Please note, not all of these pictures were taken by me. There were a lot of really excellent photographers on the trip, and some of them very kindly shared their best photos. Where possible I have attributed the picture taker, if it wasn’t me or Maaike.

I should say, that, before the trip Val said “Any day you can get off the ship is a good day”. We were able to get off the ship every day, and land at most places we wanted to (everything except Elephant Island). This is unusual, so, if you do take a cruise, don’t come crying to me if you get off the boat a lot less than we did ;). Also, I’ve probably messed up the ordering of at least a few of these pictures… still, most of them are attributed to the correct place.

Anyway, onwards, the second day we started at Stromness. This is another whaling station and also the place where Shackleton arrived after having crossed the seas from Elephant Island, and then crossing South Georgia itself (never been done before, the crossing only repeated a handful of times).

One can only imagine the relief it must have been for Shackleton and co to have heard the whaling bell and descended down the waterfall to the safety of the whaling station.

It was also weird, to then, after our few hours on shore (and then a cruise around in a zodiac) to go back on board for yet another delicious buffet lunch. The juxtaposition of the luxury we were in to the harsh harsh times those explorers were in.. couldn’t have been more polar ;)

While lunch was being had, the boat was moved around to St. Andrews, Largest King Penguin colony on South Georgia, Antarctic fur seals and the largest beach used by southern elephant seals on South Georgia. It’s quite a site, 200,000 penguins all on a beach.

The Kings were moulting, from their juvenile state to adult, and looked in quite the state of disrepair, like they were half dressed. They’re not waterproof while moulting either, so can’t get food, it’s not a very happy time for a penguin.

Please note, not all of these pictures were taken by me. There were a lot of really excellent photographers on the trip, and some of them very kindly shared their best photos. Where possible I have attributed the picture taker, if it wasn’t me or Maaike.

2 days cruising to South Georgia. 2 days of very calm waters – this was to be a hallmark of our trip – practically flat calm (relatively speaking) everywhere we went.

We passed by Shag Rocks on the way, an isolated set of six prominent, jagged peaked islands which are approximately 150 million years old. They’re home to, thousands of blue- eyed shags along with various other sea bird species. On some trips they don’t even bother as the visibility etc. just isn’t good enough.

Then onwards to South Georgia. Along the way our days were filled with lectures, and a mandatory briefing on cleaning & sterilising our gear. You have to ensure (as far as possible) that all contaminants are removed before arrival on shore. This also means between sites even on the same island on the same day. Them’s the rules. We also took on an observer from the South Georgia Government (Simon – great guy) who was observing the practices on board.

First stop – Grytviken. It lies within King Edward Cove, a sheltered harbour tucked along the western shore of Cumberland East Bay. Originally established as a whaling station in 1904, Grytviken is currently home to South Georgia’s Government Officers, along with British Antarctic Survey (BAS) personnel who manage the museum, gift shop & post office. It’s also where Ernest Shackleton is buried. One of the staff members was Jonathan Shackleton, a cousin of Ernest Shackletons.. he gave lots of talks and family history along the way, including words by the grave. If you haven’t read any histories of the Shackleton trip, I suggest picking one up on The Endurance trip, heck of a story.

Anyway, some pictures.

The church was quite the institution, creating a sense of community. There was a library there, and most meetings / performances etc. would all be held there.

There was also an excellent little museum (and staff who gave a run down on the workings of the whaling station). The boat here is a replica of the one Tom Creen used to sail Shackleton & Co across the seas from Elephant Island to South Georgia. Also a good place to send postcards.

The scale of the slaughter in these places was immense. Rivers of blood, the smell must have been insane. Want to know what one of the biggest selling items in the on-site shop was?! …. cologne. Not because the men wanted to smell nice for eachother, but because alcohol was banned and they could get a little bit out of the cologne. Good times.

In the afternoon we cruised around to Godthul. Godthul is situated 9km east of Cumberland Bay on the eastern shores of Barff Peninsula. There was a hiking option, which Maaike and I joined, so had a very nice hike across South Georgia to Godthul.

We were encouraged to walk single file where possible, I think to minimise the impact on the moss (grows very very slowly). I thought you’d be better off spreading out rather than really killing one area, but anyway. You can still see the tracks that the reindeer (all exterminated now) made, and those were from years ago. In fact, South Georgia is a pest-eradication exemplar. They’ve nuked the reindeer, and now have (using NZ heli pilots) dropped rat bait everywhere and they think that they have killed off those too.. time will tell.

Anyway, great intro to South Georgia..

Please note, not all of these pictures were taken by me. There were a lot of really excellent photographers on the trip, and some of them very kindly shared their best photos. Where possible I have attributed the picture taker, if it wasn’t me or Maaike.

First stop was the Falklands, starting with West Point and Saunders Islands.  The highlights of which were the Black Browed Albatross and magellanic penguins respectively. I’m not sure if it was a designed move or not, but, at most landings there were different options (long walk, short walk, cruising around in a zodiac etc.).  Anyway, at our first landing we had the long walk (chargers) option, and quite a lot of people signed up for it.  The walk was lead by Yvonne, a strong kiwi from Te Anau, and we certainly did charge up the hill… a good thing as it meant for subsequent trips people thought twice before signing up for the longer walks.

Anyway, lovely views, definitely liked the caracara on the top of the hill, and the morning tea that the people of West Point put on was amazing!

Then overnight the boat was moved to Stanley, and we spent a day wandering around, getting a feel for the place, sending some postcards, etc.  Now, that evening we were supposed to head to South Georgia, but, unfortunately the ship had to have a “stabiliser fin” fixed. I suspect it had been damaged by the iceberg from before, but I have no clue really. Now, unfortunately, while it should have been fixed while we were in Stanley, the airforce were using the airstrip, and so the specially chartered flight for the engineers couldn’t land.  That meant we had to stay a second night in Stanley.  It was interesting the passengers responses to this, quite a lot of people were upset, however, these things happen and there was bugger all the staff could have done about it. Take it up with management if you have to take it up with anyone.

Anyway, the unexpected stay gave us time to do a couple of historical tours around.  It was interesting to see the history of the 1982 invasion (liberation ?!?! ;) by Argentina. They’re still doing landmine clearing here.  Actually that was interesting – Metta, one of the expedition staff knows my cousin Thomas Nash from the cluster munitions coalition days, small world.  Here’s a picture (from later on) of Metta and I (deception island, but I leap ahead).  She gave a great lecture on the still existent landmines in the Falklands, obligations under the treaties etc.

Stanley definitely was aggressively “British” as you walked around, so many tributes to the war, to Margaret Thatcher, mini coopers and Land Rovers *eveywhere*. They did have a referendum to see whether the people wanted independence or not, and it was a 80%+ turnout, and 98% voted for it.. or something like that. Quite understandable, it must have been incredibly shocking to have a days warning of an invasion… horrible. That said, I feel Argentina has at least a small point in their claim to the Islands.  The British came along and kicked the indigenous off the island, so the whole idea of self determination seems moot if you’ve been planted there in the first place. Hey ho.

Finally, onto the boat. I’m a more nervous traveller than Maaike (well, more nervous in general).. so I was super super happy once we were on the boat and in the kind and strong arms of our wonderful friend Val, who had suggested that we should go on this particular cruise. We were shown on board and to our cabin. The cabin lady showing us to our room had a mini heart attack when she saw our room, as Val had sneaked in and decorated the room with a poster welcoming us, and writing on every accessible mirror!

Honestly, just feel so incredibly lucky to be able to able to have this experience. Steaming out of Ushuaia was a powerful moment, wondering what’ll happen next.

I never showed this picture to family before the trip, but, here’s a pic of Val standing next to a rather large hole in the boat, from 2 trips previous. From an iceberg. You really are out there ;)

Flew into Ushuaia the “southernmost city in the world” in preparation for the departure on our Antarctic cruise. We had lined up AirBnB again, and Maaike had certainly done some good research here, finding a keen hiker (and co-incidentally Dutch). Jack – he was awesome, taking us on a hike that same afternoon!. I must admit, while I had dressed fairly appropriately, I think I may need to invest in some better gloves.. mind just aren’t up to the job. There was an amount of bush-bashing, and, while the weather did clear when we got to the top (enough to take pictures).. when the wind got up on the way back down again, I was a little bit cold!! Keen to be better prepared next time.

Technically, we didn’t go walking with Jack, or at least, he went walking with his dogs and we went along too… definitely not guiding (here be regulations ;)

Still, a lovely introduction to Ushuaia, Jack really was the perfect perfect host for us. Furnishing us with lots of information, decent internet ;). The next day, or maybe the day after, he dropped us off to the start of another hike, and we did this quite nice ~5 hour hike up to Lag de los tempranos. Which sounds to me like “lake of in time” .. or something like that. My Spanish is still awful, something I want to partially correct on the cruise, given time.

Anyway, it was a lovely little walk (kml file)

The linked KML file above is not beautifully accurate, as I wanted not to use all the batteries all at once! however, it’s enough to get you started.

So yes, great walk, great host. Other than that, didn’t spend that much time in Ushuaia proper this time, when we’re back from the cruise there’ll be time for that.

Oh, did make a few timelapses with the pi – I thought this one came out ok :)