It is a former whaling settlement. It was in existence from 1902 to 1966. It was the first of six and the last of the whaling settlements in South Georgia. Before it was a whaling settlement, it was used by individuals for seal hunting and processing. The seal hunters left their huge pots behind (think witches' cauldron) and in Swedish Grytviken means pot bay. Now it is a historical site and an area full of fur seals with some penguins too. There is a choice for a hike, so Linda and I send the men on that and take the chance to explore the old settlement.
area from a distance
old seal pots
Whaling settlement
We get out of the zodiacs to a chorus of seal sounds. The seals are literally everywhere. We have had a couple of lectures on don't approach, what to do if they approach you, and what to do if they are mad at you. Challenge is you have a ton of young seal pups who are curious so they come up to you, but some mamas are not so sure you should be close to their child.
Abandoned whalers
One of our first stops is the cemetery. This is where Ernest Shackleton was buried - our cruise is loosely based on some of his travels as in we are following his footsteps. Shackleton’s story is one of survival against great odds. Once Shackleton’s ship the Endeavor was lost, he and 4 men sailed in a boat like the one below to fetch help. They all owe their lives to Shackleton’s determination and the incredible skills of the navigator who found their way over more than 750 miles with only a sextant and overcast skies most days.
stern of Shackleton's ship underwater, his help wanted ad for crew
a true to life size model of the ship used to find help after the wreck
Shackleton’s body was returned to the island
I notice in the cemetery a grave for an Argentinian killed in the 1982 war - so guess the war was close to here too.
From there we start to walk towards the old buildings and whaling equipment. Of course, along the way there are many, many more seals and some molting penguins (poor things). There is a working post office (all of this is related to the Falklands), a gift shop and a museum that are open for us to explore. We are also lucky a brand new memorial to the whales has been installed (well phase one).
Molting Penguins look so pathetic
Whaling Settlement's church
First installment of the whaling memorial
After a bit, we have a guided tour of the old whaling station by a guide from the South Georgia Historical Trust. Amazingly, she and at least 3 others live here for 6 months. She points out the building that she shares with 3 others for the austral summer. Says she likes it because it is truly quiet and she can hike around the island. I should add the scenery here is gorgeous. Steep mountains that have snow on the top and some glaciers in the distance. It is also a warm summer day. Most of us are overdressed. Needed waterproof clothing for the zodiac ride but after that a light sweater would have been perfect.
old whaling ship
Back to the tour. She points out that what is now their museum was the "villa" where the site manager lived. It is a good sized home for any place in the early 1900s. The site manager would have hosted guests in his house. Nearby is a building where the mid managers lived and the workers lived in dormitories with 4 to 6 in a bunk room. We are standing near 2 buildings partly built into the hills. They are a vegetable storage (heavily potatoes) and a bakery. We walk aways to a large drum that is still shiny - turns out to be where the laundromat was and that is a washing machine.
building on left cold storage - heavily potatoes; building on right was the bakery
drum of washing machine - dormitory for workers in background
Then on to all the whale processing areas and learn that we see contract slabs that go past the equipment because the equipment was under cover, but the buildings had asbestos in them so they have been removed. She tells us that it was important to process the blubber off the whale as fast as possible because the quality of the blubber decreases the longer the whale is dead. Another story she told us was that the Norwegian man who started the whaling site was a very religious and did not want any of his men to drink alcohol. So the men bought perfume, shoe polish, anything the store had that had alcohol in it and drank that. Additionally, they started getting potato peels and yeast and made stills and their own alcohol. I was surprised to learn that some people stayed here throughout the winter.
old whale bone in front
Note harpoon gun
tanks for the oil
a still
there are some big birds around here, wingspan as tall as the doorway
Hike
The hike Tom and I opted for started with a steep assent followed by tons of loose rocks which kept me watching where to step. It’s an old and well used trail with a hut halfway to the next cove. We only went to the summit for the view. It was well worth it.
Jeff with whaling camp behind him
Second Stop - Fortuna Bay
This is our first chance to see a large penguin colony. To see the colony, we will walk in from the beach aways and then up a slight hill to an overlook. We have more aggressive fur seal pups along the way, but nothing bad. When we get on top of the hill, I am shocked. As Jeff said there is a river of penguins. I think of how the plains when the bison were wild in the 1800s or maybe the great migration now in Africa. I am amazed at how many there are. After standing there for a while we start to head back to the beach and to the zodiacs. Along the way we stop to admire waterfalls coming down the mountains and laugh because there are more penguins there too. I should add that there are so many penguins in the stream or other water sources because they are molting and the water helps cool them. The young ones look like they have a brown bear fur coat on.
The King Penguin chicks put on a lot of weight so they can survive without food for 2 months in winter
This area is named right whale bay because at one time there were many right whales in this bay - no longer true. Now a days it is known for its black sand beach, the large king penguin colony and for fur seals and elephant seals. Honestly, I don't think I saw a single elephant seal. I did unfortunately see a lot of dead seal carcasses seems the avian flu has hit here and affected them badly. On the much brighter side we saw a white penguin: very cool.
beach at right whale bay
It was interesting zodiac ride to the beach because the wind had picked up right as we were getting in the boat. From there we walked around the beach which quickly changed from sand to gravel and then added in some good-sized stones. The area is quite pretty with steep mountains nearby and a pretty waterfall off in the distance. The seals have made recliner chairs out of tussac grass.
Even fur seals have a recliner
all of these are whale bones - the "stools" are vertebrae
We start walking on the beach on the path they have set out for us. The seals are much quieter today and we wonder if it is the location, the weather (windy and misty) or what the difference is. We get to the spot where we have to wait our turn to walk up a hill to a look out spot. The wait is more than worth it. It is hard to comprehend just how many king penguins we are looking at. You cannot see them all at once it is such a wide expanse. They go up into the mountains in the streams some too. Then Jeff notices an all-white penguin in the group. When your expedition guide is excited, you know it really is a special sighting. After that we wander the beach area some more.
Click here for video and sound of this sea of Penguins
There is a fair amount of sea birds here too. We see a large bird (Giant Petrel) take off by running into the wind. I should add some of these birds have wingspans that are wider than I am tall. Time to go back to the ship. From our cabin Jeff and I see a group of penguins swimming and playing right outside our window. Just now as we take off for our afternoon spot I see some more.
Run, run, run
See the rainbow
Scuda steal eggs and chicks
Second Stop - Salisbury Plain
This is the second largest king penguin colony in the world we are told before we get off the ship. OMG. There are king penguins on the beach, there are penguins up in the mountains, there are penguins as far as the eye can see. Not kidding. We are able to stand right at one edge of the colony leaving a path for the penguins to come and go. It truly is mind boggling and too wide and deep of an expanse for a photo to give an accurate depiction. We see juveniles who are mottling and look they still have a fur stole on, we see others who have an egg in their pouch, we see fights, we see lots of stoic standing. It is something to see. We are told that these penguins do not migrate but spend the winter here and if it is a warm winter they will breed throughout the year.
Click here as only a video can take in over 100,000 King Penguins
Click here to watch these guys sing
Scuda (predator) flying over
There are fur seals on the beach here too. A couple are a pain, but either we now know how to handle them, or they are more chilled here than yesterday's area. While we are on the beach, it starts to rain and first inclination is to head for the zodiacs then remember wait a minute I am covered in high quality waterproof clothing. The drops are big. We all notice that the seals do not like the rain they are waking up and complaining neither do the penguins who are flapping their wings and moving their heads. The large rain drops end quickly, but now the seals are on the move. We are heading back to the zodiacs when Linda notices a white head amongst the seals. Yep, we have white seal pup. He is not albino because he had black eyes rather, he is a leucistic seal. They are also called blondes
Day 3
Coopers Bay
The weather (wind) is not cooperating, so the ship changed plans for the day, and we go to Coopers Bay and do an hour plus zodiac cruise. Good choice. When we get close to a beach the swells are big plus by boating around, we get to see several areas of the beach. We are still in South Georgia so yes we see penguins. Not as many as the last couple of days, but 2 new types.
We see macaroni and chin strap. The chin straps were mixed in with the macaroni so we did not see that many of them. Their colony is up higher in the mountains. The macaroni look a lot like the rock hopper since they both have yellow hairs sticking out of their heads. Rock hoppers have red eyes and macaronis have black. The chin straps have a little black line under their chins hence the name chin strap.
See the black line that gives him the name, chin strap Penguin
Macaroni Penguins get their name from an Italian hat, more gold strands than the rock hoppers and black eyes instead of red
Chin strap engines are much smaller than King Penguins
getting ready to enter water
We are not just by a sandy beach, much of the shoreline has small rock outcroppings. Here we find lots of seals in the water swimming, playing just plain being cute. Much to our surprise we see another white seal. Our zodiac guide says that only 1 in 1,000 seals are white - we are lucky to have seen 2 of them. It will be a good day for animal sightings. We also see elephant seals and hark they are awake so not just big smooth rocks. We have a couple of them sitting up for a minute or 2. A few minutes later our guide points out a small bird. It is the South Georgia Pipet. It is endemic to this area and it is the only song bird. Then by luck we see a second one and realize they have a nest nearby.
Our captain is taking us up a fjord for a couple of hours of cruising around lunchtime. It is quite pretty with steep sides on either side of us and several smaller glaciers. Oh and lots of little ice bergs in the area. Each side of the water is a different type of rock which is unusual. The glaciers are the part I enjoyed. We passed several on either side as we entered and exited the fjord. From a distance, the end of the fjord looked like a huge glacier sitting the width of the bay. It was a nice calm sail even if the rain and wind did pick up.
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