wildlife has definitely taken over and we saw all the usual suspects along with Gentoo Penguins and a solitary Chinstrap Penguin as well.

Gentoo Penguin

PS We are now proud sponsors of a couple of hectares of South Georgia and while it does not confer any ownership, it should give me some bragging rights over Jimmy C!

Tattoo

We are in the company of 197 other passengers, an expedition team of 40 and a ships crew of 115 - made up of something like 40 nationalities - surprisingly no Germans or Japanese - mostly American, Canadian, European and Chinese with a few others.

However as many of you already know, I'm a bit of a cycnic - perhaps even misanthropic- but it appears that there must be a tattoo on my forehead.  Either that or I need to change my deodorant and I'm sure that Linda would have mentioned it.

Despite 240 people eating together with free seating, it appears that we are invisible when people are choosing where to sit. It's fine if we join others already sitting at a table but if we’re early and sit at an unoccupied table, then it remains unoccupied – I'm not complaining - suits me! .

Day 7 - Friday 27th December

Arriving at South Georgia, we had to bypass our intended landing at Church Bay because of 40kt winds and a heavy swell but it was much calmer as we arrived in the Bay of Isles – sheltered from the winds but hidden from view by the mist and fog. 

Woke early and managed a gym session before breakfast as we anchored in Rosita Bay, where we had a Zodiac cruise around the bay.

Good number of fur seals, with the occasional lone King Penguin, an elephant seal weaner or two and quite a few Northern and Southern Great Petrels.

Even saw a leucistic (white) Southern Great Petrel which is quite unusual.

Male Fur Seal - beachmaster

Fur Seal Pups

Fur Seals

Elephant seal weaner

While we were having lunch, we steamed across the bay to Salisbury Plain where we had a short Zodiac cruise and then a surf landing so that we could walk up to the huge King Penguin and Fur Seal colonies.

Astounding number of penguins in the main colony and a very healthy population of Fur Seals, considering they were almost wiped out in the early part of the 20^th century.

While our surf landing had been relatively dry, we were both at the bow as we came off the beach and got very wet. This is when I discovered that my waterproof trousers were no longer 100% waterproof – thankfully they had replacements in the shop on board.

Day 6 – Boxing Day – at sea

Grey, misty morning – 5C and 25kts – swell still on our stern quarter and a nice soothing gentle roll. 

Linda claims to be sleeping better than she does at home - I'm concerned that it will be expensive to install a mechanism that moves the bed in Edinburgh in the same way.

We crossed the Polar front into the Scotia Sea in the early hours so the cooler water meant that the air temperatures were cooler too.

A couple of talks on ornithology, geology and history followed by the usual meal routine – and then a bit of time to watch our approach to Shag Rocks – 6 pinnacles which poke out of the ocean  literally in the middle of nowhere. Huge number of South Georgia (Imperial) Cormorants - including one who was obviously busy nest building.

Slightly disappointed that there was no leftover turkey but at least we got some Bubble & Squeak and another excellent meal. Followed by a ‘Bar talk’ on the sealing and whaling industries of S Georgia from Miko, the historian, who is in his 18^th Antarctic  season and a great story-teller.

Day Five - Christmas Day

Still sunny – 10C – 20-25kts wind – gentle swell from stern quarter

Since we were at sea, the bottle of Mumm in the fridge for Christmas morning had to wait until after we had been to the gym and a yoga class. Without doubt that’s a first!

Time for presents and fizz after Yoga and before Christmas Brunch.  However no time to laze around after brunch – straight into our first Bio-Security session and an hour or two of making sure all our gear was free of any dirt or seeds etc from our Falklands visit before we reached S Georgia. - another first – no time for lounging in front of the TV with a second bottle of wine.

With a little time to relax we managed to sit in the sun for an little while.

This was followed by the kit inspection and any remedial cleaning. Then, at last, there was time to repair to the bar for a pre-dinner drink, followed by a full Christmas dinner in the restaurant with Argentine wines. Then on to the bar for a few drinks but we retired early.

Still have that tattoo.

Day Four - Christmas Eve

When we woke on Day Four we were steaming through the narrows into Port Stanley to moor alongside the FIPASS jetty which was built from barges brought down here in 1982/3 to form a landing jetty for the British forces – I’m sure Bernie will remember

.

Our turn to be first off the ship and a short bus ride into town – hoping to get there before the bulk of the passengers were tendered in from the two cruise ships anchored outside - Coral Princess and Zaandam. We reckoned that with our group there would be more than 3000 visitors ashore in a town that has a total population of 2,500!

We spent a very enjoyable couple of hours in the museum which has a variety of excellent displays on the history of the islands and the fishing, farming and wildlife in addition to the military history – including the first world war naval battles and of course the Argentine invasion.

We wandered round most of the town – which was now packed with visitors of all shapes, sizes and nationalities but ended up – of course – in the Victory Pub for a pint of Falklands Brewery Mt Longdon Ale. Bit of a queue at the bar but a decent pint – avoided the temptation of the fish and chips but they were doing a roaring trade.

A poster in the gents toilet with a picture of General Galtieri with the caption ‘Rot in hell you Bastard’ was a good indication of how they feel here – with a 92.5% turnout, 98.5% voted to remain a British Overseas Territory in their recent referendum – sort of result the wee sweetie wife can only dream about.

Gave us the chance to make an early Christmas call to both mothers and even to get a little internet access  before the walk back along the shore line- where we saw a juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron, a South American Sea Lion and Hourglass Dolphin- on our way to the ship.

A celebration dinner on board to challenge waist line again – really glad I passed on the lunchtime fish and chips!

Day Three - Monday

Our first Zodiac Landing on New Island - a privately owned conservation site to the south west of West Falkland 

After our first Zodiac Landing, we had a short hike across the island to the windward side passing Kelp geese on the landing beach and Ruddy-headed geese along the way.

We found large colonies of nesting Rockhopper Penguins, Black-browed Albatross and a few Imperial cormorants above the cliffs. There were also Brown Skuas waiting for the chance to steal an unguarded chick and Striated Caracals which are the only predator on the Island.

A warm sunny day – around 12C – with winds gusting to 15-20kts in unsheltered areas. A good first landing and then back on board for lunch while the vessel steamed towards the north-west of West Falkland and our afternoon destination.

Back in the zodiacs after lunch for a visit to West Point Island – privately owned and farmed- where we had a longer hike (2 km each way) to some more nesting colonies of Rockhoppers and Albatross – also on the windward side. Although it was a warm sunny afternoon, there was a cold wind blowing off the South Atlantic

A chance for us to see some of the indigenous, plants along the way – although many of our fellow passengers took advantage of the Land-Rover shuttle service that the owners had laid on.

Because there are a large number of sheep on the island, we also saw quite a few Turkey vultures.

After hiking there and back we were invited into the farm house where the owners had provided tea and cakes which would have outdone  Mrs Doyle – or even Sheryl McCormack’s spread.