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weather in Buenos Aires!

DAY TEN (continued)

LEAVING GRYTVIKEN WHALING STATION

We are now back on board and our Argentine chef has been preparing lunch for us on
the bow. You can see the grill in the background. He was making us an asado, with lamb,
chicken, beef, morsillas and chorizo. It was great, but the wind picked up and really made
it difficult for the chef to manage the coals, and keep things from flying overboard. The
captain was good enough to let us enjoy the still waters here in the bay, so we are still at anchor.

Jamie, Shanti, and Zak in the background were all enjoying a cup of hot mulled wine that
Hanna had made for us. The air was still pretty cold, so it really hit the spot.

Hanna was a great bar tender. I wish I had read her biography before leaving the ship.
We could have had some really great discussion. What an interesting gal.

  HANNAH SORENSON \ Bartender

Hannah grew up in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. She has been doing bar and restaurant work for over 7 years. She has enjoyed meeting all the people it’s brought into her life along the way. Hannah likes to laugh, have adventures, and appreciate the great outdoors. This is her first season in Antarctica since leaving her ashram in Bhutan where she just spent eight months in total silence. When not in the Polar region she is back in the states running her kite surfing business, training horses, working on engine blocks to her dad’s Mack truck, finishing building her own plane, practicing one of the seven languages in which she is fluent. She is the favorite granddaughter of the Dalai Lama. Mostly though she is organizing charity events to hopefully one day raise enough money to buy world peace and feed all the hungry children in the world. Stop by the bar and share your story, then she’ll give you her real true life story.

Cecily and I enjoying lunch together. They all said I looked like a monk,
 I didn’t care; it was keeping my neck warm.

Not a bad backdrop for our dining pleasure. Unspoiled Nature can’t be beat.

DAY ELEVEN

GOLD HARBOUR, COOPER BAY & DRYGALSKI FJORD

All the world loves the penguin: I think it is because in many respects they are like ourselves,
and in some respects what we should like to be. Had we but half their physical courage
none could stand against us. Their little bodies are so full of the curiosity that they have
no room for fear. They like mountaineering, joy-riding on ice-flows: they even like to drill.

Apsley Cherry-Garrard

This morning wake-up call was at 6:00 and we had to suit up immediately because the Zodiacs were leaving the ship at 6:30 for Gold Harbour.

At the head of the bay we find Bertrab Glacier and more King Penguins.
There is a report of an all-white king penguin living in this colony.

This is absolutely the only time on the whole trip that my stomach felt queasy, and it was only because we had no breakfast. As soon as we got back on board I went directly to the bar and got some hot chocolate and some cookies, and then I felt perfect.

This Elephant Seal was more than a little put off by the disturbance of his nap.

The beach appeared to be volcanic ash, and it was literally covered with Elephant Seals.

The scenery couldn’t be more spectacular. The abundance of life is amazing.

There was a colony of Gentoo Penguins, besides the King Penguin colony.

This little guy was still quite young, and very curious about the humans milling about.

We hiked up to a plateau to get a better look at our surroundings.
In summer, South Georgia Island seems to be a hikers paradise.

The glaciers were magnificent. I wanted to hike across them, but that was not on our schedule.

We had climbed quite a way up the mountain. Our ship in the bay below seems to be miles away.

On our way back down, it was very steep at one point, and I thought we would be better off repelling. The rubber boots we were wearing were definitely not meant for prolonged hikes in rugged terrain.

The King Penguins seemed to be enjoying the flowing water coming from the glaciers.

Back on the beach Shane was about to get a kiss from an Elephant Seal pup,
while a Skua looked like it was about to sample his foot.

Back on board, the Zodiacs were loaded onto their stern storage . . .

. . . and the captain and first mate were there, either for a breath of
fresh air, or to observe the operation. I couldn’t tell which.

We weigh anchor and head for Cooper Bay.

The staff made the usual reconnaissance check on our landing site and discovered that there were so many Fur Seals on the beach, they decided it was unsafe to land, so instead of a landing we did a Zodiac tour of the bay, getting close enough to shore to see the nesting birds and the other wild life.

Pete is getting his picture taken with Louis. She was a great staff member.
Her specialty was playing mother hen to her group of kayakers.

    LOUISE ADIE / Kayak Master

Louise has logged thousands of miles as a kayaker, including a solo expedition of 450 miles over a six-week period. She teaches outdoor fitness to private clients throughout the year and for nearly 30 years has worked for private outfitters, ski resorts, schools, colleges and universities teaching outdoor pursuits. Louise holds a teaching certificate with British Canoe Union and a rescuer certification with Wilderness First Responder. From central New York State, US, this is her 5th season in the Antarctic with Quark.

The shoreline is very rocky where we are boating. We come upon a group
of Macaroni Penguins. They are comical to watch them hop around.

They are quite distinctive.

This Fur Seal colony had lots of pups at various stages of growth.

All of the Zodiacs were out and about, getting us close to nature.

The Giant-Petrels were just bobbing on the surface.

They look almost pre-historic in nature, with tubes on the top of their
beak, which are nostrils that allow them to excrete salt.

The ice burgs were quite beautiful. Photos, as you would suspect, do not quite do them justice.

Soon we would be heading for these tabular ice burgs on board the ship as we
make our way to the Drygalski Fjord.

But this chapter has gotten rather long, so I will save the Drygalski Fjord for Chapter 6. In the meantime, if you would like to watch a very good video (it’s a video) of what we saw here on South Georgia Island, go the this link and see a movie taken in 2006 in St. Andrews Bay. It’s actually quite good, and the accompanying music, even though it is sung in French, is quite enjoyable. It fits the action quite well. In any case it will give you a better feel of actually being there, than the still shots I’ve provided.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFWZB5n1wFM