New South Georgia and Falkland Islands Article Available - 2018

Want to read about the details of our visit to South Georgia and the Falklands? International Travel News just published my travel article and several photographs from this trip. You can read the piece from this link or from the “Articles” tab at the top of this page.

South Georgia - 2017

Its hard to sum up our visual experience in South Georgia. The alternating views of sandy, lush, rocky and frozen mountainous landscapes, observing a colony of several hundred thousand penguins and watching different whale and seal species are hard to adequately describe. The South Georgia areas we visited are isolated from human occupants and only reachable by boat or, in some locations, small plane.

Such expeditions are the result of a well-planned strategy developed between the ship captain, the expedition leader and the expedition staff. Our expedition leader, Anja Erdmann had forewarned us that windy South Georgia weather and high sea swells could easily reduce the number of South Georgia outings she envisioned by half. However, by carefully mapping out a journey that moved us up and down the eastern South Georgia coastline, we were able to take advantage of sheltered harbors and coves. Through this approach, we were able to make twelve excursions during our South Georgia visit.

Where exactly did we stop in South Georgia? Almost all of our excursion activities were focused on visiting areas conducive to zodiac landings. Depending on the particular site, these shoreline landings could allow us to hike, view historic whaling and sealing areas or observe wildlife from intimate viewing locations. If we were lucky, one landing area allowed us to do all three. The other two excursions were focused on either a ship or zodiac cruise through a fjord to view mountains with cragged peaks, glaciers, ice caves, birds and sea mammals from a floating perspective. Below is a list of locations, along with abbreviated descriptions of excursion highlight.

Godthul, Zodiac Landing: At this stop, we hiked through hills lined with tussock grass to view Gentoo penguin colony and nesting albatross. Godthul was a former small base for South Georgia whalers and sealers.

Ocean Harbour, Zodiac Landing: We were able to walk amidst a former whaling station. The station was operational between 1909 and 1920. We also observed birds and seals, including a newly born fur seal calf. The wreck of the iron hulled three masted Bayard lies in shallow waters at Ocean Harbour. This ship was built in 1864 and became loose from its mooring during a gale in 1911. At that time, the Bayard was used as a coaling ship.

Gold Harbour, Zodiac Landing: This site provided us with views of many elephant and fur seals

St Andrews Bay, Zodiac Landing: This area hosts a colony of over 200,000 breeding pairs of King Penguins, perhaps the largest colony in South Georgia.

Fortuna Bay, Zodiac Landing: Shackleton’s small party made its final hike from Fortuna Bay to the Stromness Bay whaling station. Guests could take recreate this historic hike that included a slide down an ice flow towards Stromness Bay.

Stromness Bay, Zodiac Landing: Keeping 200 meters from the former whaling station due to asbestos and metal hazards, we viewed the work buildings, wharfs and housing areas of the whaling station. Once again there were many fur seals and elephant seals along the shoreline.

Cooper’s Bay, Zodiac Landing: Hiking up a steep hill, we were able to view a small Macaroni penguin colony

Drygalski Fjord, Ship Cruise: Aboard the Sea Spirit, we entered this seven-mile fjord to the Risting glacier. The fjord, lined by sharp pointed and snow capped mountains and glaciers reminded us of Antarctica.

Larsen Harbour, Drygalski Fjord, Zodiac Cruise: Stopping about 2.5 miles from the mouth of the fjord, we loaded into zodiacs and traveled through the 2.6 mile inlet of volcanic rocks and ice sheets. Weddell seals and South Georgia Pipets were observed from the zodiacs.

Grytviken, Zodiac Landing: This settlement was founded as a whaling station in 1904 by Carl Anton Larsen. Whaling operations ceased in 1964. We visited graveyard where Shackleton and other early South Georgia pioneers are buried. We also walked to Shackleton Memorial, received guided tour of former whaling station and visited the South Georgia museum.

Prion Island, Zodiac Landing: We had 6:30am outing at this special protected area to view the nesting area of wandering albatross. A boardwalk and viewing platforms were constructed by the South Georgia government to prevent visitors from damaging nesting areas. The number of visitors using the walkways was limited to 50 at any time.

Salisbury Plain, Zodiac Landing: This was our final South Georgia excursion on this coastal plain in the Bay of Isles. Known for hosting about 30,000 breeding pairs of King Penguins, elephant and fur seals were abundant on the beach

How much wildlife did we observe during this trip? The answer is too many to list for this blog. That said, below is just a sample of the most common birds and sea mammals we saw on this trip.

• Antarctic Tern
• Antarctic Fur Seals
• Black Browed, Grey Headed and Wandering Albatross
• Cape, Northern, Southern Giant Petrels
• Gentoo, King, Macaroni Magellanic and Rockhopper Penguins
• Kelp Gull
• South Georgia Cormorant
• Pale-Faced Sheatbill
• Sub-Antarctic Skua
• South Georgia Pipit
• Southern Elephant Seals
• Southern Right Whales
• Weddell Seals
• White Chinned and Wilson’s Storm Petrels

For those not familiar with Southern Elephant Seals, they are huge. The bull may weigh 5,000-9,000 pounds and have a length of 14 to 19 feet. The females may weigh up to 2,000 pounds and have a length of 8.5 to 10 feet. A large bull may have a 'harem' of several dozen females.  Despite their large size, the Southern Elephant Seals can move with moderate speed and we always gave them wide berth when walking along the beach.

We also used caution when walking among Antarctic Fur Seals. We were warned by expedition staff that Fur Seals will bite if they are provoked or perceive being threatened. These bites are prone to infection and require a strong antibiotic regimen. Everyone paid close attention to the Fur Seals and avoided any confrontations.

I have about 2,200 photos from this trip. I'm still in the process of reviewing the shots and weeding out those that need to be deleted. Below are just a few to share what visitors can see in South Georgia.

The slippery rocks on the bottom of this
river and fast current made the crossing more challenging than it might look!

Sea Conditions on This Trip

 We thought the two-day crossing between the Falklands and South Georgia would be milder than Drake Passage conditions but perhaps we were a little too optimistic. According to some expedition staff, the crossing between the Falklands and South Georgia can test one's capability to withstand Mal de Mer - otherwise known as sea sickness. We soon learned that the Southern Atlantic Ocean, between the Falklands and South Georgia, can be unpredictable.

The initial outbound trip had relatively mild sea swells as we left Puerto Madryn towards South Georgia via the Falklands. However, our return crossing from South Georgia to the Falklands experienced two days of 9 foot to 18 foot sea swells and high winds. Port holes were closed during this time and many passengers took sea sickness medication. Sleeping at night was a challenge as we rolled back and forth in our beds and, at times, felt like we were on a roller coaster. Passengers were cautioned to be careful walking in the halls and stairways and avoid walking on the exterior decks during this time. Needless to say, it was difficult to stand while taking a shower and several passengers missed a meal or two.

What did we do to avoid sea sickness? On a cruise a few years ago, we tried using the scopolamine patch for sea sickness but didn't like the 'dry mouth' side effect. In addition, I had some problems with scopolamine withdrawal symptoms after removing the patch. We've had better success with taking meclizine, an over the counter anti-histamine, to keep sea sickness at bay. However, you do need to take meclizine a few hours before the seas get too rough.

Life On Board an Expedition Ship - 2017

We've traveled on two different small expedition ships in the polar regions. By small, I'm referring to a ship that is not much more than 300 feet in length and carries about 100 to 120 guests. Readers might be curious as to what its like to travel in this small of a ship. While definitely not a mega-cruise ship, we've found the public room and private cabins comfortable and, can sometimes, border on luxury level accommodations. Here's some information about the MV Sea Spirit.

The Sea Spirit has six deck levels. Guest cabins are located on decks two through six. The public rooms include a dining room, presentation room, small library, club room, small gym, outside deck with hot tub and walkways around many of the decks. In addition, an open policy permits visitors to enter the bridge area, except during docking maneuvers or dangerous sea conditions.. At the rear of the second floor "Marina" deck is an area that is used to load and unload passengers in the rubber zodiacs.

Photo courtesy of Poseidon Expeditions

The Sea Spirit cabins are comfortable, well appointed and range from 200 to over 300 square feet. Most of the cabins have either port hole windows or rectangular windows with outside views. We found our deck five cabin, with sliding glass doors and a balcony, to be spacious. We didn't use the balcony much as the strong winds and/or sea swells made this a cold endeavor. In hind sight, a lower-deck cabin would have likely been subject to a little less sea swell movement. During a period of 18 foot sea swells, we rolled back and forth in our beds and, at times, felt the ups and downs normally associated with roller coasters.

You don't hear your neighbor as the cabins are pretty well insulated. During rough seas, however, passengers in cabins located near the bow felt noticeable bow movement and could hear slapping noises as the ship plowed through high swells. The Sea Spirit does have two stabilizers that work as fins to minimize excessive rolling.

Unlike a number of other small polar expedition ships, the Sea Spirit has an elevator. The elevator can be particularly helpful for those with mobility issues. Even when the ship was rocking and rolling, the elevator was operational - though we tended to avoid using the elevator during such conditions.

Hearty meals were served in the dining room. Buffet selections were served at breakfast and lunch. At dinner, starters, main dishes and desserts were selected from a daily changing menu. Mealtimes followed a schedule, however, excursions took priority and mealtimes were adjusted as needed. Teatime was observed at 4pm, with scones, finger sandwiches and pastries. A couple of times, teatime was augmented with ice cream sundaes and crepe suzettes. A never-empty cookie jar was enjoyed by all as well as the full bar service and 24-hour coffee and tea service.

The cabin stewards, dining staff and reception staff were always attentive. With a broad selection of menu items, it was easy to forget that we had left the coast of Argentina many days ago.  The dining staff recognized special celebrations, such as anniversaries and birthdays, with cakes brought to the guest’s dinner table.

We tended to hand wash most of our clothes. At times, damp clothes on hangers were hung wherever a spot could be found in our cabin. We also brought along a travel clothes line which helped. A couple of hints on reducing clothes drying time: use a hair dryer to blow into wet socks and roll newly washed clothes in a dry towel before hanging. A laundry service was available from the Sea Spirit and we used this service for hard to wash and dry items, such as jeans.

With most polar expeditions, there are several at-sea days as you transit from one area to another. Poseidon Expeditions offered many talks during this time, including topics on birdlife, geology, sea mammals, history and photography. We particularly enjoyed expedition staff sharing their previous work experiences over-wintering in the polar areas.  Some guests used this time to head onto the decks to catch glimpses of whales, seals, dolphins and birds. The only mandatory meetings were safety discussions, boot and jacket fitting and selection and pre-excursion vacuuming of our expedition clothes and dry bags to remove any stray plant material.

When selecting a polar expedition, you might also consider the ship's ice class rating. The ships with a higher rating may be able to explore areas known for thicker sea ice. The Sea Spirit is rated 1D, which translates into safe travel through 3-5 inches of sea ice. On our previous polar trips, the Sea Adventurer (recently renamed Ocean Adventurer) was rated for travel through 15-20 inches of sea ice.