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| King chicks, very curious! |
I have to pinch myself - I distinctly remember my first job in the Falkland Islands, the 24/25 summer, a lodge chef on one of the outer islands. We'd get cruise ships visiting and most of those passengers would come to the lodge for morning or afternoon tea. It was one of those visits, early season, when they talked of their next stop being South Georgia and thats where Shackleton's grave was. What?!?! a) I never knew that and b) I thought to myself 'how can I get a job that takes me there, it has to happen'.... and it did! Just under two years later!
My first foray into the shipping world and Im with a small company that operates 3 small vessels. One is based in the Falklands which is how I came about getting an interview and planning for my break this year to get sorted what I needed - STCW cert was first and foremost.
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| Church at Grytviken |
This first trip was a month - that includes 4-5 days each way for travel, with crew and 12 guests. The guests were a group from France, going to South Georgia for back country skiing.
Yes, I get sea sick. Lets get one thing straight - like altitude, sea motion, in a big sea especially, is completely foreign to a land -based brain! What struck me more though was a migraine. Once Id had my horrific day with that, the rest of the trip was ok but I wasnt up to cooking in the galley and it shocked me there were actually people up and about and ready to eat. I must say though - we did get two really calm days too, and the same thing happened on the way home - huge seas at the start, me bedridden with a migraine and then smoother sailing into Stanley.
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| Shackleton's headstone, Grytviken |
The pre and post pack up of the ship takes a week and she's currently locked up again, and ready for us to reload for the next trip - 3 months in Antarctica.
Our trip was down and back up the north coast of SG, starting in the old whaling station of Grytviken. We arrived very early that morning and the weather was absolutely stunning, wow! And to get a shore and go for a wander was amazing - and this is where Shackleton is buried. His grave sits in a small graveyard, with a tall post like headstone. There was still a lot of snow, so I didnt really capture the base or body of the headstone or grave but, having been to his hut at Cape Royds in Antarctica, and then to his grave, well it still blows me away.
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| Humpback whale off the stern |
A lot of Grytviken remains - the outer buildings are gone but the guts are there, theres also an intact church and a great museum - despite the museum staff having not arrived for their summer yet, we were so lucky that the immigration officer that had stamped us entry, opened the museum and the post shop for us. Awesome!
We saw a LOT! And I dont recall every place - I work inside and would sometimes just dash out to snap a picture and get some footage of places. So I cant tell you every single place but heres what rings bells for me - whaling stations of Leith, Stromness (famed for the White House, the managers house Shackleton stumbled into after his notorious crossing to get help, and its still there!) and Husvik. All these stations are off limits and maintain a no-go zone due to the buildings being full of asbestos - bar Ocean Harbour which has minimal remains. You can still get a great view from a ship though. And some of the other areas I remember are Right Whale Bay, Salisbury Plain (that was INCREDIBLE)and Fortuna Bay - home of Whistle Cove, where Shackleton and his two men reached the coast after crossing the island in May 1916.
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| Beautiful mountains |
Wildlife? Thousands of King penguins, and we visited St Andrews Bay - home of the largest king colony, with up to 150,000 breeding pairs plus their chicks! Antarctic fur seals, elephant seals, leopard seals and whales! Humpback whales galore! The day we left Grytviken and dropped off the skiiers across the bay, we then left to go and meet them at their point B, and happened upon a huge pod of Humpback whales feeding. It was pure magic!
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| King penguins with glacier |
We saw plenty of glaciers and the mountains and ranges that were just so stunning. For some reason Id assumed SG would be like the Falklands but theyre nothing like alike! The highest peak in SG is Mount Paget 2,935m (compared to Mount Cook in NZ at 3,724m), and we were there in very early spring so still lots of snow.
I've had a week of big sleep, am focused on hydrating and looking forward to getting fully back into my yoga and pilates during this break. Ciao for now!
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| Whistle Cove |
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