Emailing....!

This post is just a quick note to say that I have neglected emailing in the last week as the time has just flown away from me and it's been pretty interesting. But I will be getting back onto emailing properly pretty soon, and will hopefully catch up on my correspondence in the next few days!

I am very well though... Thanks for reading, rob

First Walk Around King Edward Cove

For this post I think it might be wise to be less verbose and let the pictures speak for themselves. Taken after a couple of days on the base, and after having taken in a huge amount of new information, it was great to get out for a walk around the cove which took us through the crumbling histories and buildings of Grytviken, past the hydropower project which provides most of our electricity, and out to the far side of the cove. The scope for walking and exploring here is far greater than at Rothera due to the lower technicality of the terrain - we don't go on glaciated and therefore crevassed ground here at all. Solid ground, and snow on top of solid ground! The local travel area is extensive and marvelously contoured...

At Penguin River - a small colony of King Penguins, in the final stages of moulting and becoming what we normally think of as them off the biscuits... Far more interesting in real life than a crunchy chocolate sandwich.

Looking back down towards Penguin River - the beach shown, and all the way towards the bottom left-hand corner of the shot and round the bay, is currently home to elephant seals and pups. The noises made by these seals are particularly amusing - I have been doing a little bit of wildlife recording as time has allowed and will be posting the sounds of the place as I go along... This is if the internet will allow me - it is very slow and makes uploading any media like photos or sounds very difficult. But it is possible, so I will persevere.

One of the group, our seal and bird specialist Alastair Wilson, takes some photos of the bay and hills beyond. Not long after this point we arrive at a gun placement and a crashed helicopter. More on that in future posts... Rob

The Approach to South Georgia

Here am I, up on deck early to get a first glimpse of my new island home! A beautiful day meant we were able to judge our progress by constant reference to the coastline and the maps on the ship's bridge as we coasted along the northwestern coastline towards the entrance to Cumberland Bay. The mountains reach nearly to 3000m at the maximum which occurs just behind our station.

Here, the ship approaches the entrance to Cumberland Bay - once inside the mouth of the bay, it splits into two - the one named East, we enter. That named West becomes separated by part of our local travel area in which we'll be able to walk and ski when conditions and work allow.

Getting close! The sea colour and the weather were incredibly beautiful.

Our welcome into the base! It's not that clear from this picture but we were welcomed in fancy dress as is customary... a strange sight it was to see our mooring lines secured by a clown, a hunchback and several characters of dubious gender. The base commander's beard stayed in place for a good hour before she removed it to get down to some more serious business...

South Again...

Hello! Welcome again to readers of my previous blogs on various subjects and from various locales:

www.robertwebster.org/blog.html

www.rotherapoint.blogspot.com

www.antarcticguitar.blogspot.com

www.rob-webster.blogspot.com

www.robwebster-music.blogspot.com

www.robertwebster.org/wind_turbine1.html

I now present a new diary from a new locale. My latest job has once again taken me to the Southern Hemisphere to an isolated island covered with mountains and glaciers. The differences this time are many, and they will become clear.

I shall be writing for the next 14 months from King Edward Point, by the abandoned whaling station of Grytviken, the erstwhile core of the Southern Ocean whale fishery of the first half of the 20th century. It is also famously the site of the death of Ernest Shackleton, who died a few hundred yard from where I sit, and to whom a memorial is dedicated at the far side of the cove.

The place is beautiful and remote. It's also full of nature, being far less extreme in climate terms than the Antarctic Peninsula, and is home to endemic species and to the most southerly known songbird, the South Georgia pipit. This I hope to record!

Anyway, below is a short summary of my route to the Falkland Islands and onwards to South Georgia.

A couple of hours stopover in Ascension Island, not far from the equator. A strange lunaresque landscape, though hot. Little moisture is to be found, except on the summit of Green Mountain, where lush forest supposedly flourishes fed by moisture condensed out of the air as the warm sea air is forced upwards by the island.

Above, the classic shot from Port Stanley, capital of the Falkland Islands upon which the war was focussed during the 1982 conflict. The frame-like structure in front of the cathedral is a whalebone arch - the bones are blue whale jaw bones and clearly demonstrate the immense scale of these giant creatures. Blue whales were slaughtered in their thousands around South Georgia.

Preparing to sail from Stanley to King Edward Point - this took us the best part of 5 days of pretty pleasant going. Plenty of birds including wandering albatross could be seen from the rear of the ship.

Enjoying the sunny weather, which has incredibly continued until this day (the 3rd of November)! Thanks for reading.... Rob