St. Andrews Island Photos:
Our day began with a 5:00 a.m. wake up call, for the Red group, and 5:45 departure in the zodiacs. It was a gorgeous sunrise, and its remnants were still visible on the snowy mountain ranges as we climbed aboard our rubber flotilla. After we were whisked to the beach, we picked our way through more King Penguins, fur seals, and elephant seals to the cemetery where Sir Ernest Shackleton is buried. He is responsible for much exploration, nearly reaching the South Pole in 1909. Jerry just fished reading the book “Endurance,” which details a trek he made with over 20 men in 1914-15. The loss of Shackleton’s ship produced the greatest trial of survival in Antarctic history. This is a truly exciting read…and Jerry highly recommends it to anybody with a speck of adventure in his soul. We had a mini lecture and a hot chocolate toast to Sir Shackelton at his headstone.
Grytviken was refurbished in 1990 which meant they cleaned out the old whaling leftovers such as asbestos, broken parts, and discarded junk left lying around. Whaling stopped here in the 1960s. They also repaired a lovely church built in 1913. Jerry and went inside and up the little staircase and I rang the bell 5 times, once for each of our grandchildren. I understand there was a photo of both of us on one of the other two sites the ship recommends for family and friends at the bell. When we looked today, we couldn’t find it, but our bandwidth continues to be very minimal. As a refresher, those websites are: www.abercrombiekent.com/travel_logs and http://www.swanhellenic.com/antarcticlog
We had our first (and perhaps only we are told) shore side Antarctic shopping opportunity at a wonderful little whaling museum. We purchased some cards, shirts, and books there. It was manned by three researchers from a nearby Research Center.
That afternoon, we once again dressed in layers (fewer this time) and boarded the zodiacs for an unforgettable trip to St. Andrews Bay. Susana, our expedition leader, knows her stuff! She is an amazing Brazilian woman (married to the excellent photographic coach onboard). When the afternoon excursion was cancelled for the Green group yesterday (with all the King Penguins), Susana got to work. She is in constant contact with all the other explorer ships and stations in this area. She was, therefore, able to schedule a surprise visit to another King Penguin rookery. The one at St. Andrews Bay is the largest in the world, and we were blessed with a visit today. According to Susana, there are over 1 million King Penguins there. We cannot adequately describe what we saw: King Penguins as far as the eye can see, with large numbers of fur seals, elephant seals, and a herd of over 25 reindeer (introduced by explorers, not native to this part of the world). There were all sizes and ages of Kings, from eggs to 30 year-olds. In one of Jerry’s photos, you can see one egg peeking out from the base of its parent’s skirt. Both parents take turns holding the egg and keeping it warm with their skirt, then protecting the chick there after it is hatched until it matures enough to handle the weather without the parent’s protection. Then the fuzzy brown chick grows and grows, sheds the brown feathers and finally shows the black and white with yellow/orange ear patches and neck area.
We saw all stages up and down the beach and hillside. What an expedition! We were told to sit down and perhaps a penguin would come to visit. Jerry was snapping pictures everywhere, so Jan decided to squat in the guano. Almost immediately, a couple (they mate for life) approached her, seemed to sniff her out, and then tilted their heads as if in conversation with her. Marvelous!
Our time at St. Andrews Bay wasn’t enough. Soon, we were back in the zodiac and headed back to the Minerva. The waves were high, and re-boarding our ship proved a challenge. But, we returned in awe of the sights that we had just seen.
1 comment:
Stunning photos. I look at these every few months. Awesome blog.
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