Tuesday 16 December 2003
Bird Island and South Georgia
Last week we stopped off at Bird Island and King Edward Point to resupply
the bases and exchange a few passengers. Once again I've been lucky enough
to get ashore and visit these magnificent islands.
Bird Island is a small island just 5km long which lies off the west coast
of South Georgia. It is literally teeming with life (there's one bird or
seal for every 1.5 square metre of land) and has been designated as a site
of special scientific interest. As such it's off limits to tourists so it
was quite a privilege to be able to take a look around.
The jetty is too small for the ship to dock so we took small inflatable
boats into the bay by the base. The surrounding sea was filled with seals
which breaking the surface for air and following the boat playfully (seal
soup as someone described it). As we approached the base we saw that the
whole area surrounding the base was packed full of seals. I mean they were
everywhere. In the water, on the jetty, around the base the whole place was
just rammed with seals.
In order to get to the base we had to walk right through the middle of
them. It was like being stuck in a cage with several hundred angry
dobermans. The fur seals are very territorial during breeding season and
surprisingly quick on land. We were all given a broom handle to fight them
off with!
Once we'd negotiated our way to the base we got a tour of the island by
Isaac, one of the new winterers. We trekked up to the top of the island to
the albatross nesting area where about 1,000 albatross return each year.
Some of these birds are 60 years old with wingspans of up to 3 metres! Once
again we were amazed by how tame these creatures were - you could walk
right up to them without bothering them and Isaac even took a chick out
from under one bird without any complaints. On the other side of the island
was Big Mac, a huge Macoroni Penguin colony that stretched for half a mile
along the coast.
South Georgia was quieter and less smelly but still an incredible place.
It's much bigger than Bird Island although we only got to see a tiny
fraction of it. We took a look an old Whaling Station called Grytviken and
visited off at Ernest Shackleton's grave. We also did some walks across the
spectacular scenery, and saw some more wildlife (elephant seals and king
penguins).
Posted by simon at 4:30 PM