Ryan's Journal

After a night of limited sleep on a bench in the airport I took a taxi into Santiago early this morning and roamed a bit. I wasn’t quite prepared for a big city, and the combination of the drunks, goths, and others who were finishing off their nights out (“Hey yankee! Look over here yankee!”) and my total lack of comprehension of Spanish was a bit overwhelming. As the day wore on and the street performers and stalls set up it was a bit nicer — the city has a very European feel to it.

Now I’m back in the airport waiting for the plane to take me home. For the first time in nearly two months, instead of a list of animals to see or a list of places to hike to I’ve got a list of tasks to complete — it may not be long before I need to head out on the road again. The first item on the list was to get all of the trip photos uploaded, so hopefully everything is working now. I’m pretty pleased with how the stuff from the Falklands came out, especially from Saunders, although a photographer with any skill would have come away with images that did more justice to the place than what I’ve got. Still, some of them aren’t bad.

The journey home continues, with the evening likely to be spent sleeping on the floor of the Santiago airport. I stayed at Kay McCallum’s bed & breakfast again last night, and having heard from lots of people about her “world famous” gnome garden I peeked over a fence and was greeted by at least fifty ceramic garden gnomes, as well as two pink flamingoes. I was advised to ask Kay about Grumpy, the traveling gnome, who was taken by two Brits who felt Grumpy was a bit young to retire to the Falklands — “the blokes nicked my gnome” is how Kay describes it. Since his abduction he has been on a world tour, with photos appearing in the Falklands newspaper on a regular basis. Word on the street is that Grumpy’s celebrity status has become equal to that of the Falklands governor, which is most impressive for a ceramic garden ornament.

The long journey home started today with the FIGAS flight from Pebble Island back to Stanley. Tomorrow it’s off to Chile, followed by a flight on Sunday/Monday back to the States, and eventually back to the Bay Area. After almost seven weeks it’s a shame to see the trip coming to an end.

An ungodly amount of hiking today — I was out of bed at 5:15 and pretty much covered every bit of the eastern half of the island. Upon returning home I discovered that Jacqui had cooked up an entire steak pie just for me — I easily must have eaten a pound and a half of food for dinner, and it was damn good. I assumed that today was basically the last day of the trip, but the plane back to Stanley won’t arrive until 2:30 tomorrow, which leaves practically another full day. Whether the body can handle another full day or not should be interesting to find out…

The brain had planned to get up at about five this morning, photograph the birds for a bit, and then head out to the west side of the island for some hiking. The body had other plans, so I crawled out of bed at nearly six, spent a few hours utterly failing to get decent photos of the birds, then took a nap for a while before heading out again in the afternoon. Since tomorrow is my last full day here I’m hoping that the brain will be more successful in persuading the body to follow plans.

Much of the evening was spent in the lounge with Alan, Jacqui, and a few of the other lodge guests telling stories, many of which were about Jerome and his sailing exploits. During the conversation it occurred to me that Jerome will probably be one of the ten most interesting people I will meet in my life, which is saying a lot given some of my acquaintances. Alan had more than his fair share of tales and also noted that Jerome’s son Dion has been known to windsurf in hurricane-force winds, while his other son once set off on a day-trip in his kayak and along the way decided Forrest-Gump style to circumnavigate the Falklands, covering as much as seventy-five kilometers per day.

Alan drove me to the far west side of the island today, and after dropping me off at a rockhopper colony pointed out an erect-crested penguin in the middle of the colony. Apparently the bird is supposed to be found only in New Zealand, so this one obviously made a huge wrong turn. During the hike back to the settlement I saw four additional types of penguins, five dolphins, a large number of raptors, and a sea lion who was being harassed by an albatross and a petrel. My feet are sore and my legs hurt, but if I can manage it will be more of the same tomorrow.

I set off hiking early this morning with no real destination in mind, and about fifteen miles later returned to the lodge having visited most of the eastern half of the island. The lodge owners don’t seem to be used to having guests wandering aimlessly, and Alan sheepishly asked me to take a radio and call at 5:00 just to verify I was still alive. Jacqui was running a wildlife tour this afternoon, and I think I actually startled her when she drove up and found me in the midst of a rockhopper colony seven miles from the lodge. More of the same is planned for tomorrow.

The trip is in its final stage now, and I tried to book things so that I could take it easy at the end — the hospitality, accomodation, and most importantly the food at the lodge here has me convinced that I chose well. The wildlife isn’t as spectacular on this island, but the hiking is good and there is still a lot to see. The only other folks at the lodge right now are an older group of British bird watchers — they explained to me that Venice Beach is apparently the best spot in LA for bird watching; tremendous confusion, some of which involved the word “grotty”, followed that comment.

Last day on Saunders, and I’ll be sad to go, although after three days of self-catering it will be very nice to eat something other than tuna sandwiches again. While here my alarm clock has been a caracaras who arrives shortly after sunrise and then loudly patrols the tin roof, the dolphins have reappeared each day in greater numbers (twenty-one this morning), there have been at least a dozen times where a black-browed albatross flew in for a landing within feet of me, and the rockhopper penguins have adopted an annoyed expression any time they have to hop around the very clumsy human who is in their path. I’ve done enough hiking to realize I’m hugely out of shape, taken enough photos that it will take ages to sort through them all, and in general enjoyed myself thoroughly.

Perfect weather, lots of hiking, and lots of photography — next to Steeple Jason I think this is my favorite island in the Falklands. I’m not much of a writer, so hopefully a couple of photos will at least begin to do the place justice.

Not only is Saunders Island an even more amazing place than Sea Lion Island, but the sun reappeared this afternoon — I was beginning to fear it had burnt out. The FIGAS flight was again scenic, although I had my seatbelt fastened as tightly as possible due to the high winds. The several stops included two grass airstrips, one of which had three small hills on it — takeoffs are a bouncy enough affair normally, but doing it on a roller-coaster airstrip adds a whole new element to the event.

Once the plane arrived at Saunders I was met by David Pole-Evans, the very nice owner of the island. He reminded me a bit of John Goodman, and has been living on the farm long enough that he can make an expression like “righty-o” sound quite natural. It took an hour by Landrover to drive out to the cabin on the Neck, and now that I’m here I’ve got the place to myself for two nights. The landscape outside is a spit of land between two mountains that is loaded with wildlife and bordered by large white-sand beaches. While hiking the black-browed albatross were flying by so close I thought one might hit me, rockhopper penguins roamed past me as if I wasn’t there, gulls followed me in flocks, and a pod of dolphins was swimming about ten meters offshore. Life is indeed very good right now.

I stayed up most of the night checking election results, and despite the fact that Kerry led exit polls for total vote, Ohio vote, and Florida vote by two-to-three percent he appears to have lost all three by a similar margin. I don’t know much about exit polls, but statistically the result seems a bit sketchy. The prospect of four more years of Bush doing whatever he wants without consequence (since he doesn’t need to worry about re-election) is a very scary one.

The day’s weather matched my mood, with clouds and occasional rain for most of the day. It’s a photographer’s nightmare — an incredible amount to photograph, but no light to do so. Still, just walking around is nice, and getting an occasional orca sighting is a thrill. Tomorrow it’s off to Saunders Island and, with luck, better weather.

For various reasons I’ve been having trouble falling asleep lately, and as a result couldn’t drag myself out of bed until nearly an hour after sunrise. The weather has alternated from cloudy to rainy, but between getting pelted by rain I’ve managed to revisit the rockhopper colony and also explore a bit on the other side of the island, which has some brilliant sandy beaches with handfuls of elephant seals on them. There have again been caracaras and an orca sighting, although my favorite part of the day has been the little birds, including the tussoc birds which come so close that I often have to try to avoid stepping on them. I’ve not yet figured out if they’re curious, near-sighted, or just lonely, but it’s definitely neat to have a couple of small birds only inches away.

Both the plane service and Sea Lion Lodge lost my bookings, but through the heroic efforts of Ms. Kay McCallum (“Ah, you need to give ‘em hell occasionally”) the airport manager was roused at home and all was soon put right. The FIGAS planes are awesome — we buzzed above the landscape at about two hundred feet, and it was more like a sightseeing trip than just a ride out of Stanley. We touched down on the dirt landing strip on Sea Lion Island, and the staff here is mostly Scottish so the beauracracy of the Falklands disappeared amidst some great accents.

Sea Lion Island itself is amazing enough that I’m a bit worried I may have booked the best first. I hiked a good bit of it today, had caracaras following me, saw an immensely busy colony of blue-eyed shags and rockhopper penguins, got lost in tussock grass taller than I was, and watched three killer whales swimming offshore. I’m planning on trying to be up for sunrise tomorrow, so with luck I’ll hopefully get a few pictures that show off the beauty of the place.

Beautiful weather today for a bit of roaming, but there doesn’t appear to be a lot in the immediate vicinity of Stanley that is of particular interest. Internet access is a huge pain, but I’ve still been trying to catch up a bit on the news:

• It sounds like the election will be ridiculously close, which is scary.
• The Sox broke the curse (wow!)
• The Browns have simultaneously discovered how to score and forgotten how to defend.
• The Onion reports that Cheney will attack America himself if Kerry wins.
• Ohio State football has collapsed completely and is now unranked.
• And otherwise life seems more-or-less unchanged.

Stage two of the trip starts tomorrow as I’ll be off to the outlying islands for twelve days.

There is a good chance that my internet access will disappear soon, so if the updates stop they should resume again by the second week of November. And yes, I know most of the South Georgia pictures are broken, but it’s just too expensive to upload them all right now so I’ll fix it in a couple of weeks from Chile.

Everyone else left for the airport about two hours ago, with Micky and Shane nearly missing the bus despite the fact that there’s only one flight a week — apparently they found a badmitton court and couldn’t be bothered to stop their game early. Seeing them stroll back to the boat as the bus was arriving was an act brazen enough to rate up there with Micky’s call for beers back at Trollhul. Afterwards I ate a quick lunch with Jerome, Kathy and Jerome’s son Dion before heading off to Kay McCallum’s bed and breakfast — after living on a boat for a month the luxury of a full-size bed, carpet and a good glass of tea makes this place feel like a palace.

Tonight was the last night together for the passengers and crew of the Golden Fleece, and no one wanted to go to bed. We all went out to dinner, waited an hour and a half for the food to come, then returned to the boat, drank a bit, and talked about everything from milking horses to smuggling Incan sword hilts to an Osama vs. Bush pay-per-view match. At one point Mike mixed Budweiser and milk together (I can’t recall what prompted it) and the resulting concoction was actually not all that bad. There was a lot of laughter, and I’m writing this now thinking that I’m going to miss this group greatly once everyone heads off to the airport tomorrow. I started out knowing the trip would have its lonely moments, but I didn’t suspect that parting with fellow passengers would be such a big one.

The Malvinas House Hotel has a sauna room with shower and jacuzzi that is rented out for four people at about twenty-five dollars an hour. After getting only two showers while on the boat, exiting the sauna room I was a god on Earth; whoever it was that built it should be given sainthood.

After the three days of hell on the seas the winds calmed yesterday afternoon, and we had comparatively smooth sailing until our arrival in Stanley at mid-morning. Upon landing Micky did a swan dive into the dock and held on firmly, and it’s safe to say that none of the rest of us will ever again take stable ground for granted.

My opinion of Stanley has changed somewhat now that I’ve had more time to visit — while it’s still a beautiful setting, there is beauracracy built into every facet of life here. One in three people (man, woman and child) works for the government, and even getting a table in an empty restaurant involved putting our name on a list, waiting five minutes for the bar to open, then waiting twenty minutes in the bar for the girl to come get us, and after all of that hassle the food still ended up being pretty horrid.

The day’s other big event was a quest for internet access. After an ungodly long search I was able to connect my laptop for twenty pence (thirty-eight cents) per minute, after which I had to wait forty-five minutes to download over six hundred spam messages and about thirty real emails. Pictures from the trip will be probably be broken until I reach Chile in two weeks since it would cost an amazing sum to get all of them uploaded.

We’re now off for dinner at a (hopefully) better restaurant, followed by an evening in the pubs — the only thing that isn’t expensive here is alcohol, and after five days without much merriment everyone seems ready to take full advantage.

With (hopefully) only one more day at sea everyone has acquired a morbid but resigned look — our options at this point are to keep enduring or to jump overboard, neither of which are particularly good. I haven’t seen Ted in three days, Micky has been prostrate on a couch for forty-eight hours, and Mike (who isn’t taking any motion-sickness drugs) has had the look of a deer in headlights every time I’ve seen him recently. Provided we do make land tomorrow there will be more than one person kissing the dock.

In the words of Shane, “What kind of shit have I gotten myself into now?” Winds are sustained at thirty-to-forty knots, waves are twelve-to-fifteen feet, and the boat is jumping like a Mexican bean. With the assistance of drugs my vision is horribly blurred but I’m not feeling ill, although several of the fellow passengers have been heaving forth with great gusto throughout the day. One thing they don’t tell you about rough seas is that while walking around is very, very tough, using the bathroom is practically a gymnastic event.

Today is not going to be anyone’s favorite day of the trip — the seas have gotten progressively choppier to the point where now the motion of the boat is extraordinarily sudden and in random directions, making for a sickening passage. I’m having to write this while lying down and with one leg braced against the wall to keep steady. The only notable events today were two groups of hourglass dolphins that did some bow-riding for a bit, and twice when the engines mysteriously died. Stanley can’t get here fast enough.

After a minor storm yesterday in which the boat was pitching at least forty degrees to port and thirty degrees to starboard the seas have calmed a bit today, but I think I actually prefer the larger swells to the choppiness we’re now going through. It will be none too soon when we arrive in Stanley. The day’s only real highlight occurred minutes after I first went up to the wheelhouse and a small whale popped up literally feet from our bow. Amazingly none of the three other people in the wheelhouse saw it despite the fact that the whale came half out of the water, although David saw his dorsal fin twice thereafter. Otherwise it’s been a long, slow day at sea.

We landed with terribly rough seas on Willis Island this morning, worked our way through a crowd of fur seals, climbed some rocky cliffs, and then paid an incredible visit to the black-browed, grey-headed, and light-mantled sooty albatross on the island. We’re now sailing across the open ocean on our return trip to the Falklands, but already I want to go back to South Georgia; the place is magical.

Sadly our last full day in South Georgia ended up being spent on the boat — we had a six hour drive from Fortuna to Elsehul, and along the way dropped Ted, Shane and Mike off to hike over to meet us. The weather wasn’t particularly nice when we dropped them off, and Jerome commented that “ils sont fous” shortly after leaving them. Pulling into Elsehul a couple of hours later we got a call on the satellite phone from Ted saying that the wind had dropped visibility to zero, so we made a U-turn and went back to pick them up. I had been joking with Jerome that he needed more sleep and should let me take the wheel, and he surprised me by taking me seriously, so for an hour I was doing my best not to get us all killed by scanning the waves for ice while being buffeted by sixty-mile per hour winds. In fairness the autopilot and GPS made the job a fairly easy one despite the weather, but it was still a hell of a way to learn to drive the boat.

It was a late night last night, with special cocktails from Jerome and a delicious fondu — definitely a good time. This morning we motored through relatively choppy seas to Fortuna Bay where the weather was amazing — sunny and warm, with occasional wind. Around the glacier at the head of the bay the wind was strong enough that you could lean into it at a forty-five degree angle, but elsewhere it wasn’t nearly as powerful. I spent the entire time roaming amongst the animals, including a lot of time in a gentoo penguin colony up on a hillside and at a precarious perch on a cliffside with a light-mantled sooty albatross. At midday one of the icebergs in the bay fell to pieces — it was a tall one, and the first half of it collapsed with a loud crash before the other side broke off, throwing up a cloud of ice and water that must have been at least ten stories high. Later, a few hours before sunset, the sun dipped behind the mountains and colored some of the high clouds into greens, purples and reds — it was something I’ve never seen before. All in all an excellent day.

A really wet, cold day today, so we’ve been in the boat for most of it. Mike has had an ear infection for two weeks and been having hearing difficulties, so we returned to Grytviken so that he could see their doctor, and the rest of us visited the Carrs and the museum. The yacht Northanger was in port, so we also pillaged their software library in order to repair Jerome’s Iridium email connection and thus give us access to weather reports. For the night we’re back at Leith Harbour whaling station, which is a bit like returning to Auschwitz — I’m glad to have seen it once, but would rather not have to be here again; however it’s a good anchorage and calm enough to allow Kathy to prepare a big dinner for Shane’s twenty-sixth birthday.

The trip is sadly winding down, so we’ve only got a few more days before starting the crossing back to the Falklands. Thinking back on the past few weeks, there have been a lot of memorable moments — wrestling with giant petrels, being chased by elephant seals, having a grey-headed albatross crash land practically on top of me, Micky radioing in for beers, Mike swimming with penguins in Gold Harbour, sitting on a mountainside amidst the vastness on top of the Phillipi Glacier, and tons of others. Slightly fewer cloudy days might have improved the trip, but it was still a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

The skies were clear and the sunrise beautiful this morning, but apparently plans had changed so instead of spending a few hours at Gold Harbour everyone but David and I got out at Royal Bay to hike, and we then continued on to St. Andrews Bay. We had beautiful weather for enjoying the immensity of wildlife, and I spent nearly ten hours out roaming.

This is the first trip on which I’ve used a digital camera, and while I have absolutely no complaints about the Canon 10D, the one downside is that not having to worry about film or processing costs means I’m taking an immense number of photos, and must then spend a couple of hours each night deleting the chaff. Jerome has an uncanny ability to walk by just as I’m getting ready to delete a bad photo and then call attention to it, causing everyone in the boat to gather around the laptop, so there have been a number of rather embarrassing moments (“Yeah, that’s an underexposed shot of half of a fur seal’s head”); however, being able to see the day’s shots so immediately makes it worthwhile.

It’s very late, but the politics on this boat lean left and Jerome, Mike and I were venting over the current state of affairs in the world. Getting up at sunrise may be tough tomorrow… anyhow, today was a snowy day, although it made for interesting photos and was easier to walk around in than rain. The day started with temperatures in the boat hovering in the low thirties since the stove had died overnight. After getting underway the first stop was Iris Bay for king penguins in snow flurries, as well as the usual complement of elephant seals and others.

The second stop for the day was a return trip to Gold Harbour — we have started back up the coast, so we’re revisiting a few places. This time I hung out with the elephant seals, and while none of the fights were of the scale of what I saw at St. Andrews Bay they were nonetheless impressive. At one point an elephant seal I was photographing reared up, and turning around I found myself only two feet from another of the four ton bulls; needless to say I got out of the way fast. It’s a total chess game with these animals, as they position themselves around the harems and strategically try to find ways to sneak in on the dominant bull, who is constantly checking to make sure that no one has snuck in. Micky and I agreed that sports commentators are needed to keep track of all of the action.

Mike decided that today was a good day for a swim, and donned a dry suit and went for a dip with penguins and icebergs. He made it for nearly forty minutes, which is about thirty-nine minutes longer than my California constitution would have survived. He also shared a bag of bowhead whale jerky which he apparently got from some Native Alaskans; eating whale in the midst of such vast natural richness was a bit odd, but everyone nevertheless tried a piece and the taste actually wasn’t too bad. Combined with the krill we’ve been eating we’re not the greatest of eco-tourists, but the stuff is mighty tasty.

My skis were finally put to use today as the options were to hang out with twenty Weddell seals or to ski up the Phillipi Glacier. Amazingly, with a set of skins attached to the bottoms touring skis will travel up steep slopes; unfortunately our initial ascent was extraordinarily steep, and near the top I was slipping a bit. Since an out-of-control fall would have meant a trip over the edge of the glacier and then a fifty foot plunge into the ocean, after my second slip (which sent me sliding about fifty feet down the slope) I ditched the skis and walked uphill.

Once at the top the slope was much more gentle, and we skied about four miles over the icy snow to the head of the glacier — the snowfield there was vast and pure white, with small mountains and ridges enclosing either side. We spent the next four hours each going our separate directions to do a bit of exploring, and on Shane’s advice I brought my iPod — strangely listening to Pete Townsend while sitting on a snow-covered ridge added a very cool element to the experience.

Aside from reaffirming what a terrible skier I am the return trip was uneventful, and once back we briefly visited the seals. They were allowing us to approach within six feet or so, and the Weddells are the most affectionate of the seals that we’ve seen, with the mothers and pups cuddling together. We’re now anchored for the night, but wind gusts keep pushing the ship over to nearly ten degrees, so tomorrow may not have the nice weather that we had today.

Woke up at dawn in Gold Harbour, but the weather had turned so everyone went back to bed and Jerome pointed the boat towards the southern coast, which is normally stormier but today had good weather. We spent most of the afternoon at Trollhul with elephant seals, some fairly belligerent fur seals, gentoos, kings, albatross, and various other birds. The weather turned sunny while we were there, with dramatic clouds around the high mountains and a soft light that lit up the glaciers in incredible ways. While sitting on the beach and enjoying the sun Micky wrote himself into South Georgia legend by radioing the boat, not for a pickup, but for a delivery of beer if any was available. Amazingly Jerome showed up a few minutes later, and despite the heavy surf tossed a few Budweisers ashore. We made an early exit as droves of gentoos were returning from the sea, and we’re now harbored off of Drygalski Fjord in Larsen Harbour with a small colony of Weddell seals on the beach to keep us company.

We motored from St. Andrews Bay into Royal Bay this morning to see the enormous Ross Glacier, which was calving off pieces as we watched. As we were leaving the skies finally began to clear, and we arrived in Gold Harbour with near-perfect weather. I spent the afternoon hiking along the cliffs looking for light-mantled sooty albatross, and managed to find a few of them nesting on the rock faces, including one pair that allowed me to approach within a few feet. These are beautiful and peaceful birds that are probably the most graceful fliers that we’ve seen thus far.

After leaving the cliffs I spent time on the beach with the elephant seals, fur seals, king penguins, gentoo penguins, skuas, and assorted others. The skuas seemed willing to have me sit next to them at an arm’s length, and the king penguin chicks followed me around, always a few feet behind. Most impressive today were the elephant seals, which were piled so thickly that it was nearly impossible to safely walk along the beach. In order to avoid the elephant seals I walked along the edge of the beach, but the fur seals had taken up refuge in the tussocks, and twice one charged in within inches before I could chase him away.

Today’s weather was thirty-eight degrees with a cold rain, so for the majority of the day no one really felt like leaving the ship. At around four o’clock most of us headed ashore, and despite the wet and cold it ended up being well worthwhile. Another giant petrel (perhaps the same one as yesterday) came running up to me, and we played for a while — he would grab my glove while I attempted to ruffle his feathers with the other hand.

Despite having to ford a few small rivers I was able to walk the entire beach (two miles?), and on the return trip saw what has thus far been the bloodiest elephant seal fight of the trip — the two bulls fought for over ten minutes, and when it was done both had chests stained bright red with blood, the victor had a cut to the bone over his eye, and the right half of his nose had been literally torn to ribbons and was hanging on only by threads of skin. During the fight the beasts were like the titans of Greek mythology — they would rear up eight or nine feet in the air and then smash together, trying to bite each other. At intervals they got so tired that they would collapse on one another before recovering enough to continue the battle. Amazingly, after such a bloody battle a third elephant seal came in and chased off the two combatants without a fight, so in the end they had fought for nothing.

We had excellent weather early today, but after last night’s outing Jerome could not be roused until well after 9:00 so it was a bit of a late start. He more than made it up to us by taking us to Ocean Harbour where we were able to board a one hundred year old shipwreck that is now home to a blue-eyed shag colony. Normally visiting an old shipwreck would be a highlight, but with so many beautiful and relatively fearless birds aboard hardly anyone was paying much attention to the boat. A huge herd of reindeer was roaming the shoreline, so it was definitely a great wildlife spot.

After cruising through more icebergs we arrived at St. Andrews Bay, which is probably the premier wildlife spot on South Georgia. At the moment there are approximately 7,000 elephant seals ashore, in addition to the (at least) half million king penguins that are here. Mike pretty much summed it up when he first came on deck and inadvertently muttered “Holy shit” upon seeing the shoreline.

After coming ashore at St. Andrews another giant petrel took a liking to me, and this one was actually so playful that we ended up practically wrestling in the sand. Later a group of a dozen or so king penguin chicks wandered within a few feet of me, and when I walked away I discovered that they were following behind. Perhaps a half dozen of the birds came with me a good ways up the river before I finally picked up the pace and they dissolved back into the colony. The other highlight here was the elephant seals, who are at the height of their season. The big bulls are constantly bellowing out, and some vicious fights break out occasionally — we saw one big male the other day with his nose half torn off, hanging only by a few bits of skin. Almost all of the bulls have numerous deep gashes over their chests and backs — their fights are a bloody occurrence, but quite impressive to watch. They are surprisingly tolerant of us, although everyone except for Jerome is still giving them a fairly wide berth.

A very late night — Tim & Paulene Carr, the caretakers of the Grytviken Museum, invited us in for drinks, and afterwards the British Antarctic Survey team asked us to come have drinks. All of the British folks we’ve met here have been really nice, really fun people who are passionate about being in South Georgia. Jerome seems to be a major attraction at each base; tonight the Brits managed to get him to fall into one of their practical jokes and he returned to the boat with a face covered in talcum powder, the result of some goofy party gadget they had at their bar.

The day’s main activity was meeting Ted and company in the morning near Fortuna Glacier in order to complete the Shackleton Crossing with them. Apparently they crossed the island in near record time, and since the final traverse to the Stromness Whaling Station didn’t require skis Christine and I tagged along. The backcountry of South Georgia is beautiful, and the weather was amazing — warm enough for a t-shirt, and the sky was a perfect blue. We later found out that the ozone hole is exceptionally bad today, so we also returned with harsh sunburns, but it was worthwhile for the views over the glaciers and of the icebergs off the shore. Tonight the sky is clear and the stars are shining as brightly as I’ve ever seen, although aside from the Southern Cross the constellations are all unfamiliar.

The forecast was for good weather today, so Jerome stayed up all night to navigate the boat to Possession Bay, thus allowing Ted and the group to start off on the Shackleton Crossing at dawn. Jerome is something else — once he had dropped them he didn’t sleep but instead went ashore with David and I to visit a king penguin colony, and then motored on to Fortuna Bay where he single-handedly hacked footholds in icy-snow up the side of a cliff with an axe so that he could get from the beach to an overview of the Fortuna Glacier. The man impresses me greatly.

After leaving Fortuna we motored through icebergs to our mooring at another abandoned whaling station in Leith Harbour. Unlike Prince Olav, this station was operational until the mid-60′s and seemed more like an industrial plant than a historical relic. I briefly looked around, but the massive machines and huge buildings made it all too clear how whaling was once a heartless, assembly-line process, and I returned to the boat early.

After six days here our time on South Georgia is one-third over, but that still leaves twelve days for exploring. I’ve fallen into the routine of time ashore with wildlife interspersed with boat trips, meals of mutton or some kind of stew, and late evenings talking or looking through the day’s photos. Memories of home are happy ones, but they are acquiring fuzzy edges that weren’t there two weeks ago; life is good right now.

Any misgivings I had about quitting my job, leaving friends, and coming to South Georgia are gone — today exceeded all expectations. The day started with a really nasty four hour trip from our anchor point to Elsehul that kept everyone in their bunks. However, once at Elsehul the day improved as dramatically as could have happened. We hiked briefly from the beach and up to the cliffs where grey headed albatross were nesting — these were simultaneously some of the most beautiful and tranquil animals I’ve ever seen, and their nesting spot high up on the edges of sheer cliffs was the perfect setting for them. I was sitting within a few feet of the birds, but they didn’t seem to be phased by my presence at all — one even flew in and landed within inches of me. My analytical brain isn’t capable of describing the peacefulness and beauty of the experience with words; the task requires a poet.

After leaving Elsehul we spent an hour motoring across the roughest seas we’ve yet faced in order to drop some things at the British research station on Bird Island. The island is closed to anyone but the research staff, but we were invited ashore to chat with the five-person staff and to hike out to see the birds. The Brits on this base were awesome — they had pictures on the walls that ranged from the group skinny-dipping in an iceflow on Midwinter day to one chap decked out in a tuxedo standing in the midst of a penguin colony. At one point we heard a loud banging on the roof, and looking to the Brits for guidance one simply said “Sheathbills. Station’s been here since 1982 and they still haven’t figured out it’s not edible.” It seemed an enviable existence.

When they took us out to see the birds it was completely amazing — the animals are totally habituated to humans, and I was within inches of numerous wandering albatross chicks. The chicks sit almost two feet high and have definite intelligence in their eyes, which was moving to experience up close. The petrels and skuas were also very tolerant of us, but it was the wanderers that were by far the most impressive, and definitely something I will remember.

Best day thus far. We dropped Ted and party off early near the Shackleton Gap so that they could get more ski practice, and then Jerome left David and I at Salisbury Plain. We went ashore in a near-whiteout, but the weather alternated between snow and sun all day, so it was both beautiful and exhilarating. The king penguin colony is smaller now than it was in January, I suppose due to many of the adults being out to sea, but the chicks (who have been here throughout winter) all stand shoulder to shoulder in giant groupings, making for some really cool patterns against the landscape.

After picking the rest of the group up Jerome returned to get David and I, and we then headed across the bay to search for wandering albatross. For the most part we saw only chicks, but they were well worth the visit. The wandering albatross chicks are born in fall and spend the winter here, so these chicks were nearly full-grown and were testing their wings whenever the wind came up. As a gust would hit them they would stretch out their three meter wings, flapping in the nest with their down shaking — it looked like a happy time for them. As we were returning to the beach a giant petrel, one of South Georgia’s more skittish birds, took an interest in me and ambled across the snow, finally settling down about two feet away. I sat with him a bit, and when I got up rather than running away he followed me further down the trail before visiting Shane and eventually Mike. All in all a lot of tremendously cool experiences.

The weather early this morning was a miserable cold rain, so everyone slept late with somewhat lowered spirits. Mike decided pancakes were called for and cooked us up a great batch, and when the rain started slowing Ted and Shane headed off to do some skiing while I set out with the camera to finally take some pictures. By lunch time the rain had stopped completely, and later in the day the sun came out for the first time on the trip. I spent most of the afternoon sitting a few feet from a group of fur seals — we barked at each other but generally got along fairly well. Ted, Micky and Shane spent the day climbing the mountains and skiing down, and for just four runs traversed a total of more than 3500 feet of elevation change; they say it was well worthwhile. Tomorrow we’re leaving our dock at the whaling station and returning to Salisbury with the hope that the sun will continue.

Salisbury Plain is one of the places on South Georgia that I was most excited to return to, but the weather turned against us today. Due to the large waves we had to land about forty-five minutes from the king penguin colony, and during the hike to the colony the winds slowly started picking up. Fearing a repeat of January’s experience at St. Andrew’s Bay I was on guard, and when the wind began driving the rain horizontally I decided it would be safer to be nearer the boat. David and I ended up returning after only two hours ashore, although Ted and the others have been skiing in the backcountry for more than three hours now. What little time I did have at the colony was again impressive — there aren’t many places in the world that cause a suspense of disbelief, but first sight of this colony is one of them.

Having some spare time aboard allowed me to finally get a shower, and yet again I need to make an offering at whatever altar exists to the shower’s inventor — being clean after five days is as close to godhood as mortal life gets. The afternoon plan is to visit one of the wandering albatross colonies in the Bay of Isles, but the weather may have postponed that — we may yet be able to go, but with eighteen days here losing an afternoon luckily isn’t too terrible.

It’s far too late to still be awake, but we were out hiking until after nine o’clock and then spent a long time after dinner talking. The weather never really broke today so the afternoon activity was a late-day hike between two bays. Ted, Mike, Shane and I started off on the beach with elephant seals and gentoos, traveled up through frozen tussocks and into snow and rock, crossed over a high ridge shrouded in fog, and a few miles later came upon a small cemetary on a cliff before arriving at a whaling station that has been abandoned since the 1930′s. The hike was excellent — Ted got to do some snowboarding while the rest of us just sort of reveled in the solitude — and the whaling station is straight out of a Steven King movie, with a feeling of both familiarity and unfamiliarity in the wreckage that gives it a sense of mystery. The current plan is to stay here in the morning to explore further and do a bit of skiing before heading on in the afternoon, weather permitting.

After one full day on South Georgia the four days at sea are forgotten. The majority of the day was spent at Right Whale Bay with a few thousand king penguins, several hundred elephant seals, and assorted fur seals, giant petrels, skuas, and others. There was both life and death on the beach — elephant seals were being born while king penguin chicks were being attacked and killed by giant petrels. In the evening we made a short hike across a narrow portion of the island that ended with slides down the steep side of a mountain and to the zodiac waiting at the beach.

I don’t want to go overboard about how amazing this place and the wildlife here is (and both deserve any superlative you can think of) but while hiking it struck me that South Georgia is a tremendously lonely place, but not a place in which one feels alone. The island is a bit of rock at the bottom of the world, mostly covered in ice, freezing cold, and yet the sense of wonder here is that child-like sense of how incredible and full of potential life is. It’s a lonely place in that the solitude is as complete as it could possibly be, but at the same time it’s filled with peacefulness and possibility, rather than hopelessness. The world I’ve left, in which meetings and timelines seemed important, is a place where I’ve always felt very alone, while here on the bottom of the world there is only a sense of awe and amazement.

Last day in the open ocean, and not a moment too soon since everyone is going a bit stir crazy after being trapped on the boat for four days in the pitching ocean. The ocean crossing has had its good moments — standing on the bow with seals below and albatross above is a highlight, and we had our first icebergs today — but it’s a safe bet that everyone on board is ready to set foot on land. It turns out that I’m not unique in having avoided showering while being tossed on the waves, so it’s going to be a haggard and smelly crew that sets out across the South Georgia landscape early tomorrow morning.

Despite being advertised to last for twenty-four hours, I can say with certainty that meclazine provides seasickness relief for eighteen as I woke up feeling extraordinarily sick this morning. Spent most of the day in bed, although since taking another pill life hasn’t been so miserable. There isn’t a lot to see out here — the stars were beautiful last night and Jerome felt the wind was strong enough to allow us to travel without the engines for a bit, which was very peaceful, but it has otherwise been as good of a place as any to be confined to bed.

Day two of the crossing. The seas are still relatively calm, although the boat is listing as much as thirty degrees to starboard and twenty degrees to port in the waves. The wildlife seems to have mostly abandoned us, although we did have a pod of dolphins late last night, and occasionally an albatross will swing by to see what our story is. My limited computer skills were briefly called into service after someone spilled coffee on the boat’s laptop, but it’s otherwise been an uneventful day.

The Golden Fleece pulled out of Stanley Harbor at about 6:30 this morning, and since then we’ve been getting jostled by a six-to-ten foot swell that unfortunately is hitting us broadsides, but luckily no one is sick. We’ve had albatross, petrels and gulls all around us, and between naps everyone has been spending their time out on deck with the birds. Three more days until arrival on South Georgia.

The trip feels like it’s now underway, even though we haven’t yet left the harbor. The group Ted has put together is an impressive one, including Mike, who leads treks through the Brooks Range, Micky, who owns a climbing gym, Shane, who used to lead trips for Outward Bound, David, who was a passenger on the last Antarctica trip and myself. The crew consists of Jerome and two French women, the younger of whom has been living in Ushuaia for the past year and a half.

We spent the latter part of the afternoon in Stanley, and it felt like a town that I could someday settle down in. It’s got the character of a small New England fishing town, but with old-time British touches. The townsfolks (all 1800 of them) were quite friendly and willing to chat, giving the place a very cozy feel. This trip will be a lonely one at times, but there is no doubt it will be a good one.

It’s been a rather surreal day so far. Early this morning I woke to the sounds of the couple in the next room, who apparently were under the impression that they were being judged for effort. After leaving the hotel I flagged down what may not actually have been a taxi, and had absolutely no idea what the driver was saying as we drove to the airport. Once at the airport an array of televisions made it impossible to ignore an infomercial for the Jack La Lanne Power Juicer, and now that I’ve escaped Jack and am on the plane I’ve somehow been upgraded to first class for the flight to the tip of the continent and then on to the Falklands. Getting there is an important part of the journey, but after three days in transit it’s going to be really nice to spend some time on the bow of the Golden Fleece just watching the ocean roll by while the albatross follow along.

Four of the six South Georgia passengers arrived in Santiago early this morning, with everyone but myself having a ticket that allowed them to overnight in the capital. Lan Chile booked me on an 8:00 PM flight out of Santiago, which would have meant spending the day in the Santiago airport and sleeping on the floor of the Puerto Montt airport at night, but luckily I was able to switch to an 8:30 AM flight. After arriving in Puerto Montt it quickly became apparent that no one in this city speaks a single word of English, so my three-word Spanish vocabulary (“burrito”, “taco” and “cervesa”) was put to creative uses in order to get a taxi from the airport and then a room in a hotel. I’m not yet in full-on travel mode, but after flying over the jagged peaks of the Andes, running the airport’s taxi cab gauntlet, and getting a discounted room price despite barely knowing what the hotel owner was saying, it’s a fair assessment to say that the side of me that spent the past six months trapped in a cubicle is now fading quickly into memory.

The obligatory introspective start-of-travels entry follows. I’ll try and stick to interesting stories after this, although it may be a while before I can post anything since there will be no internet access until the end of October. I may not be able to immediately check or respond to emails, but please send them, and I promise I’ll write when I can.

Travels always start off differently, and this one seems to be starting off with a sense of who and what has been left behind — probably moreso than any other trip I’ve ever done, there were reasons to stay before leaving this time. Even so, South Georgia island is as close to a perfect place in nature as exists anymore in the world, and it affords the rare guarantee of simplifying life in a way that reveals what’s important. November 15 seems like a long way off, but hopefully when that date rolls around it will be possible to return to a life that is unchanged, but to do so as a somewhat different person.

Here’s the itinerary in full:

• 30 Sep to 02 Oct – Travel from OAK to the Falklands (via LAX, Santiago & Puerto Montt)
• 02 Oct to 06 Oct – Crossing from the Falklands to South Georgia aboard the Golden Fleece
• 07 Oct to 25 Oct – Explore South Georgia Island
• 26 Oct to 30 Oct – Crossing from South Georgia to the Falklands aboard the Golden Fleece
• 30 Oct to 13 Nov – In the Falklands
• 13 Nov to 15 Nov – Travel from the Falklands to OAK (via Santiago & LAX)