SOUTH GEORGIA - Cheesemans Ecology Safaris · Our 25-day expedition started in Santiago, Chile, on October 18, 2012 with 75 passengers and 13 expedition staff. ... Travelmate Photo

S O U T H G E O R G I A A N D F A L K L A N D I S L A N D S

C h e e s e m a n s ’ e C o l o g y s a f a r i s e X P e D i T i o n l o g 2 0 1 2

Cheesemans’ eCology safaris

E X P E D I T I O N L O Gsouth georgia and falkland islands

20 october to 9 november 2012

Designed by Debbie Thompson and Kate SpencerWritten by Dave Shoch, Pauline Carr, Joe Kaplan, Robert Rae and Kenneth Donaldson

Images by Passengers and Staff

Aravind Krishnaswamy Carolyn Peterson Paul McKenzie Lesley Gretton Kjerstin Ferm Widlund Cindy Marple

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Cover PhotoKing Penguins at Right Whale BayBy Michael Viljoen

Back Cover PhotoRisting Glacier at the end of Drygalski FjordBy Aravind Krishnaswamy

This Page Photo Elsehul ridgelineBy Katrina Metherall

CoPYRIGHT NoTICECopyright ©2013 Cheesemans’ Ecology SafarisPhotographers hold the copyright to their work.

“Goooooood morning shipmates. Partially cloudy, chance of rain.” The mellifluous tones of Ted, our expedition leader, drifted across the tannoy, announcing the start of our next day in this extraordinary place...

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I N T r O D u c T I O NTa b L E O f c O N T E N T s

For over twenty years, Cheesemans’ Ecology Safaris has operated the longest, most in-depth expeditions to the Antarctic regions, a destina-tion of supreme splendor and serenity that de-serves no less. We are honored that each of you chose to travel with us on this lifetime journey. Much time and effort was invested, most of it “behind the scenes,” to ensure that you have the same life altering experience that so many of our previous expedition-mates declare.

Our 25-day expedition started in Santiago, Chile, on October 18, 2012 with 75 passengers and 13 expedition staff. On October 20 we arrived in Stanley, Falkland Islands, to board the Ushuaia, our home for the next 21 packed days. We explored wonderful South Georgia Island, our main ob-jective, for ten days. Then it was on to Falkland Islands for three fast but full days. We were sad to see our journey end on November 11, 2012, in Ushuaia, Argentina.

The success of an expedition is dependent on many factors including weather, sea conditions, and insightful planning. But the most important ingredient by far is the open attitude and persona of our expedition-mates. Our entire expedition staff is very grateful to each of you for making this a successful journey filled with spe-cial lifelong experiences that we all now share. This expedition has extended the Cheeseman family with many new friends and strengthened it with many enduring friends.

I would also like to express heartfelt gratitude of your willingness to protect these remote environments, each in your own way. Your generosity was especially shown by your generous donations in our auction to benefit the South Georgia Heritage Trust’s historic rat eradication effort on South Georgia.

Warmest regards,Ted CheesemanExpedition Leader

Introduction 1

The Expedition 2

Flights to Falklands and Embarkation 20 October 2

At Sea to South Georgia 21 - 22 October 4

South Georgia Island 6

Elsehul 23 October 8

Right Whale Bay and Prion Island 24 October 10

Foruna Bay and Stromness 25 October 12

Ocean Harbour and Grytviken 26 October 14

St. Andrew’s Bay 27 October 16

Drygalski Fjord and the South Coast 28 October 18

King Haakon Bay and Undine Harbour 29 October 20

Salisbury Plain 30 October 22

Cooper Bay and Gold Harbour 31 October 24

Godthul and Right Whale Bay 1 November 26

At Sea to Falklands 2 - 4 November 28

Falkland Islands 30

Sea Lion Island 5 November 32

Steeple Jason 6 November 34

New Island 7 November 36

At Sea to Ushuaia 8 - 9 November 38

Expedition Staff 40

Postcards from the Field 41

Travelmate Photo Montage 42

Species List 44

Friends of South Georgia Island 46

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20 October 2012 flights to falklands and Embarkation Day 1

Ted welcomes everyone aboard Edmund Fellowes

Flying over the Andes in Chile Edmund Fellowes

Werner at Dinnertime Kjerstin Ferm Widlund

Katrina and Aravind Doris Beaman

By Joe Kaplan

FlIghTS To FalKlanD ISlanDS“The flight you cannot miss” left Santi-ago at 8:10 A.M. passing through Punta Arenas and ending in the Falkland Is-lands. Though everybody made the flight, the same was not true for every bag. Somehow, the luggage of four pas-sengers failed to show up at the Mount Pleasant Airport – and this quickly dampened the enthusiasm for our ar-rival in the Falklands.

STanleyPanic yielded quickly to a contingency plan to replace the essentials left sit-ting on the runway in Punta Arenas. With the help of our transfer compa-ny, the unfortunate travelers were fer-ried via Land Rover to several stores in Stanley where the mad dash was on to find socks, long-johns, rain-gear, pants, shirts, boots, toiletries, and for the two staff members the quintessen-tial requirement of any Southern Ocean guide: waders for wet Zodiac landings. Fortunately, the outpost of Stanley did right by these weary travelers.

Meanwhile, the rest of the group enjoyed the first look at a new and diverse natu-ral history along the Stanley shoreline including the beautiful high-plumaged Dolphin Gull, Flightless Steamer Duck, the exquisite Long-tailed Meadowlark with striking red under parts, and both Magellanic and Blackish Oystercatchers in display on a dilapidated dock. Duly noted was the ubiquitous House Spar-row, our first and only encounter of this human-commensal originally from Eu-rope but now found on all continents, save Antarctica.

embaRKIng on The UShUaIaAfter a casual (for most) tour of Stan-ley we transferred to and boarded our ship, the Ushuaia, where a champagne toast by Ted Cheeseman, our Expedi-tion Leader, and an offer of help from the group to share clothes and equip-ment to those without, set the mood for a great adventure.

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Third mate Enrique Hank Perry

Taking a break from photographing seabirds Kjerstin Ferm Widlund

Captain Jorge Hank Perry Ted reviews plans with travelmates Hank Perry

Rosie and Second mate Alan Aravind Krishnaswamy

Day 1 flights to falklands and Embarkation 20 October 2012

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Giant Petrel Aravind Krishnaswamy

21 - 22 October 2012 at sea to south Georgia Days 2 - 3

Pintado or Cape Petrel Paul McKenzie

By Dave Shoch

DePaRTIng The FalKlanDSDeparting Stanley we embarked on our three-day voyage east to South Georgia. While we all keenly awaited our first landfall, our passages at sea were by no means superfluous bookends to our ex-plorations of the islands.

The sea around us offered an endless procession of seabirds wheeling over the waves, visible from deck or even through the windows from the com-fort of the lounge. This is a productive stretch of sea, where a massive flow of cold Antarctic water is pinched between

the Falklands and South Georgia and runs over the South American conti-nental shelf and seamounts like Shag Rocks, forcing upward a steady input of nutrients to fuel the diversity of life at the surface.

aT SeaOur first morning at sea we were greet-ed by black and white checkered Pinta-do (or Cape) Petrels, who would be our constant companions from the begin-ning to the end of our expedition. The Pintado Petrel belongs to the tubenoses, a family of truly oceanic birds with its highest diversity in the southern hemi-sphere. By journey’s end we would see

26 species from this unique family.

Staff members Rod, Marlene, Joe and Dave kept a constant vigil on deck, sorting out Royal and Wandering Al-batrosses, and spotting challenging bird species. Atlantic Petrel accompa-nied our ship. This is a fast-flying gadfly petrel that nests on Tristan da Cunha and Gough Islands in the South Atlan-tic, and more typical of warmer waters north of the subtropical convergence. Also Gray-backed Storm-petrels, the smallest oceanic bird seen on our trip, seemingly hid among mats of floating kelp. In fact on our first day out more than half of the kelp patches contained

one.

Cetaceans were also in evidence, with two Hourglass Dolphins riding the bow of the Ushuaia Sunday afternoon. Nu-merous blows of unidentified whales were also seen.

Winds were generally from the west, around 30 knots. The sun occasionally poked through overcast skies. The inev-itable forecast of “overcast with a chance of rain” became a mantra – maybe this is the place where Sting was inspired to pen the lyrics to “Heavy Cloud No Rain.”

There were also plenty of activities

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Snowy Sheathbills hitch a ride on the Ushuaia Elise Spata

Antarctic Prion Elise Spata Black-browed Albatross Artie Morris

Days 2 - 3 at sea to south Georgia 21 - 22 October 2012

Day 2 aT noon...Position: 52°15.1’S, 53°10.4’W, under

sail.

Traveled: 170 nautical miles in 24 h.

Weather: Winds 10-25kn SW, 3-5m

swell, air temp: 3°C (37°F), water temp:

6°C (43°F), partial overcast skies.


sail.


Passed Antarctic Convergence about

4 A.M.


swell, air temp 1°C (34°F), water temp:


scheduled to prepare for our imminent exploration of South Georgia. Expedi-tion staff gave a full roster of lectures covering photography and natural his-tory. We also fastidiously vacuumed and inspected all of our gear and reviewed bio-security protocols that would be strict observance on all of our South Georgia landings.

Early Monday morning, the seawater temperature dropped from 6°C to 2°C in the space of a few hours, signaling that we had crossed the Antarctic Con-vergence. On Monday evening, we set our watches ahead one hour to South Georgia time, the least populated time

zone on earth.

Now over cold Antarctic waters, our seabird observations changed. We saw our first Kerguelen Petrel; this species was just recently discovered nesting in March 2012 on the south coast of South Georgia at Shallop Cove, representing the latest addition to the list of breeding seabirds there. Also, two enterprising Snowy Sheathbills flew-in off the open ocean on Monday morning to hitch a ride on the Ushuaia, where they spent the afternoon roosting on top of the Zo-diacs on the back deck.

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s O u T h G E O r G I a I s L a N D

St. Andrew’s Bay, South Georgia Aravind Krishnaswamy

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s O u T h G E O r G I a I s L a N D

copyright Google Maps

11. Ample Bay and12. Salisbury Plain

3. Prion Island

6. Grytviken

4. Fortuna Bay

5. Stromness

7. St. Andrews Bay

7. GoldHarbour

8. Drygalski Fjord& Larsen Harbour

10. Undine Harbour, and baggage!

1. Elsehul

5. Ocean Harbour

14. Godthul

2 & 15. Right Whale Bay

Circumnavigation!

9. Cape Rosa

13. Cooper Bay

our route around South Georgia

Antarctic Prion Elise Spata

Chinstrap Penguin Bob Lewis

King Penguin Elise Spata Penguin tracks Robert RaeGentoo Penguin Denise Ippolito

Macaroni Penguin Bob Lewis

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23 October 2012 Elsehul Day 4

By Artie Morris, Pauline Carr and Joe Kaplan

Shag RoCKSThere was a thrill of anticipation run-ning through the ship as the Ushuaia bustled her way towards our landfall. Shag Rocks lay astern, passed in the night during our haste to reach anchor-age and the first of many spectacular landings.

Our last morning at sea before arriving at South Georgia held some nice surprises. Early morning brought (albeit, briefly) an encounter with both a Beaked Whale and two Sperm Whales. More satisfying were four Snow Petrels that joined the

ship at dawn and remained through-out the morning. Almost humorous, was watching the remaining stowaway Snowy Sheathbill join the snowy quar-tet as they lapped the ship and provided a wonderful study of this beautiful and often elusive seabird species (we’re talk-ing about the petrel here!).

lanD ho!With a definite increase in the number of seabirds on the wing around the ship, many of us were already on deck when

Sarah announced the first sight of South Georgia. These were the Willis Islands, the same landfall that Captain Cook had made back in 1775. Soon pristine white peaks were glistening in the dis-tance, with a foreground of steep black rocks traced with fresh snow.

elSehUlAfter lunch we all watched as Captain Jorge skillfully brought his ship to rest at anchor in Elsehul. The crew worked fast to launch the Zodiacs and soon we

were speeding shoreward in our rubber chariots. The precipitous green hillsides above were dotted with thousands of breeding albatross.

The black sand beach was home to sev-eral harems of Southern Elephant Seals and some Antarctic Fur Seals – one of the blessings of visiting so early in the season was that “furries” were few in number and still pretty mellow before the impending breading season. A cou-ple of weeks later and it would have been impossible to land safely. On shore we

Willis Islands where Captain Cook landed in 1775 Christer Widlund

Elsehul Marc Lombardi

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Day 4 Elsehul 23 October 2012

soon noticed Gentoo Penguins, Brown Skuas, terns, Northern and Southern Giant Petrels, Kelp Gulls, Yellow-billed (South Georgian) Pintail – all at inti-mately close quarters.

The highlight of this landing, however, was rare access to a Grey-headed Al-batross colony; so all who could head-ed-up the slope to a ridge where these exquisite birds were most accessible. Light-mantled Sooty Albatrosses on the


sail.



swell, air temp 0°C (32°F), water temp:


Gray-headed Albatross Clemens Vanderwerf

Light-mantled (Sooty) Albatross Graham Logen

Gray-headed Albatross Don Gutoski

The “bazooka brigade” of big lens photographers settled in on the ridge Christer Widlund

wing swept close over our heads as they reveled in the light breeze – consum-mate masters of the air, perfecting their pair-flying skills as partners re-estab-lished their pair bonds.

The “bazooka brigade” of big lens pho-tographers settled in on the ridge and we later saw some awesome results from their efforts with both the Grey-heads and the Sooties. Other folk took to the Zodiacs and had an easier but equally rewarding tour watching a stream of Gentoo Penguins porpoising in from the sea, as well as viewing the albatross colonies from below and seeing King Penguins in an adjacent cove.

Back on the ship, we enjoyed dinner

in peaceful, calm waters. Everyone felt deeply content to have crossed the ocean and finally set foot on this unique and utterly amazing island.

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24 October 2012 right Whale bay and Prion Island Day 5

By Joe Kaplan

RIghT Whale bayHitting the ground walking on our first full day at South Georgia, the Zodiacs began heading to shore at 5:30 A.M. Our destination, Right Whale Bay, hosts a small King Penguin colony (ap-proximately 12,000 pairs), numerous Southern Elephant Seal harems, and a picturesque landscape complete with a braided waterfall feeding an ocean side pool. Scattered ribs, skulls, and vertebrate of long-dead whales served as a reminder of how far humans have evolved in their relationship to South Georgia’s wildlife. After a long day im-mersed with Oakum Boys (those brown fuzzy immature King Penguins), Brown Skuas, ornery Antarctic Fur Seals, and fighting bull Southern Elephant Seals, the smiles were wide as the day was long (and cold!). But wait, the day was only half over; a two-hour reposition of the ship over lunch took us to our afternoon landing at Prion Island.

Southern Elephant Seal and the Ushuaia at Right Whale Bay Carolyn Peterson

Curious Giant Petrel and Marco Chuck Bell Seal and penguin Fred Wales

PRIon ISlanDArguably, one of the most unique sites we visit during our voyage, Prion Island functions as an island within an island at South Georgia. Its rat-free status benefits two special species that we en-countered here – Wandering Albatross and South Georgia Pipit. Others, such as White-chinned Petrels, other div-ing-petrels, and Antarctic Prions also benefit from this rat-free environment though remained safely concealed in their burrow during our visit.

The South Georgia Pipit, the world’s southernmost ranging songbird was fairly common, though secretive, in the tussock along the boardwalk. The pipit has become the poster child for the rat eradication effort on South Georgia by the government and the South Geor-gia Heritage Trust, as this species is restricted to offshore islands sans rats. While visiting Prion Island it is easy to understand the tremendous benefit that turning back two-hundred years of rat occupation on South Georgia history will have for the pipit but also the nearly

Kjerstin, Pauline and Tim overlooking Right Whale Bay and the Ushuaia in the distance Christer Widlund

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Day 5 right Whale bay and Prion Island 24 october 2012

Day 5 aT noon... Position: 54°00.6’S, 37°40.8’W, at

anchor in Right Whale Bay.

Weather: Winds 5-15kn N, calm seas,

air temp -1°C (30°F), overcast skies

scattered snow.

King Penguins at Right Whale Bay Aravind Krishnaswamy

Immature Wandering Albatross on Prion Island Artie Morris

South Georgia Pintail Kenneth Donaldson

King Penguins Clemens Vanderwerf

32-million pairs of seabirds that depend on this island sanctuary for breeding.

Once we arrived at the end of the board-walk our attention diverted from pipits to the spectacular Wandering Albatross. With adults absent from the colony this afternoon (gone to sea provisioning for their young), the nine gangly 8-month old chicks captivate us as they alternate between resting and exercising their mammoth wings. These wings repre-sent the longest span for any species and soon will carry this cohort of albatross to a long – and hopefully prosperous – life harnessing the wind over the South-ern Ocean (see the 3 November log en-try for more on this species’ remarkable life and our chance encounter with a banded albatross from Bird Island).

As we sloooowly left the Wanderers to head back to the beach we were once again courted by South Georgia Pipits, along with nesting Southern and North-ern Giant Petrel (though not with each other), and South Georgia Pintail (the world’s only carnivorous duck – hyper-bole for another entry). Back on the beach Gentoo Penguins began return-ing from the sea to join their mates (a few already on eggs) and an immature tern retaining some juvenile plum-age sparked discussion of how exactly does one separate Antarctic from Arctic Tern? So few people enjoy the opportu-

nity to encounter these species in the same place that details remain vague. Again, the smiles were wide as the day was long, but this time the day is com-plete.

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25 October 2012 fortuna bay and stromness Day 6

By Kenneth Donaldson

“Goooooood morning shipmates. Par-tially cloudy, chance of rain.” The mel-lifluous tones of Ted, our expedition leader, drifted across the tannoy, an-nouncing the start of our next day in this extraordinary place.

FoRTUna bayThe morning was cold (-1o°C) and overcast, but still and peaceful. Encum-bered with many layers of warm, dry clothing, encased in rubber boots, load-ed with camera lenses, grappling with tripods, girded and gloved, we called out our life-jacket numbers, the magic password to the Zodiacs, and we were off to Fortuna Bay.

The bay was a long, arcing sweep of stones and pebbles, with mountains to each side and a wide plain behind. All along the beach at regular intervals were huddles of Southern Elephant Seals, each with a three-ton bull and his harem, all busy dozing. We landed on the right-hand side of the bay, and were immediately subject to inspection by a number of curious penguins. And there, in the distance, set back from the plain, was the King Penguin colony, many thousand strong, with wave af-ter wave of fuzzy brown Oakum Boys. Or Kiwi fruits, depending which guide you listen to. Oakum, it transpires, is

the loose fiber you get from untwist-ing an old rope, and it’s what you use to caulk a wooden ship. The boys who did the caulking, a process involving tar and fibrous bits of old brown rope, must have emerged from a day’s work look-ing, well, not unlike the young King Penguins we could see, hence the name.

So we trudged slowly, at penguin speed, up to the edge of the colony, found a nice stone to sit on, and were in no time surrounded by fuzzy Oakum Boys, curi-ous to see if we might regurgitate a nice bit of fish. Or maybe just wanting to say hello.

The time flew by, and so we needed eventually to say goodbye to this Colo-ny, and head back via the six-foot ici-cles, the beautiful Kings on snow, the Elephants on the beach, the terns and the Cormorant, and indeed the Gen-too colony that had mountaineered up to 300 feet elevation, for reasons best known only to the Gentoos themselves. Soon we came to the Reindeer herd, an extraordinary visitor to the islands, first introduced by Larsen (the whaling en-trepreneur) and looking quite at home in the snow and mountains. Slightly bi-zarre, but handsome nonetheless, and one presumes less damaging than other introductions like the rat.

After a last look at a couple of Antarctic

Terns, and a South Georgia Shag on a rock, we hopped back in the Zodiac and headed for another three-course lunch, although some hardy souls stayed on the bay for maximum South Georgia landside time.

STomneSSCome 2 P.M. and excitement mounts as we wait to go ashore for a history hike: approximately retracing the very last segment of Shackleton’s legendary crossing of the Island. Our route would take us from Fortuna Bay, up to a col of about 1,000 ft, past Crean Lake, and down into the abandoned whaling sta-tion at Stromness, where Shackleton eventually found succor.

If you look at the photos in the won-derful Grytviken Museum, you will see that Sir Ernest Shackleton, Tom Crean, the Irish Giant, and Frank Worsley did the whole traverse of the island in deep snow. We did not. For us, the going was fairly easy, with light to moder-ate snow from about 250 ft onwards. Clouds clung to the hills, so all around was white, and we were fortunate to have Tim and Pauline as guides. Having lived here for many years, curating the museum, their knowledge of the land and its history is exceptional. Hence we were told of Crean Lake, into which the unfortunate giant fell, piling misery on

Antarctic Fur Seal Hans Jacob Opsahl

Gentoo Penguin Cindy Marple

Reindeer Herd Robert Rae

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Day 6 fortuna bay and stromness 25 October 2012

misery. We also heard tell of the party’s pause at the top of the col, waiting and hoping for the 7 A.M. Stromness’ fac-tory whistle, which duly came, the first sign of other human life they’d heard in 18 long months. As we dropped down the col, some people yomping, some skiing, some coat-sliding, we could see the remains of the Stromness site com-ing out of the misty white cloud cover, but could not begin to image what this must have been to Shackleton. We came down to the bottom of the waterfall, where Pauline told us that Shackle-ton’s group actually was forced to come down the waterfall itself. They had one rope, but no means to secure it. Wors-

Day 6 aT noon...Position: 54°08.9’S, 36°47.6’W, at

anchor in Fortuna Bay.



air temp 0°C (32°F), water temp: 3°C

(38°F), overcast skies increasing snow

and sprinkling rain.

History hike: following in Shackleton’s footsteps Elise Spata

King Penguins at Right Whale Bay Paul McKenzie

ley, the smallest, stayed at the top and held the rope for the others. When his turn came, he stuffed the end in a hole, and followed. It is beyond reason, but the rope stayed put, and so he too made it to the bottom against all odds where we now gathered. They stumbled on, Crean falling and almost severing an ar-tery with his ice axe. Think of it… After eighteen months and within sight of sal-vation, to suffer such a near-calamitous injury. They walked through the station, Worsley somewhere finding a pin, and trying to make decent his ragged clothes in case ladies were present. People turned from them, not recognizing nor wanting to look at them. They arrived at

the Station Manager’s house, where 18 months before they wined and dined, and made friends. They were not rec-ognized. Upon hearing the words “My name is Shackleton” the Station Man-ager is said to have wept.

And so we reached Stromness but could not enter. Unlike Grytviken, the site has not been made safe from rusting ironworks and asbestos. But for me, the fact I could not enter Stromness on this cold, gray South Georgia afternoon seemed only to add to the poignancy of the walk itself. That we, in some minis-cule way, had walked where Shackleton

had led, and where I doubt a thousand others have followed, fulfilled for me a key reason for making this trip.

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26 October 2012 Ocean harbour and Grytviken Day 7

By Pauline Carr

oCean haRboUR Another full day started early as our bold captain and his relatively small Ushuaia sailed into the narrow confines of Ocean Harbour, very seldom visited by ships. The harbor is spectacular with the wreck of a sailing ship, the Bayard, heeled over as to a freshening breeze but in realty impaled on a pinnacle of rock beneath the surface since 1913.

Our Zodiacs took some of our group to photograph a colony of South Geor-gian Shags making the sailing ship decks their home. Other folk wandered the shoreline photographing relics of a whaling station that was mostly re-moved in 1920. Then a keen group of walkers, snow-shoers and skiers headed up to a 1,000 ft (300 m) pass to cross the

Barff Peninsula and descend on inviting snow slopes to Cumberland East Bay where the ship would pick us up in time for lunch.

The rewards were a large and beautiful iceberg aground in front of us, a splen-did view of the largest glacier in South Georgia, the mighty Nordenskjold, and a dramatic clearing of the mists to see the very summit of the island, Mt. Paget, 9,625 ft, almost 3,000 m, tow-

ering above us. Light-mantled Sooty Albatrosses called from the cliffs and Antarctic Terns fished the sea. We had followed the route of returning whalers carrying mail from Grytviken to Ocean Harbour and the mail hut on the beach had been briefly home to some of En-durance’s scientists in 1914.

gRy T vIKenThe cross at Hope Point came into view as Ushuaia slid into King Edward Cove, the administrative center of South Geor-gia. We passed the British Antarctic Survey base and came to anchor off the derelict whaling station of Grytviken, recently cleansed of oil and asbestos and made safe for us to see the enormous scale of the whale processing carried out over six decades and dispatching 54,000 whales on the flensing platform. Whilst official paperwork was being complet-ed, scientists gave an enlightening talk about their work and then it was off in the Zodiacs to visit Shackleton’s grave in the whaler’s cemetery, for a toast to “The Boss”. This year the ashes of Frank Wild, his loyal comrade and lieutenant, had been interred in a small grave to the left hand of Shackleton - so it was dou-bly poignant.

Panorama of ocean harbour Karen Perry

Wreck of the Bayard Marc Lombardi Light-mantled Sooty Albatrosses Don Gutoski

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Day 7 Ocean harbour and Grytviken 26 October 2012

In the soggy field near the gravesite we discovered a drake Blue-winged Teal in company with the Yellow-billed (South Georgian) Pintails – this miraculous observation represents only the second observation of this North American duck in South Georgia, the last from 1972!

We visited the fascinating museum and supported it by buying souvenirs. Many of us were given guided tours of the whaling station and the museum. The post office was kept busy as we sent our postcards home and bought beauti-ful stamps for our collections. It was a very full day by the time we went back to the ship for a meaty Argentinean

“asado” barbecued by the ship’s crew on the side deck. The final treat was an excellent lecture by the South Georgia Heritage Trust Director, Sarah Lurcock, about the habitat restoration program – in particular rat eradication. Already successful over a vast area including Grytviken, it will soon encompass the whole island and is projected to double the bird population as well as restoring South Georgia Pipits to the mainland. This wonderful project has been enthu-siastically supported by Cheesemans’ and several individuals made generous donations after Sarah’s talk.

Day 7 aT noon...Position: 54°19.8’S, 36°22.2’W, at an-

chor in Cumberland West Bay.



air temp 0°C (32°F), variable skies from

partly clear to light snow.

Storage tanks in Grytviken Chris Marsham

Whaling artifacts litter the beach Robert Rae

Derelict Whaling ship, the Petrel Werner MayerCookers extracted oil from blubber Cathy Dean

South Georgia Shag Bob Lewis

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By Joe Kaplan

ST. anDReW’S bay An early start today (5:45 A.M.) and late departure (7 P.M.) made for a “double-super-weaner” kind of day filled with a bounty of activities and sights: Tom led a photo workshop, Dave and Juan

teamed up for an interpretive nature walk, and the ever adventurous Tim and Pauline led an extended walk in boots, skis or snowshoes to explore the sur-rounding landscape set against multiple glaciers and the 2,000 m peaks of Mt. Roots, Mt. Kling, Nordenskjold Peak, and Mt. Brooker.

While the landscape surrounding St. Andrew’s Bay stands on its own, the area is perhaps best known for huge con-centrations of wildlife; the King Pen-guins rookery here is often cited as the world’s largest and the nearly two-mile long beach boasts South Georgia’s larg-est concentration of Southern Elephant Seals. Add to this a supporting cast of Brown (Subantartic or Falkland) Skuas, Snowy Sheathbill, Antarctic (Southern) Giant Petrel, Antarctic Fur Seals, Kelp Gulls, and Light-mantled Sooty Alba-tross and one immerses in the magnum opus of South Georgian unique natural history.

Southern Elephant Seal beach-masters actively defended their harems from congeners, their low and guttural belch-ing reveals where the next challenge for dominance is taking place and the next opportunity to catch sight of huge rivals hurling their 5,000 to 8,000 pound bod-ies at each other, mouths wide open,

tusk–like teeth ready to clamp on a dan-gling proboscis or penetrate a blubbery chest.

A plethora of scavenging giant petrels, gulls, and skuas frantically dueled over fresh placenta indicating where a seal pup had been born into a seemingly chaotic and dangerous world. Indeed, 40% of seal pups do not survive their first year of life, an understandable sta-tistic as one witnesses the reality facing these newborn seals.

The King Penguin colony was dominat-ed by a mix of molting adults and crèch-es of Oakum Boys (and Girls?) awaiting the return of parents from sea as they prepare for their final growth spurt be-fore fledging in November and Decem-ber. The King Penguin’s protracted chick rearing period of over a year requires ju-veniles to replace body mass loss during the bottleneck of a long austral winter. Most exciting about the timing of our

27 October 2012 st. andrew’s bay Day 8

King Penguin adult overlooking crèches of oakum Boys Joan Poor

King Penguin colony at St. Andrews Bay Joe Kaplan and Chris Williams oakum Boy begs for a meal Paul McKenzie Southern Elephant Seal challenger Edmund Fellowes

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Day 8 st. andrew’s bay 27 October 2012

visit was observing chicks molting out of their brown juvenile down into adult feathers – a bizarre but fascinating (and variable!) plumage transition.

By the end of the day, whether one en-gaged a full itinerary of wildlife obser-vation, mountain climbing, or skiing (or a combination of all) the feeling of satisfaction and satiation was univer-sal. This good mood made the reality of building seas, which bounced the Ush-uaia like a little toy boat in the harbor, seem like another roadside attraction – hey, at least we avoided the katabatic winds that have been responsible for a different kind of interesting day in St. Andrew’s Bay.


anchor in St. Andrews Bay.



air temp 0°C (32°F), clear skies at

dawn, increasing to high thin clouds.

St. Andrew’s Bay Rosemary Hillis

Brown Skuas feud Karen Ireland Bloody beach-master Kenneth Donaldson

Sunset at St. Andrew’s Bay Chris Marsham

18

28 October 2012 Drygalski fjord and the south coast Day 9

By Dave Shoch

DRygalSKI FJoRDFollowing a morning at sea rounding Cooper Island, with sunrise-lit tabular icebergs and masses of gathering sea-birds offshore, we entered Drygalski Fjord. We began with a ship cruise to the head of the fiord, hoping to wait out the 50-knot winds for our scheduled Zodi-ac cruise up Larsen Harbour. Along the way, Hugh Rose interpreted the unique geology, giving meaning to the massive granite rock formations looking down on us. The ice-filled waters at the base of the Risting Glacier at the head of Dry-galski were host to numerous Snow Pe-trels, Cape Petrels and Antarctic Terns.

Fortunately the winds abated while we lunched on the Ushuaia, permitting us to launch the Zodiacs for a cruise up Larsen Harbour. Cruise conditions

were perfect, with bright sun lighting the harbor walls above us and calm and clear waters allowing us to see strands of kelp straight to the bottom. The Antarc-tic Terns in the harbor were very coop-erative, closely approaching the Zodiacs and presenting themselves for point-blank shots. Larsen Harbour is home to the northernmost colony of Weddell Seals in the world, and we counted 15-20 of these Antarctic seals hauled-out

and sunning on the snow-covered banks gently sloping down to the shoreline. The Weddell Seal receive the prize as the most adorable marine mammals of the trip. We saw three mothers nursing two-month old pups, evidencing con-tinued hope for this Antarctic outpost that has been in decline; we also saw a

Sailing in front of the Risting Glacier at the end of Drygalski Fjord Werner Mayer

Sailing down Drygalski Fjord Hank Perry

Weddell Seal Dan Logen

Snow Petrel Christer Widlund

19

Day 9 Drygalski fjord and the south coast 28 October 2012

dead Weddell on the shoreline. At the head of Larson Harbour another curi-ous Weddell spy-hopped giving us the once-over as we stopped to see the foot of the glacier, with a unique columnar ice formation stretching down to the high tide mark.

SaIlIng The SoUTh CoaSTFew expeditions to South Georgia are able to circumnavigate the island due to the treacherous sea conditions along the wind-blown and ice-filled south coast. However, seeing favorable condi-

tions ahead, Captain Jorge gave the okay to proceed out of Drygalski Fjord and head northwest up the south coast, al-lowing us all the rare opportunity to see the Antarctic side of South Georgia Is-land. Rounding Cape Disappointment, we encountered thousands of Antarctic Prions, and many rafts of Black-browed Albatrosses loafing offshore from a nearby colony. The procession of mas-sive peaks and glaciers stretching be-fore us defied all attempts of panorama captures to contain the enormity of the south coast. Almost everyone was out

on deck until the daylight waned. We dined at Undine Harbour South, after which the Ushuaia continued on up the coast as we slept.


chor near Larsen Harbour in Drygalski

Fjord.


Weather: Winds 0-40kn, mostly local

conditions, calm seas, air temp -1°C

(30°F), clear skies at dawn, increasing

to high thin overcast.

Larsen Harbour Zodiac cruising Cathy Dean

Risting Glacier ice Marc Lombardi

Icicles Carolyn Peterson

20

By Pauline Carr

KIng haaKon bayShackleton country lay before us this morning. King Haakon Bay was the end of arguably the greatest small boat journey ever made – where Shackleton and his five companions made landfall after 16 rough days at sea including two storms. Here the exhausted men, literally dying of thirst, were able to set foot onto dry land and recover enough to make the journey overland to enable the rescue of the 22 men marooned on Elephant Island.

It was a rare privilege for our band of ad-venturers to watch the Ushuaia sail into the bay on this early morning and pick out the entrance to Cave Cove with our binoculars. Far distant we could also see the shining glacier called the Shackleton Gap where the crossing of South Geor-gia had begun. Calm weather saw most of us boarding the Zodiacs to make the short journey through the narrow gap in the cliffs and land on the beach where Shackleton’s men had fallen to their knees lapping the fresh water from the tiny stream. And there to the left was the narrow cave where the weary men had laid out their four remaining sleep-ing bags and slept on dry land at last.

Light-mantled Sooty Albatrosses cir-cled overhead and, because this site is

rat-free, the tussock was full of burrows of Blue Petrels and Antarctic Prions. So we dare not walk too far on this fragile ground – but it was enough just to step on such hallowed beach. I read more evocative passages from Captain Wors-ley’s book to help us picture the survival story in all its extremes.

The wind was already picking up as we bounced back to the ship and a hearty breakfast but our projected landing deeper in the Bay had to be cancelled – it proved a wise decision as the wind be-gan to gust up to 60 knots and the Ush-uaia struggled against it as she headed

for shelter in Undine Harbour.

UnDIne haRboURThis harbor has proven to be a good port in a storm – although it was too windy for us to land immediately and it took a while for the anchor to hold. So we watched impressive williwaws (wind devils) spinning spume out from the high ground and waited for a modera-tion in the conditions. By 3 P.M. a land-ing was possible and we sped ashore to split into different groups. Undine Har-bour is separated from our first landing at Elsehul by a narrow neck of tussock-covered land so many of the photog-

29 October 2012 King haakon bay and undine harbour Day 10

Undine Harbour surrounds Christer Widlund

Cave Cove Chuck Bell

Bloody Giant Petrel Carolyn Peterson

Light-mantled Sooty Albatross Rosemary Hillis

21

Day 10 King haakon bay and undine harbour 29 October 2012

raphers were delighted to get another chance to photograph the Grey-headed and Light-mantled Sooty Albatrosses – this time in much more wind so that the aerobatics were even more impressive. Tim and I led a hike up the Hope River from where Tim’s advanced group could see Wandering Albatross nests from afar. The Hope River is the largest in South Georgia but it was easily fordable in most places. The mountainscape was most impressive with stark and almost entirely white peaks etched sharply against a dark-grey sky.

Meanwhile those who had elected to stay on the beach were watching el-ephant and fur seals, South Georgian Pintails, Gentoo Penguins and even a solitary and very cooperative Chinstrap Penguin. In fact, on landing at the beach at Undine, sharp-eyed staff member Joe Kaplan declared that he would find a Chinstrap Penguin among the mul-titudes of Gentoos, and sure enough, within 20 seconds he spotted one.

Some of the staff found a fresh and al-most intact Fin Whale skeleton on a reef, although it was not really accessi-ble to the Zodiacs. The bad weather had all but died away as we returned to the ship to complete our circumnavigation of South Georgia in the dark.


sail along Southwest Coast of South

Georgia.



conditions, seas calm to 1-2m NW, air

temp 0°C (32°F), skies clear in SE, thick

overcast along SW coast.

Giant Petrel Ildiko Szabo

Gentoo Penguin Artie Morris

Gray-headed Albatross Don Gutoski

Undine Harbour Jeff Reynolds

Snowy Footprints Doris Beaman

22

30 October 2012 salisbury Plain Day 11

By Joe Kaplan

SalISbURy PlaIn We set out this morning to explore Ample Bay, a seldom-visited part of the Salisbury Plain complex where Robert Murphy Cushman, an American orni-thologist with the America Museum of Natural History, made the first detailed studies of the iconic King Penguin, and its unique 13-month breeding cycle (unique among penguins) a century ago. South Georgia’s timelessness was vivid this morning; fresh snow under-foot and rapidly changing light condi-tions provided limitless opportunities for compositions.

A particularly blond fur seal, a 1 in 1,000 event (and our third for the trip), drew attention, as did numerous molt-ing King Penguins lining both sides of a small creek next to our landing site. South Georgian Pintails were also very conspicuous in the morning as they

displayed and fed along the numerous small rivulets formed from the spring melt. An endemic subspecies of the wider ranging Yellow-billed Pintail of South America, the South Georgia form is known to scavenge seal carcasses dur-ing the winter, crowning it the world’s only carnivorous duck. This morning, however, they seemed content dabbling in soft mud and grazing on streamside vegetation in this park-like setting. Sit-ting quietly nearby invited incredibly close opportunities for intimate obser-vations as these ducks casually walked past occupied with feeding and main-taining pair bonds from potential ri-vals. Their plaintive whistles and gentle lunges at each other seem at odds with their carnivorous ways.

With a pleasant morning behind us we repositioned the ship a few miles away during lunch to spend the afternoon at the more familiar King Penguin colony on the plain between Grace Glacier

King Penguins Don GutoskiKing Penguins Edmund Fellowes King Penguin Michael ViljoenKing Penguin Paul McKenzie

Zodiac landing at Ample Bay Marge Robinson

23

Day 11 salisbury Plain 30 October 2012

(named by Murphy for his new bride) on the north and Lucas Glacier on south. This area of Salisbury Plain rep-resents the largest area of level ground on South Georgia and once the site of a proposed airstrip! Approximately 60,000 King Penguin pairs breed here and given the expanse of level terrain are very accessible for observation with molting adults and crèches of Oakum Boys dominating the current “phenol-ogy” of the colony.

After time soaking up the colony ambi-ance, many of us headed off to explore the tussock-covered slopes that rise above the plain. The immensity of the colony is beautifully framed from this higher perspective. The surrounding peaks provide a nice break from the high energy of trumpeting Kings and squealing young below in a seemingly

endless biomass of feathers and bills and wings. No matter the perspective of choice, the Salisbury Plain leaves a rich and indelible impression.


anchor in Bay of Isles near Salisbury

Plain.



conditions, seas calm to 1-2m NW, air

temp 0°C (32°F), skies clear in SE, thick

overcast along SW coast.

Panorama of Salisbury Plain Aravind Krishnaswamy

Exploring Salisbury Plain Cindy Marple

Female and male Antarctic Fur Seals Paul McKenzie

24

31 October 2012 cooper bay and Gold harbour Day 12

By Dave Shoch

CooPeR bayToday’s forecast was cold and wet. Dawn was greeted by Snow Petrels wheeling through falling snow over the Ushuaia, which was moored in Cooper Bay since arriving the previous evening. After an early breakfast, the Zodiacs launched to carry us to shore, where we found a narrow space for landing between the many fur seals occupying the beach. From there, we hiked up the slope to find the newly-arrived Macaroni Pen-

guins getting situated at their colony in the tussock, showing well in the fresh snow that continued to fall. While the cold and wet contrived to seep through the seams in our outer shells, we were warmed by nesting Gentoo Penguins entertaining us at the colony next door and scooting through the snow up to their colony. We also were mesmerized by a pair of Light-mantled Sooty Alba-trosses courting on the slope above, pre-senting close views from an observation point staked out by the expedition staff. Some of us watched a Southern Ele-

phant Seal weaner (young) complete an arduous climb up the snowy slope only to lose its hold on the insecure perch and inevitably slide back down the slick incline into Cooper Bay.

Meanwhile, others enjoyed a trek on boots, skis or snowshoes led by Tim Carr, and a Zodiac cruise along the Cooper Bay shore offered views of the only colony of Chinstrap Penguins on South Georgia.

Macaroni Penguins in the tussock at Cooper Bay Kjerstin Ferm Widlund Climbing the hill at Cooper Bay Christopher Marsham

Macaroni Penguin Clemens Vanderwerf

25

Day 12 cooper bay and Gold harbour 31 October 2012

golD haRboURFrom Cooper Bay we returned to the Ushuaia for lunch while the ship repo-sitioned back up the coast to Gold Har-bour. Landing conditions on the beach at Gold Harbour were constrained, to say the least, and it took us some time before we found an “opening” far up the beach. Our landing site was squeezed among a crowd of bull Southern El-ephant Seals lightly snoozing on the beach, occasionally waking from fitful dreams of deep dark waters to assess us with one eye. Meanwhile the wean-ers took up residence in our pile of gear and dry bags. Not all the elephant seal bulls were so placid though. At the edge

of the King Penguin colony, a fight sud-denly breaking out at close range sent our group scattering in all directions to get out of the way of the thundering bulls. On the beach near the landing site, another bull suddenly appeared, leering just a breath-away behind one of us who was obliviously bent over a tripod, The ignored bull retreated, his threats ignored.

As we packed up our dry bags at the end of the day, we were treated to a pair of courting Antarctic Terns, with the male delivering a procession of choice mor-sels to his mate who was waiting expec-tantly on a rock by the shoreline.


anchor in Cooper Bay.


Weather: Winds 0-5kn, seas calm, air

temp -1°C (30°F), snowing 1” accumu-

lation per hour.

Gentoo Penguins mate Michael Viljoen

Southern Elephant Seal bull Michael ViljoenSouthern Elephant Seal bull Hans Jacob Opsahl

Southern Elephant Seal female Marge Robinson

Southern Elephant Seal young Phil Gretton

26

1 November 2012 Godthul and right Whale bay Day 13

By Pauline Carr

goDThUlIt had been a quiet night anchored in Godthul – “Good Cove” – so we were keen to hit the beach once more. This time we landed on a shoreline strewn with whalebones since this was the site of a floating factory ship between 1908 and the 1928/9 season. Relics ashore told some of the historic tale and I filled in the many gaps.

The scenery was again impressive, but a little gentler with less snow so the hik-ers didn’t need skis or snowshoes on

their walk that passed many Gentoo Penguins on their nests. The damp air forced the birds to remain laying flat on their nests so we could not see any of their prized eggs. In one of the colonies a leucistic (pale cream) Gentoo Penguin was spotted and photographed – a rare and slightly bizarre sight. A sizeable

herd of reindeer passed close to some of us and trotted through the penguin colony, penguins pecking at their heels, and clearly illustrating what we had been told about the damage they could do to the wildlife.

A couple of Zodiacs made the trip out to sea and around the headland to see some Macaroni Penguins on their land-ing site at Rookery Bay.

A small, well-weathered iceberg was aground close to the beach so the Zodi-acs detoured to circle around it finding a swarm of copepods swimming in its lee. Turquoise water above the iceberg spur made us dream of the tropics! As the ship sailed out we passed a much larger impressive iceberg close to the entrance. No tropical hint here!

Iceberg Marc Lombardi

Tim overlooking Godhul Kjerstin Ferm Widlund

Leucistic Gentoo Penguin Dan Logen

27

Day 13 Godthul and right Whale bay 1 November 2012

RIghT Whale bayThere was time for one last landing, so we decided on Right Whale Bay because of the protection it offered and the vari-ety of species. This offered everyone one last chance to catch that final perfect photo of a King Penguin or Southern Elephant Seal before we headed out into the ocean. Some hikers set off towards the waterfall at the southeast end of the long beach. It had been spectacularly frozen when we last visited on the first full day of our trip, but now it was in full spate as we clambered up the tussock for a great view over the colony of several thousand birds. All too soon we were making our way back down the beach to the awaiting Zodiacs. Ted wanted us to be in good time so the ship could re-sume her passage to the northwest and to our next destination in the Falkland Islands. What an amazing and success-ful cruise this had been – the best part was it was by no means over yet.


sail to Right Whale Bay.


Weather: Winds 5-40kn, seas calm to

4m, air temp 2°C (36°F), overcast to

moderate rain.

Antarctic Fur Seal Lesley GrettonPhotographing King Penguins on the shores of Right Whale Bay Cindy Marple

Loading Zodiacs onto the Ushuaia Tamsin Davidson Antarctic Fur Seal skull Phil Gretton

28

By Dave Shoch

aT SeaThe Ushuaia carried us westward for the three-day return journey to the Falk-land Islands. Through much of our pas-sage, heavy swells, wind and fog made for less than inviting conditions out on deck so many of us stayed inside to work on photographs or quietly endure bouts of mal de mer. Those brave souls who did venture out took in the intense moods of the Southern Ocean, and the remarkable aerial proficiency of its ma-rine birds.

Our first day at sea, Friday, November 2, marked our last day in the cold waters south of the Antarctic Convergence. In a fitting goodbye, a pair of Snow Petrels escorted the Ushuaia all day long, oblig-ing photographers by repeatedly sailing point blank just off the rails of the upper decks. The Snow Petrels seemed to take a fancy to the Ushuaia – one was even seen to drive away a Pintado Petrel that had ventured too close. We also saw our last Kerguelen Petrels, ending the day with an impressive count of 25. Late in the afternoon Shag Rocks could be seen on the horizon far off to starboard.

On Saturday morning, November 3, we awoke to heavy fog and building seas. The “Big A’s”, Wandering and Royal Al-batrosses, made repeated close passes at

the stern. A diehard group was lined up along the rails underneath the Zodiac deck to meet them, where we rapid-fired thousands of megabytes of close range photos. So close that we could even read the band on one bird’s leg – #485, which we later discovered from Andy Wood of the British Antarctic Survey was a fe-male Wandering Albatross born on Bird Island in 1982! Andy gave us details on the remarkable life of this albatross:

“A Wandering Albatross carrying plastic ring Black 485 (B485) is in-deed in our database of birds from Bird Island. B485 is a female band-ed as a chick on the island in 1982 (the Falklands conflict cohort!). She first returned to breed in 1990/1991 but her chick died. She returned in 1991/1992, 1992/1993 and 1993/1994 but the chick failed in all these years in early may. However in 1995/1996 she was successful in fledg-ing a chick, and again in 1997/1998, 1999/2000, 2001/2002, 2003/2004, 2005/2006 and 2007/2008. In all these years from 1990/1991 on-wards she paired with a male carry-ing metal band 5109603. We would have expected her to return to breed in 2009/2010, and she did, but her partner did not (and has never been seen again). However she found a new mate in that season (metal band

2 - 4 November 2012 at sea to falklands Days 14 - 16

Southern Royal Albatross Christer Widlund

29

Days 14 - 16 at sea to falklands 2 - 4 November 2012

4005422) and again successfully fledged a chick. Her new partner was seen for the first time in that season (previously unringed). As expected, B485 and 4005422 have a nest on Bird Island now (ie. 2011/2012), and their chick is likely to be fledging very soon - it was alive and banded on the 5th September.

So, when you [Don Gutoski and Werner Mayer] photographed B485 she would have been foraging to feed her chick at Bird Island. She is a very successful and experienced bird, and I hope will have gained enough knowledge to keep well clear of the longline fishermen.”

The weather deteriorated further and our group gradually began to leave the outside deck and return to the warm lounge. However, a few stalwart ob-

servers that remained were rewarded with the sudden appearance of a White-headed Petrel arcing briefly out of the fog and rain. This gadfly petrel of New Zealand and the southern Indian Ocean waters is a rare visitor to the South Georgia region, and this was one of very few seen on over 20 years of Cheese-mans’ trips here. These waters north of the Antarctic Convergence and nearing the Falklands also marked the entrance of new species like Slender-billed Prion, Sooty Shearwater, Atlantic Petrels, and increasing numbers of Royal Albatross-es, including at least one Northern Roy-al. Some of our most dramatic “sight-ings” were produced by the wind itself – in the afternoon, from the comfort-able interior of the bridge we watched the relentless procession of swells and waves, with spray breaking spectacu-larly across the bow of the Ushuaia.

Marine mammals were also seen dur-ing the passage at sea. Small pods of Hourglass Dolphins put in occasional appearances, teasing us by momentarily seeming intent on approaching to bow ride, then quickly turning away and disappearing. On Sunday November 4, over the course of the morning those of us stationed at the bridge saw three or four Fin Whales briefly surface and blow.

Snow Petrels Cindy Marple


sail to Falkland Islands.


Weather: Winds 10-30kn, seas 1-4m,

air temp -1°C (30°F), overcast to clear-

ing in the afternoon.




Weather: Winds 10-30kn, seas 1-4m,

air temp -1°C (30°F), overcast to clear-

ing in the afternoon.




Weather: Winds 5-60kn, seas calm

to 7m, air temp 3.5°C (38°F), clear to

heavy overcast.

Joshua and Sarah Aravind Krishnaswamy

Carolyn photographing seabirds Joan Poor

Marco editing photos Aravind Krishnaswamy

30

New Island, Falkland Islands Werner Mayer

f a L K L a N D I s L a N D s

31

Steeple Jason Island

NewIsland

copyright Google Maps

Sea Lion Island

our route around the Falkland Islands

f a L K L a N D I s L a N D s

Gentoo Penguins Michael Viljoen

Magellanic Penguin Cindy Marple

Rockhopper Penguin Don Gutoski

Rockhopper Penguins Marge Robinson

32

5 November 2012 sea Lion Island Day 17

By Pauline Carr

Sea lIon ISlanDWhat a joy to wake up this morning in completely flat water and surrounded by kelp fronds. A totally different land-scape of the flat Falkland Islands just broke the horizon - as well as the bolder outlines of Sea Lion Island dead ahead.

A white sand beach cushioned the Zo-diac landing and immediately we were

seeing very different species on one hand and some of the same on the other hand. Apart from the familiar Gentoo Penguins and Southern Elephant Seals, there were suddenly heaps of wee shore birds and passerines. Confiding Tus-sockbirds inspected our boots, busily searching the shore for grubs and inver-tebrates. Two-banded Plovers, White-rumped Sandpipers and Rufous-chest-ed Dotterels scurried across the wide

expanses of beach as most of us headed off for the main quest of the day – Rock-hopper Penguins.

Although the Rockhoppers were the goal, the 10 km round trip hike crossed a variety of habitats and we were re-warded with beautiful sightings of wa-terfowl on Long Pond – clearly breed-ing season was in full swing. All around us, Upland and Ruddy-headed Geese were whistling their evocative calls as

they shepherded all sizes of chicks from day-old upwards. Everywhere we were watched, not to say harassed, by bold and inquisitive Striated Caracaras ready to pounce if we laid any item down even for a moment. Gloves, camera bags etc. were equally at risk as sandwiches and even drink boxes!

A detour to the coast saw South Ameri-can Sea Lions, Flightless (Falkland) Steamer Duck, Kelp Geese and endemic

Imperial Shag Don Gutoski Blackish Cinclodes laps up blood Edmund Fellowes Rockhopper Penguin Elise Spata South American (Magellanic) Snipe Cindy Marple

Flightless (Falkland) Steamer Ducks Werner Mayer Cobb’s Wren Graham LogenRockhopper Penguin colony on Sea Lion Island Aravind Krishnaswamy

33

Day 17 sea Lion Island 5 November 2012

Rockhopper Penguin with egg Joan Poor

Black-browed Albatross skull Doris Beaman

Southern Elephant Seal Robert Rae Magellanic oystercatchers C. MarshamRock Shag Don Gutoski

Striated Caracaras Joshua OngFlowers Karen IrelandUpland Goose female Jeff Reynolds

Cobb’s Wren. The Grass (Sedge) Wren was also sighted, although more of-ten heard with its beautiful trilling call floating out of the tussock. The keen “botanists” among us found any num-ber of interesting plants, some edible, some medicinal, and some just bizarre.

Eventually a spectacular coastal site for the Rockhoppers lay before us – a natu-ral arch extended beyond the nesting sites and it was little short of a miracle

that these sturdy little birds could find their way out of boiling surf up rocky stairways that would daunt the most able rock climbing human. Rock Shags and Imperial Shag colonies added to the spectacle.

Leaving the keenest photographers be-hind, we headed for Sea Lion Lodge – welcome haven of civilization, tea, cakes and shopping!

Back on the ship we heard that some lucky few had witnessed a pod of orcas kill a Southern Elephant Seal – remind-ing us that this deceptively mellow and gentle island also represented nature in the raw.


anchor near Sea Lion Island.


Weather: Winds 0-15kn, seas calm,

air temp 3.5°C (38°F), light overcast to

partially cloudy skies.

34

6 November 2012 steeple Jason Day 18

By Robert Rae

This is the first Tuesday in November and the world pauses to await the elec-tion of a U.S. President. And 10,000 miles away in Australia, a country pauses to watch the result of the world’s richest horse race, the Melbourne Cup. But here in the East Falklands, we pause to absorb the sheer beauty and splendor of the world’s largest colony of Black-browed Albatross. Long after the results of Presidential elections and horse races are forgotten, the memory of this first Tuesday in November will be embedded in the minds, and laptop images of the

76 passengers aboard the Ushuaia.

STeePle JaSonMany enjoyed the luxury of a good night’s sleep in the smooth waters of the East Falkland Islands as we made the 13-hour sail last night from Sea Lion Island to this clear bright morning at Steeple Jason. The swirling clouds of Black-browed Albatross provided a tantalizing taste of the morning to come. Zodiacs were launched, lunches assembled and breakfast conversations shortened to beat the scheduled 8 A.M. first landing.

At the landing site, the skill of the pas-

sengers and the careful guiding of the staff in negotiating the wet and slippery conditions of our landing created many worthy candidates for Cirque du Soleil!

Armed with briefings that detailed the boundaries of albatross colonies, the adolescent behavior of the “Johnnie Rooks” and the schedule for Tim and Pauline’s assault on Mt. Steeple Jason, our assembled groups marched onward to the expectations of large colonies of Black-browed Albatross.

Negotiating the tussock grass brought back memories of Humphrey Bogart pulling the boat through the swamps in the film the Africa Queen. But after our struggles, we were very pleased with our rich reward – nesting albatross within our camera lenses! We were treated to hours of an up-front, close and personal interaction with these majestic birds in all varieties of displays – birds on eggs, birds courting and birds wheeling in a sky thick with wildlife.

Those not focused skywards enjoyed the diversity and color of moss and li-chen along with the first signs of micro-blooms from a variety of semi-alpine flowers and orchids that clung close to the ground to avoid the blasts of Ant-arctic air.

Tim and Pauline’s walkers were reward-ed with excellent sightings of a pair of

overlooking Steeple Jason Paul McKenzie Black-browed Albatross Don Gutoski

Black-browed Albatross Michael Viljoen

Black-browed Albatross Phil Gretton

35

Day 18 steeple Jason 6 November 2012

Peregrine Falcons.

During the day a select few had the opportunity to meet the staff from the Falkland Island Wildlife Trust. They were on the island to count the num-ber of nesting Gentoo Penguins and to count the entire population of albatross. All in 2 weeks! The preliminary news is that the population of both species ap-pears to be either stable or increasing moderately.

As the morning progressed the light and the weather turned. The wind changed, temperatures dropped and rain started falling. Our loss was a win for the many nesting albatross as the moisture in the soil enabled many to collect mud to make repairs on their nests. For many, the changing weather signaled the start of an exodus back to the landing site and the Zodiac ride back to a warm and dry ship. South American Sea Lions provided an appropriate farewell com-mittee.

Back onboard, laptops emerged from the gloom, camera memory cards were downloaded and the exhaustive process of photo-editing and mastery of the delete key commenced. Conversations of the day’s highlights and lowlights ensued with comments on the weather fading to the joys of a fine morning on Steeple Jason. The ability to be so

close to the birds, the sheer bravado of the Johnnie Rooks, the color of the mosses and sedges, the peace and quiet of the eastern side of the island were all mentioned. However, they couldn’t be matched by the sheer majesty of the Black-browed Albatross.

In the early evening before dinner, sea-birds amassed offshore, including hun-dreds of Sooty Shearwaters and our first Great Shearwaters of the trip.

Falkland Lady’s Slipper (endemic) Rosemary Hillis

Black-browed Albatross Aravind Krishnaswamy


chor near Steeple Jason Island.


Weather: Winds 0-15kn, seas calm, air

temp 4°C (40°F), clear skies to heavy

overcast and rain.

overlooking Steeple Jason Joshua Ong

36

7 November 2012 New Island Day 19

By Pauline Carr

neW ISlanDThis, our last landing, was voted one of the very best! The Ushuaia had an-chored overnight in Ship Bay on New Island so we were well rested after a peaceful night and eager to extract ev-ery last moment out of this final visit. Landing on another perfect white beach, we scrambled up a grassy slope inhabited by Magellanic Penguins and onto a rough Land Rover track that led to a steep-sided amphitheatre of birds – Rockhopper Penguins, Black-browed Albatross and Imperial Shags. It was a truly amazing sight.

Tim led a hike up to the rocky head-lands across narrow ridges to wonder-ful lookouts over the ocean and colo-nies. We descended to a long white sand beach where we found a midden of sea lion skulls and bones to remind us of a murkier past on the Falklands. A well-earned mid-morning snack saw us close by a good-sized Gentoo Penguin colony. Just as we were about to leave, five Peale’s Dolphins came into the bay, three of them only a wave’s width from the beach.

Three options found folk either return-ing to the ship for a comfortable jour-ney to the next landing site at the settle-ment, or following the ship in Zodiacs

for a bouncier ride, or walking the seven kilometers around and over the hills.

Those of us who walked were able to look down on the cluster of small houses surrounded by gorse and mar-vel at the hardiness of people who used to live on this most isolated island. At the small museum, and shop, we met Georgina Strange whose father had been instrumental in creating the New Island nature reserve through the New Island Conservation Trust. Close by the stone building was a gentle spot in the sunshine to watch Kelp Geese and other shore birds and muse on the three very full days in the Falklands. But it was still not over as we walked a short track across the “camp”, as the Falkland grasslands are called. Along the way, scarlet-breasted Long-tailed Meadow-larks made a colorful contrast with the bright yellow gorse banks.

At the end of the track was another amphitheatre of wildlife, again giv-ing the photographers amazing access to portraits and to birds on the wing in perfect windy conditions for flight photography. A gulch of steep tussock, large boulders and huge slabs of rock, gave a tenuous route down to the wild coast where “Rockies” were landing and a few were threading their laborious routes, hop by hop, up to the colonies. Many of these Rockhopper Penguins

Magellanic Penguin and hikers Alan LillichHIking across New Island Christopher Marsham

overlooking the north coast of New Island Fred Wales

37

Day 19 New Island 7 November 2012

were just chilling out by some patches of water where several others were in-dustriously bathing prior to drying on the sun-warmed rocks. A fur seal briefly engrossed us with an appearance on a rocky slab before it swam away on some unknown mission.

As we meandered back to the land-ing site, we all felt utterly fulfilled by our journey and regretted that it could

Rockhopper Penguin Denise Ippolito

not last longer but the town of Ushuaia called and our onward flights awaited. We all felt philosophical as the anchor was finally hauled aboard and we head-ed out into the ocean for the last time.

Rockhopper Penguin Don Gutoski

Rockhopper Penguin Alan Lillich

Rockhopper Penguins Christer Widlund


anchor near New Island.


Weather: Winds 10-30kn, seas calm,

air temp 4°C (40°F), clear skies to light

overcast.

Panorama of Ship Bay, New Island Doris Beaman

38

8 - 9 November 2012 at sea to ushuaia Days 20 - 21

By Dave Shoch

aT SeaThese were our last days of the expedi-tion. It was sad to see our expedition soon come to a close, but we felt satis-fied that we made the most of each oth-er’s company to revel in our triumphant exploits in this remote part of the world.

Attendance was high for Rod and Tom’s photo critique and the much-anticipat-ed post-expedition slide shows, where we could all see the incredible accom-plishments of long, patient hours on-shore.

UShUaIaThe adventure continued during our sail back to Ushuaia. Hourglass and

Peale’s Dolphins made brief appear-ances at sea after leaving the Falklands. And the seabird parade went on. As we rounded the eastern tip of Tierra del Fuego, with Staten Island to our east, the Ushuaia was escorted by squadrons of Sooty Shearwaters. The first signs of the South American continent appeared in the form of Imperial Shags and Chil-ean Skuas. Heading into the mouth of

the Beagle Channel on Thursday, 8 No-vember, evening, we passed close by a commercial fishing vessel with an im-mense flock of seabirds in attendance that quickly took up the Ushuaia as its new host. The call went out on the ship’s loudspeaker and we all went out on deck to view one of the southern ocean’s unique spectacles – swirling around the ship, literally thousands of Cape Petrels, Black-browed Albatross, Southern Gi-

Sailing back to Ushuaia Hank Perry

Carolyn and Rita Christer Widlund

Doris on the bridge Marge Robinson

39

Days 20 - 21 at sea to ushuaia 8 - 9 November 2012

ant Petrels and White-chinned Petrels, and at least 15 giant Royal Albatrosses.

The aUC TIonFriday we spent anchored in the Beagle Channel, where we had arrived ear-lier than scheduled ahead of a storm now raging over the waters we had just crossed. Anticipation had been run-ning high that day for the auction, held onboard to benefit the South Georgia Heritage Trust’s historic rat eradication effort on South Georgia. Many gener-ous donations were made, including a copy of Antarctic Oasis signed by Tim and Pauline Carr and Prince Phillip, three beautiful prints from the expedi-tion by Artie Morris, a private Adobe Lightroom tutorial by Aravind Krish-naswamy, just to name a few. The air during the event was electric courtesy of white-hot auctioneer Joe Kaplan (Joe, quit your day job!) and expectations were far exceeded. By the end of the auction we had collectively raised over $13,000, achieved in large part with a $5,000 match contributed by one of us. For some perspective, this amount will fund the equivalent of over 200 acres of rat eradication efforts on South Georgia. It will be a fitting legacy of our expedi-tion, and yet for us surely just marks the beginning of a newly-inspired commit-ment to conserve this crown jewel of the Antarctic.


sail to Ushuaia.


Weather: Winds 10-80kn, 1-6m swell

from the west, air temp 6°C (44°F),

overcast with rain.


sail to Ushuaia.


Weather: Winds 5-30kn, 1-3m swell

from the west, air temp 0°C (32°F),

snow to sunshine, variable.

Mob of seabirds follows the Ushuaia Paul McKenzie

Photographers on the bow Hank Perry

Cape Petrels Alan Lillich

40

E X P E D I T I O N s Ta f f

Ted Cheeseman Vibeke Breiting

Ted Cheeseman Issy Douvartzidis

Tim Carr Doris Beaman Tim & Pauline Carr Dan Logen Ted Cheeseman & Hugh Rose Rosie MetherallSarah Doty Joshua Ong

Lynne Hoole Christer Widlund

Rod Planck Arthur MorrisTom Murphy Rosie Metherall

Marlene Planck Joe Kaplan

Dave Shoch Juan Salcedo

Pauline Carr Fred WalesJoe Kaplan Chris Williams Juan Manuel Salcedo Artie Morris

Marco Restani Robert Rae

Dave Shoch, Rod Planck & Joe Kaplan Ildiko Szabo

Hugh Rose Hank Perry

41

P O s T c a r D s f r O m T h E f I E L D

Southwestern coast, South Georgia Alan Lillich St. Andrew’s Bay, South Georgia Luz Torrez Right Whale Bay, South Georgia Marc Lombardi New Island, Falkland Islands Carolyn Peterson

ocean Harbour, South Georgia Christer Widlund St. Andrew’s Bay, South Georgia Cindy Marple Undine Harbour, South Georgia Hank Perry Steeple Jason, Falkland Islands C. Marsham

Larsen Harbour, South Georgia Doris Beaman Salisbury Plains, South Georgia Michael Viljoen Imperial Shag Denise Ippolito New Island, Falkland Islands Fred Wales

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Cheesemans’ eCology safaris20800 Kittridge roadsaratoga, California 95070 Usa

(800) [email protected]

S O U T H G E O R G I A A N D F A L K L A N D I S L A N D S

e X P e D i T i o n l o g20 october to 9 november 2012

Documents

SOUTH GEORGIA - Cheesemans Ecology Safaris · Our 25-day expedition started in Santiago, Chile, on October 18, 2012 with 75 passengers and 13 expedition staff. ... Travelmate Photo