Gallery : Photo Album (Through Scotia Sea to South Georgia )
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.
Index: Index - 2017 Chile Antarctica & Brazil Adventure
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