Ryan's Journal

"My life amounts to no more than one drop in a limitless ocean. Yet what is any ocean, but a multitude of drops?" — David Mitchell

Prion Island, South Georgia

Posted at 8:10 pm, January 5th, 2004

The word “awesome” didn’t quite seem adequate as I was trying to describe how I felt while sitting next to Ted as we drove away from Prion Island and its hundreds of fur seals, gentoo penguins, king penguins, macaroni penguins, wandering albatrosses, skuas, and all of the other critters that lived there. In the background the mountains and glaciers of cloud-shrouded South Georgia Island, as well as the giant blue icebergs patrolling the waters, only added to the scene.

The day started with seals and giant icebergs covering the water — some of the ‘bergs were the size of small islands, dwarfing the boat and soaring many stories into the air. All sorts of weird shapes greeted us — some ‘bergs were giant squares, while others were broken up into towers and pyramids meshed together into fantastic designs. Our mid-morning arrival at South Georgia was immediately followed by a zodiac ride, and the thousands of fur seals, albatrosses and penguins that filled the bay, as well as some “ice skating” sheathbills, made sure that it was a memorable welcome.

For a day that was already going well, the visit to Prion Island was above and beyond all expectations. We jumped ashore amidst hundreds of fur seals, and literally had to traverse a tunnel of seals as we moved inland. The animals are territorial on land, and seals of all sizes were charging us, only to be turned away when we pointed sticks at them. I’m going to fail miserably in describing the animals, but they have short fur, big dark eyes that bulge from their heads, and heads and necks that look as if they belong on an animal that is twice the size. They also call out constantly, and the noise is a cross between a turkey’s call and a puppy’s yelp. The seemingly awkward appearance and demeanor of the seals was endearing, and in spite of their often threatening behavior it was impossible not to like them. At the higher elevations of the island we came across wandering albatrosses, whose population has crashed in recent years. With the controls that are in place to protect the giant birds we were lucky to have permission to see them soaring in over the hills and doing their courting displays. Given the wind and occasional snow I’m not sure that the photos will come out, but memories of the seals or of three sets of eleven foot wings swooshing past just overhead won’t soon fade.

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