Day 15 King Haakon Bay - First South Georgia landing

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We awoke very early to a very grey sky, with a light drizzle.  A quick check at the bridge, we were heading eastwards towards King Haakon Bay, probably another 60 km or so away.  The first mate intimated that, due to the stormy weather further north, we probably would head south, towards Cape Disappointment later in the day, visiting eastern South Georgia from the south up.

Soon after breakfast, we saw our first iceberg, and started to see landfall approaching.  Whether we can land was still a little up in the air, as there were still gusty winds, with a grey low clouds.

Through the think mist, we could see glaciers lining up both side of the bay. We were heading towards Peggotty Bluff, for possibly, our first landing.  We were told to get ready, but final decisions still had to be made.

Yep, the announcement for landing finally came.  Wind had calmed somewhat, with an occasional gust.

One of the lady crew member was standing next to the tag board, to ensure we all filp the tag to indicate "out" status, being the first time we go onshore.

Next is to get our boots cleaned with the Virkon solution as part of the bio-security measures, and lined up for boarding a zodiac.  All the previous day of safety briefings came into practical use, such as how to interlock with the arm of the helper when get on and off the zodiac, how to slide in or out of the zodiac at the beach etc.

And we were off, to Peggotty Bluff for our first adventure onshore, in the middle of the vast Southern Ocean !!  What a feeling !!

And here is mother ship, the Polar Pioneer.

We had a welcoming party, our first encounter of King Penguins, a quiet, small welcoming party.  May be they were just bored.

But these territorial baby fur seals were not so welcoming, they are feisty, barking and sometimes, aggressively attempting to push us our of their realm.  One extended arm with a pointed finger would settle whose boss here, sometime adding an assertive yell would settle the matter, grudgingly though.

Here and there, were rookeries of King Penguins.  We were especially told not to approach any of the moulting chicks, as this is their most vulnerable time, unable to move and not feeling all that comfortable anyway.

And then there were the big fat sleepy, and smelly seal elephants.

Most of these are females, and are probably pregnant, waiting for the hunting male to return.

It is hard to maintain the 5m separation rule, with the wandering penguins, they are a quietly curious mob, but certainly, no speedsters.

And the poor moulting ones, enduring this uncomfortable part of their life.

And my camera had forgotten it was still drizzling, and kept snapping along.  But the drizzles kept wetting the lens, and it was a constant distraction having to keep wiping it.  Something must be done.

Here at the beach exit of a small flowing stream, a collection of moulted feathers.

Where came this lone gentoo penguin, lost or just curious ...!!

As we were strolling along, when I saw Sandi, who had a faulty SLR camera, now struggling with her small compact, I offered to loan her my camera, as I also carried a old camera which I could use for the rest of the day.  I was so happy to see her face lit up with glee.

We returned to mother ship for a good lunch, but not before we cleaned our boots with the Virkon bath, and flip our tag to indicate onboard status. 

As the weather was relatively calm, though drizzling under a grey sky, we went through the dressing and cleaning routine once more and went out in the afternoon.

We had a zodiac tour of the glaciers at the end of the bay and saw the occasional calving, one particularly remarkable one, was from a high hanging glacier.

It was from this glacier near Peggotty Bluff,  that in May 1916, Shackleton and two others started their journey to cross the uncharted interior of South Georgia to a whaling station at Stromness Bay, with no equipment or resources, finally able to raise help for his marooned crew on Elephant Island, just north of Antarctica, some 1300 Km away.

Another landing here with more feisty fur seals, and the odd seal elephants and King Penguins.

What is this, why is it here ?  Probably an ocean traveler from the other end of the World.

Again the annoying drizzle was still affecting our cameras, but Sandi was seemingly still happy with my camera, and had took cue from others, putting on a plastic bag to help covering it.

Our first of many close encounters in this trip of floating ices.

Some decided it was a good idea to add fizzle to the happy hour later, after all, these are probably more than a millennia old.

So it was back to the mother ship once again, after our first day of exploring South Georgia on shore, by all accounts, a great success, other than the annoying drizzle.

Well, at least, checking the tag board, everyone was right way up !

Then it was a matter of watching from the comfort of the bridge, as the boat retraced her way out of the bay, and into the rough seas, passing in the distance, Cave Cove at Cape Rosa, where Shackleton's small boat made its first landing after a horrid 700+ Km journey, sailing almost blindly, from Elephant island.

Some more small icebergs just float by in the distance.

In the ensuing daily debriefing, our tour leader Christen indicated that we were lucky to spend a calm day in King Haalon Bay, as other boats in further north had to abandon their landing due to terrible weather.  We would be sailing south instead of north, hopefully minimizing the impact of the passing bad weather, but would probably have a rough night sleeping.

So out comes the pills again.

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Day 13 - 14 Through Scotia Sea to South Georgia Island

Previous Post:  Day 12 - Into the Unknowns of Southern Atlantic

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We had a rather plain sailing night after leaving Port Stanley.  The seas was quite smooth, the first sunrise was greeted with calm sea.  Unlike after the first night on my Galapagos boat trip, less than half of the people turned up for breakfast, the first breakfast was full of cheery faces.  We continue to get acquainted with new and friendly faces.

One quick trip to the bridge to talk to the ship's First Mate on duty, the forecast for the trip to our first land fall at South Georgia appears to be quite calm all the way.  However, he warned that there could be rough weathers around the island.

With a two fully days of sea trip ahead of us, people started to wander around the boat, bringing out our cameras, to  capture the wandering sea birds along our way, the Albatrosses, Boobies, Shaq Birds, Giant Petrels etc.

The temperature was not quite as cold as anticipated, we found the jacket provided by Aurora ( the expedition tour company ), was more than adequate, perhaps a  bit of an overkill at this stage of the trip.  It was still quite comfortable to walk around in shorts, the temperate was about 9 deg C.

Our first lecture on the boat came at an opportune time, it was about ornithology of the sea.  Our onboard naturist, Nigel gave us clues to identify the sea birds in this part of the World, so we learned, not all black-white-wings are the same.  Wish I can not remember them all.  Time to go upstairs and get more bird photos, shoot first, ask later.

And in the far distance, occasionally, we could detect the presence of whales, but none were curious enough to come for a close encounter, unfortunately.

During the day, we were organised to pick up a pair of matching boot, which was to be used for shore excursions. A good fit is necessary to ensure comfort, and more importantly, safety,  in getting on and off the zodiacs and walking on the beaches.

The highlight of the afternoon, was a lecture by Nigel the naturalist, on the "Cultural History of Penguins".  I am sure, some of us, including myself,  learned more about Penguins in an hour than in our whole life until now.

We formally met our Russian Captain Yuri, at his welcome drinks party with the entire Aurora crews.  An experienced Captain .  We were assured by his extensive experience in sailing in the polars of the Earth, in particular, this part of the World for many, many years, our safety and pleasure are on his hands for the next 3 weeks or so.

After another calm night, another beautiful sunrise would follow, so I thought....but the greyish sky in the early morning was not promising. 

Sometime during the night, we had crossed into the Scotia Sea, then northern boundaries of the Southern Ocean, so exciting.

As some were still chit chatting at the table just after breakfast, an announcement was made over the blaster, "Whale, at starboard".  Rushed to our room, grab the cameras, and up and out.... but it did not stay long.

At the morning lecture, we were introduced to the environmental code of practice for Antarctica, observed by members of the IAATO ( International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators ) by our tour leader, Christen, and rules for us to follow. One of the reasons for discussing it before we arrive at South Georgia, which is still another 10 days before Antarctica, was, the British now requires the same code to be used for touring South Georgia, all for a good course.

One of the most sobering reminders of how important is safety here, is that we all should observe all safety advice and regulations closely.  Being in the most remote part of the World, there are no air evacuations possible in case of an emergency situation.  And we would be days away from any external helps should something unfortunate eventuate.  Not to mention, that the entire expedition

would be in jeopardy, as the boat must change course and seek help somewhere very very far indeed.  All that take, is probably just someone's unfortunate misstep getting on and off a zodiac, or a slip from climbing a slippery rock.

The South Georgia government video comes together with a fairly comprehensive 64 pages booklet of its own, detailing the history, geological and ecological environments. 

Here is a link to the South Georgian Government website.

Some rules are obvious, such as leaving nothing more than our footprints etc., and a couple of very important ones to take home. One is, the requirement not to touch any wildlife, however cute it may appear, for our safety as well as theirs. The other is, to keep at all time a minimum safe distance of 5 meters.  And to stand still if they approach us, until they pass.  And absolutely no feeding wild lives or interfering with nature even if we could have saved a prey from its predator.

Anothere simple protocol was to be strictly observed, for our safety as well as for the crew to know where everyone is, when we go onshore. We were to flip our own number tag on the board ( see below ) before to out on deck to board the zodiac, and ONLY our own, no one else's, not even our partner's. On returning from shore, flip the tag back.

In between more lectures and DVD screening of "South Georgia" ( a light reminder of the environment sensitivities and bio-security rules of South Georgia), we took turn to do some bio-security clean ups ( vacuuming, brushing etc.) , of our clothing and gears that would be taken on shores.  And learnt about the cleaning procedures, before and after each shore trips, of our boots and gears.

The weather was changing, mist was gathering, sea was getting rougher.

We were anticipating to see Shaq Rocks, remnants of the ancient super-continent of Gondwana. But the fogs were getting thicker and thicker as we sailed on in the afternoon.  The boat slowed down a little bit, however, there was a safety reason that it could not stop in mid rough seas.

First, it was the growing size of the bird flocks hinting us of land falls nearby, but the mist was thick.

Then I nearly missed it.

So much for that.  At the stage, I was more concerned about the weather.

On the one hand, we were ahead of the schedule by a few hours, the SW wind and the calm sea had been helping us up to now.  However, messages from other boats in the area, weather was quite bad at where we were originally heading, northern South Georgia.

Wind and drizzles will be the order for the days ahead, putting at risk the planned landing at Peggotty Bluff at King Haakon Bay tomorrow.  Christian and the Captain will have some work to do, during the night, for the ensuing days. Their objective would be to maximize our chances of landing on shore over the next few days.

So we went to bed, not quite sure what tomorrow will bring.....

But not before, we were given a talk on the history of South Georgia. Its long history in fur sealing, whaling and also the remarkable survival story of Sir Ernst Shackleton ( DVD show) and his team in a failed attempt to cross the Continent of Antarctica in 1914/15, from the Weddell Sea to the Ross Sea via the South Pole.

Another development of the day, was, one of our fellow passengers, Sandi was having a problem with her SLR camera...and she was asking if anyone can help fixing it....it would be a real shame for any keen photographer to have a camera problem at this stage.

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