The Letters of South Georgia

A few days ago, we arrived here in the old whaling station called Grytviken in South Georgia. It is amazing here. This blog post is a paragraph about words that start with the letters in South Georgia. It is like an acrostic poem.

S = Sounds
As we came into the port, I noticed a peculiar sound. There was a crackling noise like what you experience with a mouth full of Pop Rocks. This sound was coming from the ice chunks, popping as we passed them.

Later, we heard all the noises from the animals on shore. The Fur Seals made an interesting collection of noises. The small black pups growl the most. However, they still manage to be cute even when they bare their small teeth and poise for flight. Each female fur seal has her own call, so after hunting they can howl and find their pup by its unique answering bark. When a concealed mom or pup barks from behind a bit of tussock grass right next to me, it gives me a fright. The variation in their calls is noticeable as they can sound like lambs, hounds, cows, birds, or even a human's shriek. The full grown male's bellowing roar is more like a deep snarl. They are the most intimidating fur seals here.

When they are not snorting and grunting, the noise an Elephant Seal makes is rather alarming. If they are disturbed, they roar with a wide open mouth, making a loud, guttural burp. As they roar, the elephant seals flop around making the penguins squawk and waddle away in alarm.

The King Penguin caw is weird, too. Take a crisp, high note of a kazoo and then have 50 penguins squawk that noise at once. That is the strange noise that comes from a flock of molting King Penguins. Here, the animals sounds are quite extraordinary.

O = Ornithology
Birds are everywhere. They are on the beach,hopping around; on the slopes, nesting and sitting; in the air, lazily swooping and soaring. What comes to mind when someone asks you to think of the biggest bird? Perhaps you think of a Bald Eagle of a Great Blue Heron or a Condor? I think of an Andean Condor we saw (with an 8-10 foot wingspan) as well as a Wandering Albatross with a 9 foot wingspan. Huge. We have seen them in the middle of the ocean and upon approach to South Georgia. In addition, we have seen skuas, flesh eating pintails, great petrels, terns, and of course penguins. I am glad we have seen lots and lots of birds because they are amazing and I learn a lot from Porter, a worthy ornithologist.

U = Unbelievable
It is just unbelievable that we are here. It was our dream to visit this place and now we are actually here! South Georgia is as, if not more, amazing and beautiful than we thought it would be.

T = Turquoise Water
As we came in to Cumberland Bay, I noticed the water color. It was the murky turquoise of melted glacier and sea ice water. The color was very beautiful, and quite different from the cool, dark indigo color that we have gotten used to seeing in most of the other places we have sailed. On a sunny day, the water here could be mistaken for the Bahamas. It is the right color, and from a distance, the kelp looks like reefs. The only noticeable difference is you cannot see the bottom. The water is so cool (no pun intended!). This is one factor that makes just looking across the water interesting.

H = History
The history of South Georgia is fascinating. Ernest Shackleton, the captain of The Endurance and leader of the trans-antarctic expedition, sailed, with a large crew, to Antartica. He wanted to be the first expedition to cross the continent. The Endurance got trapped between some ice in sight of the ship's destination, then got crushed and sank. The large crew lived in tents on the pack ice until they saw it starting to crack. They moved to Elephant Island and lived under upside down life boats, surviving on mostly seal blubber. From there, Shackleton sailed with five more crew members, in a 23 foot long boat, for 800 miles to the south side of South Georgia. They hiked over glaciers and high mountains to get help at a whaling station on the north side. They rescued the rest of the crew at Elephant Island, and every man stayed alive. The history of Ernest Shackelton is interesting and the whaling history is full of surprises for me.

G = Giant Peaks and Cliffs
The afternoon before we came into port, Mama shouted "Land Ho!" At first when I came rushing on deck, I did not see the land. But then I noticed it. If it had been a blue sky day, we would have seen it sooner. Because it was cloudy, the high snowy white peaks and ridges were mostly concealed, but solitary dark patches gave the positions away. When we came into the port however, it was a different story. Surrounding the cove, towering above us all, were grey and black stone mountains. The pointed tops were often hidden among a ring of fluffy white clouds. Gentle slopes of moss and grass at the base of the mountains turned quickly into jagged, rocky cliffs as your eyes roamed upward. And just behind the first set of mountains are even taller, snow capped peaks. Lots of peaks are waiting to be hiked here. I am excited to explore some of them.

E = Engaging with Wildlife
So far, on the second day here, we have seen some interesting creatures. The female and young male Elephant Seals were napping in the grass. Even though they were not the biggest ones, which are18 feet long, weigh up to 4 tons, and have the funny nose, they were a good 10 feet long and and made big grunting snores. Actually, I am not sure I want to see a full grown bull Elephant Seal just yet. It would be too frightening.

Then the fur seals are funny. They are the size of normal seals and spread out on the grass. There are hundreds of fur seals here in Grytviken. We have gotten as close as 2 meters as we walk through the colonies. I gave them names: C.L.F.L's are Cute Little Fur Logs, referring to the baby seals that look furry, not sleek, and that lay curled up, looking like stubby logs. LABS are Large Aggressive Barking Seals. They are the ones that charge grunting and growling until you hold your ground, when they stand like dogs snarling at you. On a hike, we noted that there were more pups than adolescent and adult seals. I think the seals are hilarious and a bit intimidating.

There are King Penguins, as well. I estimate they are 2.5 to 3 feet high. There are a few penguins very near the boat. About ten of them stand close together, heads hunched over part of their bright yellow necks. A couple were thin and sleek, others were fat and had bushy feathers, while most were a combination because they are molting. Why the sleek ones are thin is because they are almost done molting and during this process, they cannot swim and therefore do not eat for about 14 days. On a hike down a beach covered in fur seals, a bigger flock of penguins (not big enough to be called a colony) stood in a matter of fact way gibbering in their funny caws. Places with lots of wildlife, in my opinion, are good places to go. Therefore, this is a good place. Animals are only a fraction of the wonders South Georgia has.

O = Odor of Animals
Try to never get up wind of a large number of fur seals. The stench is unbelievable. Stinky! The Elephant Seals are no better, but the penguins are not as bad. But still try not to breathe in through your nose around these animals.

R = Rat Eradication
One of the invasive species on South Georgia got so out of hand that a party of people decided to get rid of them. The rats. They would eat bird eggs and fledglings. Their numbers multiplied as they thrived, killing hundreds of thousands of birds. Team Rat (a group of people that are trying to get rid of the rats) purchased three helicopters. They developed a special poison. This poison had a lot of effort put into it. It is irresistible to rats and a color and size that is least appealing to other animals on South Georgia. Rats do not learn not to eat it because Team Rat made the rats die days after they eat the poison so other rats do not suspect it is what is doing the killing. Under an ultraviolet light, poison turns a noticeable green. They take dead birds and see if they have eaten any poison by shining the ultraviolet light in the beak, so they can test to see if many other animals are eating the poison. The helicopters fly over rat infested areas, dropping poison out of a dispenser below them. So far, on the track that Team Rat is on, South Georgia will soon be an entirely rat free island and now the bird population is increasing again.

G = Glacier
As we came in to port, we again saw the white and innumerable shades of blue of a glacier. I am sure it is only one of many glaciers in our near future but it is still a "wow sight." A "wow sight" is one that is so awe-inspiring, you can't turn your feelings into any other words than "wow."

I = Ice
Of course, when there is a glacier it is no surprise to me that there was ice. I used the past tense because the wind blew almost all of the chunks out of the harbor back to the glacier after we were tied up to the jetty. But as we came in, Porter had to steer carefully through the floating chunks. Porter only nudged tiny chunks of ice as he steered the boat excellently through to clear water. The ice crackled and popped merrily as usual. Still as interesting as ever.

A = Abandoned Whaling Station
The jetty where we are tied, is part of an old whaling station called Grytviken. We had a tour of the whole station and learned all about the processing of whales. Porter will tell you more about Grytviken in an upcoming blog.

South Georgia is a fun, interesting place. One of the best places we have visited so far. -JackRabbit