At Sea - Thursday, March 3
We have spent the last three days on South Georgia henceforth referred to as SGI. I am writing this a few days later as internet access is very hit and miss. The island is about 165k long and 35k wide. For the most part the island is mountainous, snow covered all year round and the habitable portions are somewhat flat areas between the sea and the foot of the interior mountains. I use the term habitable loosely, since with the exception of a small number of semi-permanent officials, the only inhabitants are sea birds, penguins and seals. These flat areas between the sea and the mountains vary between non-existent to stretches of up to 500 metres or so.
The beaches are black volcanic sand and moving beyond them, the narrow strips of fields and meadows can be green and verdant as they are now in late summer. Interestingly, we must stay on the beaches and cannot walk on the grassy areas. The reason for this sanction is that these meadows are made up of tussock grasses, each tussock a mound of wiry grass about 1/2 metre high and a metre or two in width, and these are filled with all manner of nesting birds and animals, including seals. I found it very strange and wonderful to see wide fields carpeted with tussock grass abounding with baby fur seals who hid deeply in the grass to sleep or dozens of their fellows chasing each other up, around and over the grassy mounds in a permanent game of catch me if you can. These pups are this year’s cadre of newborns who are building up their strength and agility and getting ready for the long winter ahead. More problematic and very difficult to see among the grasses were huge elephant seals, who can weigh up to 4,000 kilos, another good reason for not walking on the grass!
I had my first encounter with an elephant seal on our first landing on SGI in Gold Harbour, a bay at the southern end of the island. We are sailing north, up the eastern side of SGI and are planning to make a series of stops on our way up to the end of the island. At each of theses stops we will have the opportunity to land on a new beach and explore the area and see the wildlife.
Prior to our first landing we were warned in vivid terms not to get within 15 metres of a male elephant seal, who in addition to being massive is very territorial, short tempered and in spite of its bulk, able to move more quickly than most of us can run. After wading ashore from my zodiac, I looked for somewhere I could sit to put my backpack over my shoulders, look around and organise my cameras. I noticed what I took to be a very large mossy rock just at the edge of the beach and was preparing to sit when two things happened in very short order; I saw on my right-hand side the end of the rock instantly swing toward me to reveal a huge, wide-open, yellow-fanged, angrily-bellowing, red mouth and at the same moment Alex, the expedition leader, cover about 10 metres of ground at top speed to grab my arm and haul me away. I was merely surprised but Alex was horrified, shocked, appalled, seeing his career in flames for having allowed one of his guests to be stamped and sealed. As he shakily pointed out, I was lucky that it was not the mating season. Had it been I guess the outcome would have been very different but as it is, I have fused into my synapses, my official welcome to SGI. After that the day was spectacularly uneventful.
We had been landed in a small suburban wing of a huge King Penguin rookery, the larger portion of which was to be found in our next landing spot, on the following day. Having suggested that it was of minor size and importance is to do it a disservice however. In fact this rookery consisted of about 75,000 King Penguins who appear to be exceptionally blasé about visitors. We were told that we should not approach any closer to a penguin than 5 metres and should respect their personal space. All animals have the right of way here and we were to stop to let them walk freely and stand still if they approached too closely. It quickly became clear that Alex had not briefed the penguins as they would shuffle right up to within a half metre, look up at you, and simply stare. Many of us spent the afternoon playing penguin “Simon Says”, staying very still and waiting for the penguin to look away so that we could move. The baby fur seals did come right up as well but they wanted to sniff shoes and pant cuffs and nibble on laces.
If a penguin becomes concerned they do let you know. They make a sound whose best description is the sound that is made when you put waxed paper on a comb and hum, an activity that I remember from my childhood but I don’t suppose is still carried on today. If you were then to take the humming, buzzing sound and amplify it, you would get a close approximation of a troubled penguin. At no time during this musical interlude does the penguin run or move off, he or she simply stands still, beak pointed straight up, and carries on with their version of Buddhist throat singing. This can be quickly picked up by neighbours and the resulting chorus can reach quite a volume. Singing rather than defending themselves or escaping sadly explains why millions of penguins were slaughtered for food so easily and with no resistance.
For all that it is a penguin rookery, it is also a whole Antarctic world and life cycle in microcosm. Scattered at random along the whole beach are fur seal adults dozing, their pups racing around, elephant seals being rocks, skuas and other large large predatory birds hunting and occasionally killing and eating penguin chicks or baby seals, King Penguins, Gentto Penguins, Chinstrap Penguins, waddling along and many types of birds nesting or flying off or defending their nests. It is cradle to grave all in one place, the living mixed in with the remains of the recently living and all seemingly unaware or untroubled by the evidence of our shared mortality.
So passed our first day on SGI.
More to come!
