Falkland Islands, Day 1, Saturday 8 March 2025

 The sea settled a bit overnight and we were headed for Barren Island, at the tip of East Falkland Island. After we landed, we had a brisk and very windy walk up a small rise and over to the beach where there were some Southern Sea Lions, very shy, who skittered away from us even though we were quite a distance away. There were so many birds! Steamer ducks, a tiny Prion, the Southern Giant Petrel and Wilson’s Petrel. We came across several installations of petrel nests with fluffy gray fledglings in them. Eric the naturalist cautioned us to stay a good distance away, as when they are disturbed they will projectile vomit about 9-10 feet away. Fortunately we did not witness this, but we could see some of the birds beginning to raise their wings a bit. Several times we stopped to examine skulls and ones of various birds, which the naturalists are allowed to pick up here as it is inhabited (not allowed in Antarctica and on South Georgia). A very windy walk back to the shore with some dirt and sand blowing in our faces, and we headed back to the ship on a wet zodiac ride.

Arriving Falkland Islands, Friday, 7 March 2025

 I was very tired from being up late the night before for the board meeting, so slept as late as possible before breakfast closed. We enjoyed the introduction to the Falklands by Typhanie May, an 8th-generation Islander, whose family lives and farms there. Besides being quite self-sufficient from fishing license fees and tourism, sheep are a major source of income. The second lecture was about the albatross, the “masters of the wind.” Spending most of their lives in the air, staying with their mates for a lifetime which can be up to 70 years, they are truly incredible birds. We are seeing them more now as we get closer to land, and there were a huge number of them by the A23A glacier a few days ago. In the afternoon, I had to take a nap - unusual for me - and then we read a bit.

At about 5pm, there was an interesting game up in the main gathering area, the Ice Lounge: Ruskin would ask “who here …” and the question could be anything from served in the Peace Core to spent the night in jail to been to Mongolia to been in a bar fight. As folks raised their hands, some of the answers were from the least likely folks. One question was “who has ever been in a movie” and I raised my hand as did another woman, often he’d ask for answers, she answered, and then I answered “Amadeus,” after which Michael, one of the naturalists, came over later to say how much he loved that film.

We had arranged with Carlos the maitre d’ to have the large table for 14, which had mostly been used by a Chinese group from an organization called something like Signa. Reuben Finch and I arranged the guest list and Carlos offered to issue printed invitations, which were lovely little notes on ship stationery. We had a grand time I made a toast to the group and the trip, and a good time was had by all. The folks from Australia all seem to be really fun people so far, and I sat with an American couple who had worked in the oil and gas industry and the husband was involved in car racing, so we had a nice chat about my recent interest in Formula I and the “Drive to Survive” series, I will make sure Barney gets a chance to chat with him tomorrow.

Some of the group moved upstairs to the bar but we retired to gt a good night’s sleep at last, since the ship was no longer tossing and turning. We expect to reach the Falklands in the morning.

At Sea Toward the Falkland Islands, Thursday, 6 March 2025

 The overnight in the igloo was disappointing. The stormy seas made the top deck a place of constant tossing with screaming winds, although the interior stayed warm. We got little sleep, and going to the bathroom in the dark to the wellness center was more than scary with the rain and wind and trying to hold on to something on the deck. Around 5:30am we began to pass the other large iceberg whihc had run aground near South Georgia, A23A. It was so big that it took about two hours to go by, and there were large numbers of petrels and albatross near two of the caves. We left the igloo about 7:00am, exhausted - I’m not sure why we stayed the whole night - and went to breakfast. The ship was tossing and turning and creaking, lots of folks were clearly unsettled. A morning lecture on the geology of the area was interesting, and we came back to the cabin to cleanup and I finished the Humboldt biography which was excellent. After lunch, we both crashed and slept for three hours. Late afternoon we were upstairs for Swedish pancakes (like tiny French crepes) and some talks on the birds of Antarctica and meeting up with the Aussie group. We had a delicious dinner (monkfish) and then I headed into my Fairyland board meeting, glad that the GoogleMeet worked. Past midnight headed to bed.

South Georgia Island, Day 4, 5 March 2025

 We woke up to a cloudy day, prediction was to be about 48 degrees. After breakfast, we got ready for the shorter hike at Stromness. Some of the more intrepid folks were dropped off this morning at 7:30am at Fortunately Bay for the Shakleton hike from Fortuna to Stromness, 4 miles with a 1,000 foot elevation gain and slippery loose rock, so we opted out of it. Our hike was about 2 miles through the long valley where Shakleton and his men finally reached help at the Stromness whaling station, now long-closed and slowly disintegrating. This hike was also mostly over rock but was fairly level, with a good bit of crossing meltwater streams. We ended up at a lovely waterfall, and met the hikers who had started two hours earlier, including our friends John and Reuben, who confirmed that it was indeed a rough hike. There were lots of fur seals all around us for the first 15 minutes or so. On the way back, I decided to sing to them. “Porgi amor” seemed to get some notice from them but alas these seals were not that into Mozart, though the assistant expedition leader Alex did video it, which was nice. A good lunch of salad cured gravlax and then the rain really started. It was coming down in sheets. Zodiac cruises were planned but given the heavy rain we opted out and relaxed in the cabin.

South Georgia Island, Day 3, Tuesday 4 March 2025

A beautiful morning, sunny with barely a cloud in the sky. We had been prepared for gray skies and even rain which are more normal for this area, so this has been truly fortunate. Temperature today about 58° so we only wore one layer for the zodiac trip to Gothul. We had a lovely vista of rock walls over to the shore, where we went to a fur seal “preschool” filled with pups and yearlings just playing and swimming and endlessly entertaining. We saw one pup still nursing, though our guide that was unusual for so late in the season. They played and poked, diver and rose up, sat picturesquely on the rocks, and swam quite close to the zodiac, very curious. We could see some tiny swimming creatures, and spotted briefly a jellyfish near 5e surface. A few Gentoo penguins were on a rock with a giant petrel and some fur seals, all happily co-existing. One the way back we saw a waterfall, much larger than the one yesterday, and deeply undercut rock overhang. One of the best parts was going through a whole forest of bull kelp which was undulating in the water … mesmerizing, this will be a new zoom background for sure. Watching a log burn and watching the kelp float and move are both meditative. On our return, one more bio-security check before we head to Grytviken this afternoon where the government staff will check everything that might be going onshore, Barney did the big cleanup while I updated the blog.

After a nice lunch of surprisingly good sushi, we headed to Grytviken, the former whaling site. This was built around 1904 and operated until 1964, at its peak it had about 400 people working there. A whaling site, it epitomized the factory period of whaling with explosive harpoons, mass whale deaths, and shipping out thousand maybe millions of gallons of whale oil from almost 2,000 whales they killed each season. We made the obligatory stop at Shakleton’s gravesite, and at another site a fur seal wa draped sadly over a gravestone. We walked through the remains of the giant equipment of the heyday of the place, stopped at the post office to purchase and send some postcards, and then visited the museum briefly before going on a historic walk with one of the staff. There were about 6 people who work here for the summer season. The guide took us around the site and shared some interesting information about life at Grytviken, where about 1/3 of the people were mechanics, cooks, and other professions supporting the whalers and processors who worked 12-15hour shifts. We visited the little Norwegian church and I sang Ave Maria Virgo Serena (The Joaquin), it did have beautiful acoustics. Back to the museum for about an hour, seeing a replica of Shakelton’s lifeboat in which he crossed from a elephant Island to South Georgia, and quite a nice collection of artifacts form the whaling days as well as natural history specimens. As usual, we closed down the museum and were the last to leave the area on the zodiacs. As the sky began to gray after a beautiful sunny day, we moved out into the open ocean to reposition for tomorrow’s adventures.

South Georgia Day 2, Monday, 3 March 2025

 Up early and ready to go as the second group to shore. The weather is very nice, 58 degrees so one less layer this morning. This morning’s hike was about 3km with a 150m elevation change. We head toward the Heany glacier, across mostly firm land but crossing several small streams. I was last in the group, and the guide kept looking back to check on me. I realized I do not have the stamina I used to have, and it was not easy to keep up. The faster hikers were far ahead of us. Barney mostly stayed with me, but I told him to go ahead. Another woman I brought up the rear. We made it to the glacier, entered around a quicksand area (where some folks apparently came out of their boots, what a mess), and went up onto the ice. I went about 15’ onto the ice and called it good, while Barney hiked up a bit farther. A few of us were ready to head back, and a guide took us back by a completely different route, with much more crossing of water in places that were wider and faster, so some folks were struggling with the crossings. It felt like a bit of a slog to get back to the beach and head back to the ship. We were both sweaty, as it was 20 degrees warmer than t was in Antarctica. One less layer this afternoon for sure.

After lunch, into the Zodiacs again to head to Ocean Harbor, and area with mostly fur seals and some history. As we landed on the rocky beach (all beaches here are rocky, no sand), there were many young fur seals all around us, and a few King penguins. The fur seals were all young pups or yearlings judging by their size. Some of them, usually the older ones, barked at us and stared to advance, but they quickly retreated when we use the “ack-ack” or clap. They are practicing defending their territory. I enjoyed watching them raise their heads and curl around to watch us or something else. Some were just laid out flat for a big nap, others were on the move. We hiked to a rusty equipment graveyard by an old whaling station, with huge pieces of abandoned equipment half-sunk in the marshy land. We went into a small cabin, about 15’x20’, with some reindeer antlers and a few artifacts of the former residents. It is hard to imagine living in such isolation during these nice summer months, much less during a brutal winter. Because of the warmth we put our black coats in the backpack and opened the orange parka to break the wind, eventually tying that around our waists as well. I have always overheated easily and this is quite an adjustment from the earlier weather. We hiked through some marshy grass areas, kind of like a bog, and I was very glad I brought my walking sticks to give me balance and stability, as it would have been easy to slip. Among the grasses there were a large number of fur seals … I wondered why they were so far inland, it seems odd to see them up against green grass instead of against the gray rocks. We hiked up over a ridge, along another soft path, and come to a pretty but small waterfall. One lone fur seal pup was watching us carefully, looking confused by this whole group of people focused on him, though we kept our distance of course. Returning back through more boggy areas, we stopped by a graveyard whose earliest resident was buried in about 1840, likely a sealer as the seal hunting came before the whale hunting. We headed back to the landing site, past more seals playing and prodding and poking at each other, they remind me of my brothers when they were kids. Even though the hike was not long, we are pretty tired because the marshiness of the land made walking that much harder.

We decided to try out the hot tub jacuzzi on the stern of the ship which has an infinity edge. As we were fairly early back, we could watch the zodiacs returning from the long hikes. It was incredibly windy and cold up on the 8th deck, and we had to tie our robes to an upright so they would not blow away. The water was warm and lovely, and we stayed about 15 minutes, and got a good dose of cold as we emerged and went to get our robes. Barney headed back to the room ad I went to try to sauna. They have two saunas, a tropic one with higher humidity, and a drier Nordic one. I tried both and liked the Nordic one better … someday it would be cool to have a sauna in our house. Time for showers, then Barney took a nap while I read the Alexander von Humboldt biography I brought, a fascinating story of man whose influence was truly global and far ahead of his time in the way that he looked at nature in a connected way, with the emotional effects being as important as the data. He profoundly influenced generations of scientists, writers including Thoreau, and especially Darwin.

We had a nice dinner, chatted with a couple we met the night before, he recently retired form the State  Department after many years of postings all over. He described what it was like in Kiev during the breakup of the Soviet Union, a truly tumultuous time. At the time, Ukraine has the third-largest nuclear arsenal in the world, imagine how things might be different today had they not agreed to give up the nuclear weapons in return for security guarantees from the US, Russia, the UK, and France. I think some people today imagine we gave weapons and support to Ukraine these past few years just because we were being nice, rather than recognize that we made an agreement for security which we needed to honor. Today, there is no honor among the thieves running the US government who are thinking only of their own power and wealth.

South Georgia Island, Sunday, 2 March 2025

 We woke up to brilliant sunshine on the blue water as we approached Gold Harbor, our first stop. After breakfast and suiting up, we were reminded of the bio-security measures and to remain 5m away rom wildlife. A quick Zodiac took us to the rocky beach, and there were what seemed like at least a million King penguins. Their trumpeting calls carried across the whole harbor area. As we landed some rushed up to us, and we had to pull back to stay a good distance away from them. As we realized how many there were, as far as the eye could see and certainly to hear, we were gradually surrounded by curious reddish-brown-eyed penguins. Nearby were some enormous elephant seals - no big mature males, but some young males and females and one young one, They lay over each other and somehow don’t seem to mind, then every so often one will decide to move and push the others away which involved much grunting, exhalations, and some grumbles as well as a bit of gritty sand flung on top of themselves. I stayed far back, mindful that they can move quite quickly on shore despite their enormous size.

We walked down the beach, waiting the varied behaviors of the larger King penguins and the much smaller Gentoo penguins, and both species still had a few that were molting who looked deeply uncomfortable. Everywhere they would raise their beaks vertically to trumpet to other penguins, and they moved along the beach, often in groups of 3-6, and seemed to walk rather than waddle. Several times we saw groups of four that looked like a barbershop quartet ready to break into song. There were lots of first-year pups and second-year seal as well, chasing each other and wrestling, so much like Marley and his buddies, just having fun, not trying to dominate or claim land. They would “walk” along the beach using their front flippers and a swing their black flippers to propel themselves quite quickly.We were on the beach for two hours, just walking the stretch we were able to go on (before the penguins became too dense to avoid). I decided this might be a god time to sing, so I moved to the far edge of the beach and tried a bit of “Must the Winter Come So Soon” by Samuel Barber, which I had thought would be appropriate. The penguins seemed to notice - at least some tuned toward me - so that seemed to be something they could hear. Next I sang “Piangero la sorte Mia” by Handel which definitely got their interest, and quite a few stopped and seemed to watch me, very cool. Finally, I sang “Porgi amor” by Mozart which they really seemed to like and they moved toward me and I really do think they were listening. You can always count on Mozart. It was time to head back to the embarkation point, so we slowly worked our way back through the crowds of penguins and active seals and past the barely moving elephant seals (except for the occasional enormous snorts). What an experience, to be surrounded by the sigh and sound of these amazing birds and animals.

Back to the ship for a burger lunch (I tried the soy burger, it was fine), and there were fresh donuts for dessert. Knowing Barney’s love of donuts, I offered to order one to get one for him so he could have two. After he ate his chocolate one, I gave him my raspberry-topped one which he also enjoyed. Reuben joked that he was like the leopard seals after they swallowed a tasty penguin and we all laughed heartily.

After going by some lovely small icebergs, one of which looked like a skyline, we arrived at Cooper Bay, our afternoon Zodiac area. Our group will be much later, so we came back to the cabin to read and rest a bit. What a day it has already been!

At Sea En Route to South Georgia Island, Saturday, 1 March 2025

 We sped along during the night at a good clip, with our balcony blacked out so that the large number of sea birds. I got up early and used the elliptical upstairs, looking out at the wake of the ship and the blue waters. Since we will be at sea all day en route to South Georgia Island, there are multiple lectures. The first one was about ice and glaciers with excellent graphics on the slides, a really good use of animation. The bridge spotted A23B, the large section of iceberg A23 that split off a while ago. Soon we were approaching it … and it took almost an hour to get to the edge of it. It was indeed a massive wall of ice several stories high, with some striations and crevasses. We know that is shape is roughly rectangular, so when we went on the bow of the ship we could see what we thought was the edge of A23B and the edge of a smaller (but still enormous) iceberg that had split off from it. The captain announced that we’d be going through the opening between the two, which initially looked very far off. It was so large it was not possible to get it all in one photo so I had to do a video. About halfway toward the opening there was a large inlet on the left, and as we came closer we could see an enormous cave in the ice at water level, an utterly deep, deep blue inside, so deep we could not see the back. It looked like the Antarctic Tunnel of Love. It took almost an hour to get to the leading edge, which we passed quite close, to, only to discover that it was, in fact, not the leading edge, there was more in front on it. We passed through the opening, with great views o both icebergs, and slowly, slowly, they began to recede.

After a lively lunch with the Aussies and some New Zealanders, we had a nap, and then went up for the lecture on polar diving. There was also a stunning lecture of Diatom art, breathtaking artworks made from mounted diatoms of brilliant colors and every possible shape. Apparently these became very popular in the 19th century, and are still done today. We had a quiet dinner with one of the Australian couple, Jose and Sam, and went to bed early. Somehow we both felt tired even though we had not been off the ship. Time for a little reading and rest up for the landing tomorrow.