South Georgia day two

November 1st: day two in South Georgia

Overnight we moved south down the eastern coast of South Georgia to Godthul (God’s cove) a beautiful inlet surrounded by steep mountains. We opted to sleep in this morning instead of doing our usual 6:00am wildlife watching trip to the bridge.  After breakfast, we took zodiacs to the beach, skirting the fur and elephant seals sunbathing. Yes, it was another calm and sunny day; so sunny that sunscreen was definitely needed.  We hiked up to a plateau to see a gentoo penguin colony. Compared to the massive colony of king penguins we saw yesterday, this one was quite small, just a few hundred.  After we returned to the ship, we were able to go kayaking around the inlet, looking at small icebergs, and peering into the depths of the kelp forest near the shore.  The kayaks are an inflatable type, which means they are very susceptible to wind and current.  The fact that we were able to go out in them was a testament to how calm the water and winds were.  Being able to kayak on one of these trips is a rare event.

During lunch the ship moved to Grytviken, a former sealing and whaling community and the place that Ernest Shackleton visited on his ill-fated Antarctica expedition in 1914-16.  It is almost unbelievable that a place of such beauty could have been used for such a grisly purpose... and now despite the rusting ships and factory ruins, the area is returning to beauty and native animals and plants. There were seals on the beaches, birds in the air and 2 humpbacks in the bay itself. We visited the museum, which had an amazing amount of information in a small space. It is run by a non-profit that has, among other things, successfully eradicated rats from the entire island, which in turn has enabled the birds to recover.  Two of the endemic species, the South Georgia pipit and the yellow-billed pintail duck, have made an incredible comeback.  

We are really enjoying the staff on the ship, particularly two naturalists from Argentina. One of them introduced tonight’s dinner, a traditional Argentine Asado with lots of different grilled meats. He was so funny when introducing tonight meal, which was a buffet instead of the usual served dinner, saying that you should not waste plate or stomach space on vegetables, save all the space for these traditional meats.  The food, breakfast, lunch, dinner, and desserts, on the trip has been marvelous.  It has been a challenge to match our intake with our exercise level — currently food is up three games to one.