South Georgia is a very remote island with no permanent population but does house around 30 residents throughout the year, scientist, biologists, etc.
For many on the ship, South Georgia and Grytviken is all about Sir Ernest Shackleton. The whaling station here was originally made famous by the man himself, when he and his crew reached land here in 1916 after the famous Endurance Voyage. South Georgia is the island, where here after 15 days of violent seas between Elephant Island (where he left most of the his men) and South Georgia Island, the dingy, the J Caird and five of his men landed and eventually all where rescued. Well, years later, this remains Shackleton’s final resting place: his wife requested that his body be posthumously returned to South Georgia for burial after he died of a heart attack in 1922. So with that many Shackleton fan guests made the short trek to the Shackleton Gravesite to pay their respects, saluting him with a cheer of “bring them back Shack”.
“For scientific discovery, give me Scott; For speed and efficiency of travel, give me Amundsen; but when disaster strikes and all hope is gone, get down on your knees and pray for SHACKLETON”
A rare beautiful sunny and warm day greeted us here in Grytviken and yes, we were very fortunate to be on an early tender, not for any coming in bad weather but the amazing wildlife awaiting to greet us. King Penguins, check, Fur Seals, check, Sea Lions, check and a plethora of bird life. We had, once again, the most amazing day here. We walked amongst all these amazing animals and yes did have a few approach with bearing teeth - just stare them down and clap, mainly the active and inquisitive seal pups (yes, soooo cute). We had two King Penguins greet us right off the tender as if they were set up and greeters and ushers, dressed in their penguin suits (I just couldn’t resist that one). We strolled and dodged all the above animals as we made our way to the cemetery, to pay our respects to the previously noted, Shackleton. We then made our back to the Museum, gift shop and church (where they had the funeral for Shackleton) and then back to the tender all within our two hour time limit. You may recall all the necessary biosecurity checks we had to do, well at the end of the day only a certain amount of guests could visit the island at any given time, so they did in two hour blocks to give everyone a chance to have this experience. The pictures here will speak for themselves but we feel do blessed to me amongst only the few in this world to visit here - especially after reading about the Endurance Adventure so many years ago.
For Happy Hour today in the Crow’s Nest we drank a toast of a Shackleton’s much loved single malt scotch, with the cheer, “Bring them back Shack” as we could see his grave over the water in the distance…
We had a couple of cameras going today and the pick of the pics was a bit difficult based on wildlife and cute factor, there will be a couple of parts today. Yes, many of the crew were out on watch playing human traffic cones and guest protectors, “If you are charged by a Fur Seal, stand your ground and clap your hands”, okay, was a bit intimidating at times… No fingers or toes lost.
Tonight’s dinner theme was, The Heroic Age of Exploration Commemorative Dinner. So a fun night featuring some of the dishes served from a bygone era. Our commemorative menu including several pictures from the many expeditions.
Hope you enjoy our pics…
Quote of the Day: “Now more than ever do I realize I will never be content with a sedentary life that I will always be haunted by thoughts of a sun-drenched elsewhere” - Isabel Eterhardt
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