Blogs from South Georgia, South Georgia, South America - page 2

South Georgia has several abandonned whaling stations along the eastern coastline. All of them (except Grytviken) are closed to visitors because of airborne asbestos and the high likelihood that they'll collapse, and as it is generally windy, there's a good chance of a flying piece of debris whacking you. They are in spectacular settings! Surrounded by formidable mountains and huge glaciers, these stations are now relics of the brutal whaling industries of yesteryear and are havens for the abundant wildlife. We explored a beach and valley near Stromness and had countless close encounters with penguins and seals. The fur seals at Stromness were quite protective of their resting areas and we all got charged at and growled at multiple times. It was great fun! On Christmas evening we arrived at King Edward Point (KEP), the administrative ... read more

South Georgia. I will be the first to admit that I had no idea what to expect of the place, and knew next to nothing about it. This was rectified pretty quickly thanks to some talks on the place and the sheer excitement that all of the staff felt for the place – and you know it’s a pretty great sign when even the staff can’t wait to get there. South Georgia was first used for sealing and then whaling. It is quite staggering how many whales were killed there, largely for oil – in the 1929 to 1930 whaling season alone, 30,000 blue whales were killed. Thankfully all of this has now stopped and all native wildlife is protected. We saw some of the old whaling stations, notably Grytviken, that are now falling into disrepair. ... read more

After 36hrs of bobbing around looking at land (well ok - mostly low cloud with the occasional glimpse of land) we have finally managed to set foot on South Georgia. The force 12 storm has died down but there are still strong swells (apparently they takes several hours to subside after a storm) so most of the beaches have big waves rolling in and crashing on them Luckily, there is one tiny sheltered spot where the swells are smaller and we manage to land. Our destination is the King Penguin colony at Salisbury Plain - its only a mile away but it takes an age to get there as the entire route is full of wildlife that seems to want to play. On the landing beach the Antarctic fur seal pups come charging right up to ... read more

Drygalksi Fjord... read more

Cooper Bay... read more