Hello, South Georgia!

Today's landing at Grytviken was awesome!  Blue group (mine) started at Shackleton's cemetery and then moved into town for the tour.  Last night's briefing included instructions on how to respond to aggressive seals.  You make yourself large and back away.  Turning to run will often trigger pursuit, and you don't want one of these guys chasing you, especially not catching you!  Most of us were under the impression that we wouldn't need to deploy this very much.  We were wrong!  They dropped us on a beach that was teaming with fur seals and elephant seals.  The elephant seals didn't really seem to care that we were there.  The fur seals, on the other hand, were very aggressive, and they were not happy about us invading their territory! Guides and expedition staff were stationed in various places around, sometimes managing the seals, but usually redirecting our route.  

At one point, we had to wait for a couple of males to stop fighting and for one to cross back to his spot.  After the excitement and the path was cleared, we started crossing again, and the victor decided he didn't want us there, so he started to charge.  The person closest to him turned and ran.  Fortunately, there were a bunch of us in his way, so he didn't get far enough to trigger that pursuit reaction.

I thought it was cute when one fur seal decided to position himself on the only empty space for us to go past. Guil, one of the guides, headed toward him, just started telling him how there was a better place, and that Mr. Fur Seal would enjoy himself just a little further up the hill. It was effective, and he moved, letting us through.

A staff member of the BAS was giving tours of the old whaling station. I didn't get the whole tour because by the time I got past the seals, the tour was underway, so I joined it in progress. It was really quite interesting. It took two people to strip the blubber from the skin. After many years, regulators required the whole whale to be used, so products other than just the oil because popular, such as corsets from the baleen. 

 Large boats were not required for whaling. Small boats would go out, kill the whales and inject air in them so they would float. Then, they could just be pulled along in strings behind the boat. 

Grytviken is not the only whaling station on South Georgia, but it is the primary station that the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) maintains as their governmental center. It houses the graves of Earnest Shackelton and Frank Wild, his right-hand man (ironically buried on his left). Because our ship is new, it was required to stop in Grytviken before any other locations on South Georgia, so we will be retracing some of our steps. 

 The BAS removed many of the buildings on Grytviken before we knew the dangers of releasing asbestos into the air. Other stations have been left intact, and they are studying the best way to remove the asbestos from the stations. There is still oil in the ground from the whaling activities. There is no estimate of when that oil will dissipate or how/if it should be removed. 

This was also the closest post office to Antarctica we were going to encounter, so post cards went out. Since it wasn't actually Antarctica, I didn't send to everybody. Plus, I didn't want to spend all of my time in town addressing and writing post cards! 

You also know that I was a HUGE fan of the museum WHICH HAD A "PLEASE TOUCH" SECTION!!

It rained for a while on the island, so please pardon the raindrops on the camera lens!

Unlike many other cruises, you will not get left behind if you don't board on time on an Antarctic expedition ship. During lunch, there were several cabin numbers called to report to reception. A couple of those people apparently decided they didn't need to respond until after several calls were made and people started pressuring them, knowing that we would not start heading to our next destination until all passengers were accounted for.

After finally getting to Jason Harbor, my group set out for a zodiac cruise before taking the landing.  We saw the cutest baby fur seal!  And my camera decided it didn't need to display on the screen; that I would do fine just with the eye viewfinder!  But I soldiered through that horrible first-world problem. And I got a lot of good shots of kelp gulls, pintail ducks, fur seals, and elephant seals.  At the end of the zodiac, we were dropped at the beach, this time among the elephant seals.  There was a group of king penguins (I have to learn the difference between king and emperor penguins!) on the beach and one lone king in the lagoon.  The baby elephant seals with their great big eyes just steal your heart!  They were everywhere!  As well as fur seals.  Some of them pretty aggressive.  In fact, one had his very own babysitter to make sure he didn't attack any of us, though he apparently did chase off another fur seal interloper.

Just as an FYI, these Southern Elephant Seals are MUCH larger than the northern ones on the beach in California!

When we got back, I had time for a quick shower before Phil's briefing (which I watched from my cabin), then dinner, and finally, Neill saved the day by fixing my camera! All in all, another wonderful day aboard the Ocean Victory!

Tomorrow (November 11), the plan is landing and zodiac cruises at Gold Harbour and Cooper Bay.  We should see macaroni penguins!