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Published: February 28th 2019
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Day 2, 22 February Jackson Bay - Parry Bay: In the morning we divided into 2 groups to visit the Black Eyebrow Albatross colony on a small islet and an Elephant Seal colony in Jackson Bay (alternating groups to enjoy both places). Our group visited 2 beaches to view the Elephant seals hoping we would see more mature seals compared to in the Antarctica when we only saw juvenile Elephant seals as the mature ones were out in the ocean feeding for 6-8 weeks before they come to shore to mate. The juvenile ones were going through their ‘catastrophic moulting’ stage.
On the first beach we only saw a few Elephant seals but on the second beach the other side of the fjord, there 29 seals lined up along the beach. The oldest one was probably 8-9 years old gauging by the size of his proboscis. There were some females as well.
We noticed a lot of condors flying around. Francesco said there must be something dead close by. As we were walking along the beach, we almost fell over a big Elephant seal which was dead. There was our answer.
The
fjord then suddenly became very rough – very ‘Patagonian’ in this part of the world – unpredictable and changeable. As we landed on the second beach the waves were really increasing, so much so that they were splashing into the back of the zodiac and some bags got wet including Tom’s. I grabbed his bag so the water didn’t soak through.
The other half of our group arrived on the same beach and we found out that the water was so rough where the albatross island was, it was too rough for our group to visit the area. We were secretly pleased that we had seen all the albatross nesting in South Georgia.
We then walked along the beach full of boulders, to load into the zodiac, back to the ship. We were all very cold as we had been on the beach longer than expected and the wind was coming straight down the fjord. It was wonderful to reboard the ship to have a coffee.
During the afternoon we sailed into the Parry Fjord to admire spectacular glaciers surrounded by the highest icy peaks of the Darwin Range. At the
bottom of the fjord we spotted a Leopard Seal resting on sheet ice. Our small ship sailed right around the Leopard Seal, so we had a fantastic view of him. They are more often found by themselves, and this one was no exception. Apparently, the numbers of these seals have reduced as the fishermen are killing them. The Leopard seals become dangerous as the fishermen dive for mussels in the area.
We spent some incredible time just floating around the end of the fjord which was beautiful, particularly as the sun was shining which made the ice glisten brightly.
That afternoon Francesco did a presentation on the different types of glaciers and their lifecycle. Yes, there is a cycle of warming and freezing of the earth, but the present warming stage is certainly escalating in speed and this is evident in Patagonia seen through the rapid receding of their glaciers.
Life on the Forrest ship with accommodation for 16 guests, was very comfortable. I booked a private cabin and all of us share bathrooms. All the beds are in bunk-form so space was pretty tight. However, the upper lounge was very
spacious and therefore, plenty of room to spread out. This includes room for all the flash photographers and all their equipment. Tom & I were pleased we don’t have all that gear to manage and protect from water etc. The point and shoot camera made life very easy.
That afternoon, the crew invited us to join them out the back of the ship to deshell scallops. They were so fresh. We learned how to take them out of their shell…as we were sipping our vino blanco (white wine from Chile). This was a nice touch, and very fresh. Gosh, if I could eat scallops that fresh rather than how they are served in the fish and ship shops, I would eat them!
At sunset we sailed towards our next destination. Yet again 6 dolphins lead us in the ship, enjoying the waves created by the ship. They were fascinating to watch.
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