South Georgia day one

October 31: Day 1 at South Georgia 

After spending two days at sea, we sighted land at 6:05 am (3:05 am EST) — yes, we were on the bridge of the ship when land was sighted).  It was one of the western islands of South Georgia.  South Georgia is a dramatic landscape, with mountains up to 10,000 feet rising nearly straight out of the ocean, with both snow covered and bare hillsides as well as glaciers in some of the valleys.  The ocean continued to be fairly calm, with the air temperature by afternoon of one degree Celsius and the water temperature of one half degree.  The ship sailed on the north side of the Willis archipelago, past Albatross, Prion and Trinity Islands. Trinity island in particular was coated in albatross nests. During our passage we spotted several humpback whales and lots of porpoising penguins (both gentoo and king).

The plan was to head to Right Whale Bay, but at the last moment we received permission from the South Georgia government (which manages where the various tour ships can visit) to go to Salisbury Plain.  Our trip leader was thrilled with this news; we shortly learned why.  As we turned a corner, we saw on the shore and up the hillsides what seemed to be an uncountable number of king penguins.  We were told that Salisbury Plain was the flattest area in all of South Georgia and the second largest breeding area of king penguins with an estimated 100,000 to 300,000 penguins.  

After lunch, we headed to the beach in the Zodiacs.  Once we landed, we found ourselves surrounded by thousands of king penguins. There were also fur seals and elephant seals on the beach, but they were totally out numbered by the penguins.  Many of the adult penguins spent their time entering or exiting the water in large groups. They are so comfortable in the water that when they come back to land, all you see is an incoming wave and then suddenly 20 or so penguins emerge from it! Many adults were also in the midst of molting, which makes them look both blotchy and miserable. Molting takes 2-3 weeks during which they cannot enter the water, and thus cannot eat.  The third group of penguins were the 10 month old young ones, who look like penguins wearing brown fur coats. This is their second set of feathers but are not waterproof. They will molt to waterproof feathers at about 12-13 months, at which point their parents will have abandoned them and they learn to swim and feed by imitating whatever adults are around. 

Into the southern ocean

October 30: at sea day 2

We continue to have incredibly calm seas and beautiful weather (we fear that we will, at some point, pay the price for these amazing conditions we have been having).  We have not reached South Georgia as yet, but we have crossed the Antarctic Convergence — meaning we are in the Southern Ocean.  The water temperature is now a brisk one degree Celsius at the surface.  The west winds are typically quite strong since there are no obstructions for hundreds of miles, but again reasonably calm.  

We spent a fair bit of time on the bridge again today.  We were rewarded by seeing twelve sea birds including four new ones: grey-headed albatross, light-mantled sooty albatross, Kergeulen petrel, broad-billed prion.  We also came upon three mammals, two of which caused great excitement on the ship.  The first of the two was fin whales.  These whales are the second largest mammals on earth, they can be over 80 feet long and move up to 25 mph.  They are so big that their dorsal fin does not show until the head of the whale is well into the water.  They also have two blow holes (pictured below) with a splash guard in front of the blow holes to divert water away from them.  The whales we saw were about 60 feet long (picture below).  

The other mammal that caused great excitement, perhaps, even greater excitement, was a pod of killer whales.  The naturalists believe there were eight to ten members in the pod.  Killer whales are the largest member of the dolphin family.  They are matriarchal with the “grandmother” being the leader of the pod.  The killer whales we saw were type A — meaning they are primarily mammal hunters.  Sighting killer whales on this trip is not typical.  Once the pod was sighted, the captain of our ship diverted us from our course in order to follow the pod (photo below).

The last mammal, a fur seal, did not generate as much of a stir.  In fact, it was sleeping on the surface of the water while we were scrambling about the bow of the boat watching and capturing images of the killer whales.  This little guy woke up as the ship drew close to him.  He was rather surprised to be woken by such a large object bearing down on him (picture below). 

In the Scotia Sea

October 29: at sea

We spent the full day today (and will again tomorrow) at sea moving from the Falkland Islands to South Georgia. The ocean has been very calm, which has enabled us to maintain a good speed (about15 knots) and made traversing the decks fairly easy.  We spent a fair bit of time on deck or up in the bridge, scouting for sea birds and sea mammals. We were rewarded with wonderful sightings of fifteen species of sea birds, including black-browed, wandering,and royal albatross, cape petrel, northern and southern giant petrels, slender-billed prion, sooty and great shearwater, and swimming rock hopper penguins.  We also saw hourglass dolphins.  We were not able to capture images of all the birds we saw, but we did get some good ones. 

We also heard presentations from the staff on the Falklands Conflict in 1982, the geology of this region, and other topics.  After dinner we watched a movie about Shackleton’s ill- fated but heroic journey to Antarctica and South Georgia in the early 20th century. 

Pictured below are a wandering a

Falkland Islands day two

October 28: Carcass and West Point Islands, West Falklands

Who would have predicted that the one thing we didn’t pack and would need would be — sunscreen! We had another mild and sunny day today in the Falkland Islands. 

This morning we went on a several mile hike across meadows on Carcass Island (a private island named for a ship that ran aground there, rather than for dead animals, as there’s not a lot of non-bird wildlife). After being greeted by gentoo penguins on their way back to the ocean, we walked across a portion of the island. We saw a number of new birds, some of which are endemics, and some of them quite sneaky in that they hide within the tussock grass. We also learned that Magellanic penguins have very dense feathers and nest in burrows in the ground so as to cool off in the (relative) heat of the day. Much of the natural habitat of the island was destroyed with years of grazing by sheep.  The owners of the island replanted the native tussock grass on portions of the island to try to re-establish more of the natural environment. It was fascinating to see how barren the parts of the island open to the sheep (in particular) were, compared to the grasslands and bird life of the areas fenced off from them.  We particularly liked seeing the two kinds (each) of wrens and finches today, and the flocks of baby geese toddling after their parents. 

This afternoon we moved to West Point Island, and again saw a large mixed rookery of black-browed albatross and rock hopper penguins, this time in a very mucky and muddy (and smelly and noisy) environment. Yesterday’s rookery was stony and exposed, today’s was quite a switch. It was in the midst of tall tussock grass, and as you tried to slog your way towards the birds you could see, you often stumbled onto a nesting pair, or two or sometimes three pairs, of either penguins or albatross hidden in the grass. This sent you to an alternate path, often into deeper muck, in order to avoid them.  It was fascinating to find them in these little muddy hollows, when most chose to be out in the massive rookery.  We spent quite a while just watching the behaviors of the birds, including watching a penguin “bathe” in a trickle of water from a small stream in the rookery, or hopping down the steep rocks amidst the crowds, or the albatross just gliding around the rookery.

Tonight we begin two days at sea, moving towards South Georgia, 870 nautical miles away, which will give our sun-and-windburned faces a chance to recover. Pictures tonight include rock hoppers in the tussock grass, a grass wren and a white-bridled Finch (the latter two endemic species). 

New Island, West Falklands

October 27: New Island, West Falklands.

       What a day. We made a beach landing in the inflatable Zodiacs near the Barnard museum on New Island, one of the smaller islands in the West Falklands. New Island was given, in its entirely, to a nature conservancy.  There are about six houses for researchers and the rest is wild. The island is 8 miles long and about a mile wide in most places. A short morning walk took us to a series of cliffs and valleys where Southern Rock Hopper Penguins, Imperial Shags (cormorants) and Black-Browed Albatrosses all nest.. thousands of them. Rock hoppers look like small belligerent rock musicians with red eyes and yellow eyebrows. Their name actually comes from how they walk — less by waddling as other penguins do, and more by hopping especially on rocky terrain. There were birds everywhere, and while some colonies featured a particular species, other spots were completely mixed. We also saw a major predator of young penguin chicks and penguin eggs, the brown skua. The rock Hopper penguins nest near the albatrosses, who can scare off the skuas, so mixed nesting is advantageous for the penguins. 

        The albatrosses have already mated and are sitting eggs on columnar nests made of guano and grass, while the rock hoppers and shags are still courting and building their rather simple grass-lined nests. We also saw a single pair of Macaroni Penguins, somewhat larger and with much larger yellow face feathers. We also saw some new meadow birds. That was just the morning!  

When we got back to the ship we learned that there were a lot of Kevin’s on the ship.  Everyone heard, “Kevin 308 and Kevin 318, please check back in.”, over the loud speaker.  Whenever anyone leaves the ship they need to sign out and sign back in when they return.  These Kevin’s did not check back in.  People were amazed at the number of Kevin’s on the ship, but of course there are not that many, the person making the announcement meant cabin 308 — her accent gave everyone a good laugh.

        After lunch we took a 5 mile walk, covering much of the length of the island. Here and there we saw Magellanic Penguins, nearly always alone and standing upright and still like sentries. Since these penguins nest in holes in the ground, it is possible the ones we saw were sentries and we just didn't see the others. Near the end of the hike we came to large colonies of Gentoo Penguins, including a whole parade of them coming up from the beach. We also saw Striated Caracaras as well as Skuas, scouting out the penguin colony for possible prey. Once we were penguined out for the day, we headed back to a beach to take a Zodiac back to the ship. On the Zodiac trip back to the ship, we were entertained by Peale's Dolphins swimming and  jumping all around. 

      So, we saw four species of penguins, dolphins, and eight other new birds. Oh, and it was 50 degrees and sunny with (relatively) mild winds... Not normal weather here at all for the Falkland Islands...we have been warned not to get used to these conditions.

A day at sea

October 26: at sea to the Falkland Islands

Today was spent en route to the Falkland Islands.  Although we were told the voyage was considered fairly smooth, moving about the ship was an exercise in balance and we gained a deeper (and a more personal) insight into the image authors paint of how sailors walk.  A fair number of our group members are wearing anti-motion sickness patches, and quite a few others who don’t have the patches decided that bed was the place to be today. We are grateful that we have steady tummies, and we appreciate the courage of people who know they will be ill but still come on these trips through their love of nature.  We also discovered that working out on exercise equipment is an interesting experience when the machine is moving about.  Watching water slosh around the shower floor was also fascinating.

We spent a fair bit of time on the bridge staring out into the ocean watching for sea birds and ocean-based mammals.  Our endeavors paid off in that we got to see several species of albatross, several Peale’s dolphins (picture attached taken through a window so it’s not great, but they are there), two fin whales and one humpback whale, and some smaller birds. One group of smaller sea birds are called petrels, after St. Peter, because they appear to walk on the surface of the ocean. Between the strength of the wind, the roughness of the seas, and the flight patterns of the sea birds, taking photos was a bit of a challenge to say the least.

To Terra del Fuego

This morning we flew to Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world, on the island of Terra del Fuego at the tip of Argentina and along the Beagle Channel. The flight was uneventful until we neared our destination and the spectacular snow covered Patagonian Andes appeared outside the windows. The Andes run north-south, separating Argentina from Chile, but turn and run easterly at the southern tip of South America.

In this remote and beautiful location, the city of Ushuaia has grown to a population of 70,000 people, many of whom are employed in electronics assembly. The mountains at the end of the Andes range are only about 5000 feet high but because the surrounding land is at sea level, you see the full mountain, which is very dramatic. We drove to a national park set up to protect the southern Andean forest. There are no conifers here, just 5 species of southern beech trees that are only found here, Chile, New Zealand and Australia. There are essentially no mammalian predators and almost no insects because of the climate and the isolation. At Bahia La Pataia, we boarded a large catamaran and sailed back to Ushuaia. Bahia La Pataia is also the end of the pan-American highway, 17,848 km from its starting point in Alaska, and 3000 km from Buenos Aires. As we sailed through the Beagle Channel we were able to see a group of South American sea lions, our first species of albatross, and a number of land and aquatic birds. It is early spring here, so some bird species are beginning to have their breeding plumage. 

Back at the pier in Ushuaia, we boarded our ship, and after a mandatory safety briefing and practice drill, set out for the first leg of our journey. The Falkland Islands are 37 hours, or 355 nautical miles, away; so we will be spending the next day traveling. We do expect to see some more sea birds as we go and, perhaps some large ocean-based mammals.

Buenos Aires

After an overnight flight from Miami we landed in Buenos Aires at  6:15am local time. We were shocked by the immigration process-- no lines, done in under 10 minutes.  After meeting some of our tour members and settling into the hotel, we went on a guided walk in the neighborhood around the hotel. We learned some interesting things.  Buenos Aires is very European in architecture and in culture.  Many of the public buildings, and even the layout of the formal parts of the city look very Parisian, but contain an eclectic mix of modern and many eras of French styles. There are squares or plazas every 4-5 blocks.  Even the Argentinian language isn't exactly Spanish but a mix of Castilian with lots of Italian and Portuguese words and much waving of the hands.  Buenos Aires was not originally a spanish colony but only a port, and gained its independence between 1810 and 1816. Our tour guide credited Napoleon's capture of the king of Spain in 1808 as creating the opportunity for the South American colonies and territories to revolt, including Buenos Aires.  The city is also very flat, the entire city is between 0 and 16 meters above sea level.  In the afternoon we took a bus and walking tour of larger parts of the city, including the pink government building famous for the Eva Peron balcony.  The older parts of the city, particularly near the original port on the LaPlata river (called La Boca or "the head") suffered from flooding whenever the winds blew in from Antarctica.  La Boca is now a very colorful area with brightly painted corrugated tin houses and outdoor artwork.  La Boca silted up years ago, as did the second port; they are now on the third.

And we are off again!

We are currently sitting in the Miami airport.  Part one of our trip, albeit the most dull part, our flight from NYC to Miami is complete.  The real part of  our trip to Buenos Aires, the Falkland Islands and South Georgia begins shortly.  It will be quite the weather adventure also-- predicted highs in the 70s in Buenos Aires, 50s in the Falkland Islands and 30s in South Georgia! While we hope to see seals and whales, a lot of the trip will be about flying and swimming and flightless birds. We made our own bird book to be able to identify the 6 species of albatross (did you know there are many species of albatross?), 8 species of penguins and 22 species of petrels we may see, not counting ducks and geese and hawks and... We hope to be able to send updates on our adventures, internet permitting near the end of the world, and also hoping that we will be able to take pictures like the one below!