February 12 - Grytviken, South Georgia

This morning we arrived at Grytviken, which used to be a Norwegian whaling station, on a gorgeous sunny day with  the temperature around 46°.  The station lies within King Edward Cove, a sheltered harbor between Hope Point and Hobart Rock. I’m at a loss for words to describe the beauty of this place.  South Georgia island is mountainous with some peaks rising to nearly 9000 feet and covered with snow.  There are glaciers coming down some of them while others are a shade of green from the mosses, lichens, and grasses growing on them. Some are just naked volcanic rock. The peaks are all jagged as if they have just been thrust up from the Earth’s mantle, which in fact they have because these are all young formations in the grand scheme of the Earth’s geology.

Isn't this place beautiful?

Today we had to take a zodiac to go ashore, and I managed to conquer my fear with a lot of help from everyone around.  The first landing stop was the site of the whalers’ cemetery, which is the location of Ernest Shackleton’s grave. There’s an interesting story about why he’s buried here.  He died of a heart attack here in January, 1922 on his way to another Antarctic expedition.  His body was being transported back to England and had made it as far as Montevideo, Uruguay, when a telegram was received from his widow saying he should be buried in South Georgia. So he was brought back here and buried. There is a large marker in the little cemetery.

There was a little path going up to the cemetery but we were unable to go on it because the fur seals have taken it over and they take priority.  One pretty special thing did happen but I didn’t see it; I just heard about it.  Our ship’s doctor is a great-grandson of Shackleton and special arrangements were made for him to go into the fenced cemetery to pay tribute to his ancestor.

Can you tell who owns this beach?

The big stone marker inside the fence is Shackleton's headstone.

All along the beach of this cove there were literally hundreds of fur seals, swimming and sunning themselves.  The little whaling station has a small church, a post office, a museum and a little shop.  The British Antarctic Survey has a permanent station here which among other things monitors visitors to the island and fishing in the waters around it.  We were all inspected, as was the ship, before we went ashore and we scored 100 points.  Also in Grytviken are the remains of a couple of whaling ships and the factory which processed the whales.  They are old rusty ugly things and I wonder how long they’ll be there on the shore as reminders of the slaughter of whales that was done.

Two old whalers. In the foreground are various pieces of equipment used to process the whales.

All around were seals, including pups, juveniles and large adults.  We had been instructed to stay at least 15 feet away from them and to not back up if they started to charge us.  Instead we were told to wave our hands and make ourselves look big. Backing away evidently indicates to the seal that you’re weaker and more charging is more likely.  It’s amazing how fast they move; they also make lots of noise.  I saw a few juveniles who were racing around making very plaintive calls and I wondered if they were looking for Mom.  One of our expedition team told me that the mother usually sends her pups off after 8 weeks so they can learn to take care of themselves and how to get along in the colony.  I saw a few confrontations between some.  Apparently the males need to learn how to fight in order to be able to find mates when they’re mature.  I didn’t try to take a video, since I haven’t had much luck uploading them. They are also quite nosy. I had the feeling that some of them were looking at us and thinking what are these big orangey-yellow funny looking seals doing here.

The white building is the museum and gift shop

I went into the museum and looked at the exhibits which included things about whaling and a lot about Shackleton.  And I had my photo taken by Harry next to a life-size cut-out of the man himself.   I sat for a while on a bench in the sunshine watching the seals do their thing.  It was interesting watching them even as they slept.  Occasionally a flipper would go up or they would wiggle as if they had an itch or were dreaming and they would make little noises as if they were talking in their sleep.  They are fascinating creatures.  I didn’t know until one of the team told me that when they are in the water, they can dive down and stay under for as long as 20 minutes.

Shackleton and me

This pair looked like they were having sweet dreams

Then it was time to get back in the zodiac and return to the ship.  Getting back on the ship is the scariest part to me.  The zodiac is rocking and going up and down and in my mind’s eye I see myself doing a header into the little gap between the ship's platform and the zodiac.  There were lots of strong arms to help me and when I got on the first step on the platform I thought “back on terra firma.” Of course it isn’t but it sure felt like it. 

This little group looked like they wanted to come along on the zodiac.  They kept walking over and checking the boot brushes we had to scrape our boots on.

Tonight we’ve sailed to another part of the island and are just hanging around until morning.  The plan is to have zodiac landings tomorrow at a cove where there are millions of penguins.  The weather is looking iffy though. As we sailed away from Grytviken with its beautiful blue sky, a low cloud bank appeared on the horizon.  One moment we could see the island and the next we were enveloped in fog. Then after a few minutes, the island started to become visible again.  It was like something out of a mystery novel.

We went from approaching the fog, to being enveloped in it

 to being out of it in moments.

I’m so glad I had the opportunity after three years of trying to come to this place to actually get here.  Well, it’s late so Hasta Mañana.