The Circle of Life in South Georgia and Antarctica - Penguins, Seals and Others

Warning: this post contains explicit content some readers may find disturbing.

Looking back at the expedition now, one thing that surprises me is how the most extraordinary things were so simple and ordinary in the wilderness.

Life and death should be extraordinary events in our city lives. I mean, how many of you witness death, even for animals, on a regular basis? I certainly haven't seen a dying or dead animal (except for that time when I hit a badger, or at least I think it was a badger, at 70mph). Yet, when we saw injured, dying or dead animals in Antarctica, it was just so natural, so matter of course.

Each of the animals in this post had their own stories. They may not be the same stories as what I am telling here. Nevertheless, they each deserve a few words, and a moment of our appreciation. Appreciation for the gift of life, and all the opportunities and responsibilities that come with it.

Nature can sometimes be very real and in your face. We came across this gentoo on our first day in South Georgia. It was quite clear that he would not heal from the wound without any help. And there was no help we could give, other than possibly killing it to put it out of its misery. It was only a matter of hours, perhaps a day, before he became too weak to defend against infection, or the giant petrel that was perched waiting only metres away.

Our expedition in Feb/Mar 2013 coincided with South Georgia's cull of all reindeer on the island. Originally an invasive species introduced by the Norwegians over 100 years ago, their recent explosion in numbers caused by a decline in the human population and hunting on the island. This has in turned caused a number of problems to the local flora and fauna. Ironically the high profile cull was carried out by professionals hired from Norway.

We came across reindeer carcasses almost every day. This one had most of its meat stripped out, organs removed, leaving behind the skeleton, a pool of blood, and a bullet hole.

Sometimes the reindeer is just left, to the delight of scavenger skuas.

 

Derelict whaling stations scatter across South Georgia. Most of them are closed to the public due to risk of asbestos. The only one that was open to us was in Gryvitken. These vats were used to boil the whale blubber to extract whale oil, once the giant whales were carved up...

A photo found in the Gryvitken museum depicting the process of skinning and carving a whale using a range of tools once it was taken back to the station.

There were lots of fascinating history in the museum. In order to make the process of hunting whales more efficient, whaling ships harpooned a floater and a tracking device into the whale so they could keep it afloat and track it later while they move on to make another kill, and so on, until the end of the day when they return to tow them all back to base.

A set of whale bones found at Port Lockroy in the Antarctica Peninsula.

Two gentoo chicks seeking warmth from their mother. It was with almost certainty that the smaller one will not survive. Winter is looming and it just isn't big enough to survive the cold, nor is it able to compete with the older sibling for meals from the parents.

Dead penguin = good meal for scavenger skuas

Just to end on a slightly happier note, this is how they make little penguins.

Elephant seal sex - South Georgia and Antarctica

Two juvenile elephant seals play fighting, getting practise for real fights for their hareems in future

Warning: this post contains explicit content some readers may find disturbing. 

But I'm sure you'll read on anyway.

So by the time we got to our final day in South Georgia, we were all pretty much maxed out on smelly penguins covered in shit, and slightly fed up with having growling fur seals chasing after us. We were definitely looking forward to heading down to the Peninsula to see more ice and other wildlife on offer there. Nevertheless, we still wanted to get the most out of our final landing on this beautiful island that had so far filled us with so many surprises and lasting memories.

South Georgia Day 5: Golden Harbour

What we went on to witness was certainly memorable, whether it was a beautiful sight is open to debate.

Golden Harbour was home to the second largest mixed penguin colony that we saw in South Georgia. Amongst the penguins were lots of juvenile fur seals that were too hormonal and wanted a fight every time something or someone went near them. Our walking sticks were definitely needed here. The main characters of this episode however, were the elephant seals.

Specifically two elephant seals, which we came across almost as soon as we landed. 

The larger one was a male juvenile, weighing in roughly 2-2.5 tonnes. The female was much smaller. Experience told us that females are generally smaller than the males, but this one was quite a lot smaller, at least half his size, presumably because she was also a lot younger.

Then, without any warning, before we (and she) realised what was happening, he climbed on top of her. Almost immediately she tried to escape and wriggle herself free. But he was too strong and too big. He pinned her down with his right flipper. She struggled a little, but there was nothing she could do.

For the several minutes that ensued, we watched, awestruck. There was nothing we could do either, except for taking photos and filming the whole event.

Once it was over, he fell to the ground with a thump, and she finally got away. Still in shock and fear, or fearing it would happen again, she quickly moved away from the pack and spent the rest of the afternoon isolated.

That was one of the cruellest moments of our expedition.

Antarctica Itinerary - Location Tracker

I've written a few posts about the ice, penguins and some practical information about the trip, but you might ask, how do they all fit in? Here's my South Georgia / Antarctica itinerary:

February
8th - day trip to Volunteer Point, north eastern tip of the Falklands.

9th - 13th - Boarded the Golden Fleece. Sailing day and night from the Falklands to South Georgia. Spent Chinese New Year (10th) at sea - first time in my life I didn't celebrate it in the slightest as I was too busy trying not to be sea sick. 

14th - first landing of the trip at Elsehul, where some of the group saw a live penguin being taken and literally ripped apart from a group of petrels. It was also the only one time we saw an albatross colony. Our second landing in the afternoon was at Prion Island, where we were ironically chased by baby fur seals along the only man-made walkway we encountered on the whole trip. I also saw a penguin with a gaping wound on its side; I was pretty sure it wouldn't survive to the next day.

15th - landed at Salisbury Plain in the morning. It was breathtaking, metaphorically and literally - I could smell the pink poo when we were still at sea. The biggest King colony in South Georgia, there were an estimated over 200,000 of them. Later on we passed Prince Olav Harbour, which is a derelict whaling station, and landed at Posession Bay, where we saw a male fur seal trying his luck with a female. She wouldn't have any of it.

16th - we woke up to what was arguably the most spectacular sight on the whole trip: a towering iceberg over 100m tall in the morning mist. Apparently given its size it was likely to have been broken off from the Ross icesheet over 10 years ago. After that we started at Fortuna Bay and trekked part of Shackleton's trail to Stromness Bay, which is also a derelict whaling station. Sliding down ice slopes was pretty good fun!

17th - we spent the whole day at Gryvitken, resting and refilling the fresh water tank. Gryvitken is about 1km from South Georgia's capital, King Edward Point. We visited the museum, sent a few postcards from the post office, and did some trekking - where we saw Ernest Shackleton's grave, jumped over some pretty feisty elephant seals, and saw the remains of a crash helicopter from the Falklands War. Eric also taught me some night photography techniques here.

18th - this was our last day in South Georgia. We first landed at Ocean Harbour where we saw the Beyard derelict ship, followed by seeing another large King penguin colony and a lot of aggressive fur seals at Golden Harbour. It got cold too, and we were hit with snow showers in the afternoon.

19th - 23rd - five days of sailing through the Scotia Sea was gruelling; I spent the first two days lying down to avoid sea sickness, despite 3 different types of anti sea sickness remedies. Minimal eating (no appetite) and minimal drinking (to avoid getting up for the toilet) were not pleasant. Otherwise, the days were spent on scrabble, card games, films and processing photos.

24th - to take a break from sailing, we landed at Elephant Island, where we saw glaciers collapsing into the sea. It was also our first encounter of chinstrap penguins, who were very loud, and a leopard seal, which went on to successfully hunt a penguin (which I didn't see). This was also where I successfully caught fish using reindeer meat as bait.

25th - another day of sailing

26th - officially set foot on Antarctica. Seeing leopard seals, humpback and minke whales up close to the boat at Cierva Cove was pretty cool, and very different from the penguins and fur seals I had been used to. Second landing was Enterprise Island, where we trekked up a hill but ran into a brief snow shower which looked like a white-out. This turned out to a fun afternoon with snow ball fighting and ending in a beautiful sunset and moonrise.

27th - I missed what would eventually become the only opportunity of taking sunrise shots in Antarctica. Eric's "sleep when you're dead" motto still resonates. We sailed to Spigot Peak, which we climbed just so we could slide down the ice slope. Having a BBQ afterwards was pretty awesome, especially with a glacier in the background. In between the sailing we also crash landed on a iceberg with some dopey crabeater seals. Afternoon was spent at Curverville Island, where we saw a lot of Gentoo penguins, some with very recently hatched chicks.

28th - it was a cold miserable day. I got wet from the Paradise Harbour landing, and lost my beanie hat on the way up to the top of the hill. I really liked that hat. At Port Lockroy we sent the last batch of postcards from Antarctica before the post box closed for 6 months. The small museum and gift shop were also a nice change from penguins, seals and whales.

March
1st - landing was not a priority today, as we spotted a small pod of killer whales, or orcas, in the morning and spent an hour or two chasing them. We then saw an iceberg breaking apart and flipping in the afternoon, arguably the most spectacular sight on the whole trip. We did land on Ronge Island just to complete the day. 

2nd - last day in the Peninsula, we visited Hunt Island where we hiked to the top of a ridge with incredible views. More humpbacks got up close and started showing off, whilst two groups of Gentoos jumped for their lives as our boat approached their iceberg. Two more landings in the afternoon: one on an iceberg where we took jumping shots; the final one was full of blue eyed cormorants. 

3rd - away from Antarctica we landed on Deception Island, which had a very large colony of chinstrip penguins (allegedly 120,000 pairs). The famous Sewing Needles stuck out of the water tall and high. Then landing at Whalers Bay was like landing on Mars. The volcanic island also offered geothermally heated sand and water - perfect to bathe it!

4th - to allow the storm to by-pass us, we spent another day at one of the South Shetland Islands - Half Moon Island and Edinburgh Hill.

5th - 8th - we crossed the infamous Drake Passage, but by now I was used to sailing in the rough sea, so the 8m swells didn't bother me too much. I even managed to get a few shots of passing albatrosses and petrels.

9th - 12th - we were here right in the centre of a historic moment, witnessing the overwhelming 'Yes' majority in the Falklands referendum. The islanders celebrated, although without much style or alcohol. I even stood next to a group of chavs.

What to do if you travel to the Falkland Islands

Having spent 30 hours and over £2,000 travelling to the Falklands, I was eager to spend some time exploring this island rather than just passing through it for Antarctica. So I was very much up for going on a day trip when my fellow traveller Anthony suggested it. We had a full day the day before we set sail, so we decided to visit Volunteer Point, which has the biggest colony of King penguins in the Falklands region. 

Volunteer Point is a headland in the north eastern tip of the Falkland archipelago. On the map it looks quite close to Stanley, in fact a direct line between the two is just under 20 miles. However in reality there is a bay between the two places and to actually get there requires off-road driving in a 4x4 and takes about 3 hours. None of us had off-road driving skills, nor would the car rental companies provide the insurance for such a potentially hazardous endeavour, so getting a local guide to take us was the only option.

We went with a lady called Charlene who Anthony found on the Falklands Tourist Board. She was very friendly and talkative, and was willing to answer any questions we had about life on the island, which made the 3 hour drive much shorter and more pleasant.

For a day trip to Volunteer Point, tea and coffee included but BYO lunch, we were quoted £150 for 1, £280 for 2 or 3, and £330 for 4 people (as of February 2013). Cash payment only so make sure you bring enough Pounds to the Falklands as there are no ATMs on the island and the only bank (Standard Chartered) charges a fee to withdraw cash (see packing list here).

We had been told to meet at 7am to beat the cruise ship that was making a landing in the Falklands that day; apparently there would be about 200 people filling 60 or so 4x4's. Really not my idea of how to see penguins. Luckily they landed the day before, so we didn't have to fight for space, and we didn't have to leave til 8am. The extra hour of sleep was bliss, and it still meant we got there by 11am and still had a good 3 hours exploring and photographing penguins.

There were plenty of mine field signs in the East Falklands, especially around Stanley - a stark reminder of the recent Falklands War. I'm still not sure how slowing down would help though if you were driving through a minefield...

After three hours of on and off road driving, stopping for the occasional scenic shots, and lots of bumping up and down (apparently it was good practice for sailing), we arrived and left our lunches and bags in a small huts provided as shelter for visitors. It had a coffee table and a few chairs, with some information posters and maps on the wall. Next to the hut were 3 portable toilets and a tap that didn't work (mental note to self, don't get hands dirty, and don't drink too much tea). Just imagine what it would have been like if those cruise boat tourists descended on this place.

Apart from the usual "don't leave any rubbish" rule, Charlene emphasised two specific ones:

1. Don't touch the penguins (that includes hugging, picking them up, stroking, harassing, booting...)

2. Don't cross the stone circle around the king penguin colony. The circle marks out where they generally breed, lay eggs and raise the chicks. Going inside the circle means getting too close which in turn means potentially scaring them off and leaving their eggs or chicks exposed.

We were first greeted by a small group of king penguins, who looked on with an air of dignity and indifference. In fact, most of them didn't even bother looking, and just carried on walking about minding their own business. We followed them down to the main colony, stopping to photograph their comical movements and behaviour, and a few astray gentoo penguins.

At just under 1m tall, the Kings are the 2nd tallest penguins behind the Emperors, but just as colourful and beautiful. Their back and flippers are charcoal grey, while the front is a beautiful white. Towards the neck the white plumage smoothly gradients into a brilliant golden orange, which extends around the neck like a collar, while the rest of the head is black. Kings are also characterised by a black and orange bill.

The vibrance of their golden necklace illuminated the scene. Some stood tall, raising their heads and scrooching to the rest of the crowd; some just lay down to rest, while some pretended they could fly...

Slight digression; I still cannot believe I fell for this April Fools'... (full credit to Eric and Simon for making me believe, full credit to me for being gullible).

Photographing the Kings was easy; photographing the Kings' behaviour was way more challenging. But the most comical award had to be this:

  
We spent an hour or so photographing the kings' colony. We really took our time, I guess partly because we were so excited seeing penguins for the first time, and partly because we wanted to get as much practice at shooting with our cameras before the real deal.  

As we started making our way back to the hut for lunch, we came across a smaller and looser group of Gentoos. These were mainly chicks or juveniles, and were far friendlier and more inquisitive. As soon as we slowed our steps, 4 of them came over and crowded around us. Another two just went mad and started running around crazily, screaming and flapping all the time. They got quite friendly mainly with Anthony, pecking/sneezing/spitting, even jumping onto him (including sensitive areas). But we didn't care, the photo opportunity was priceless. When I finally picked a patch of grass where I could not see any penguin poo or snot, I too decided to sit down and one very inquisitive chick came up close and pecked me in the leg. It hurt more than I had expected, and my slight sudden retreat must have startled the chick a little. He kept his distance after that.

Anyway, Charlene said we weren't allowed to touch them, but she didn't say we weren't allowed to let them touch us.

We went down to the beach after lunch, and what a beautiful beach it was. White sand, almost completely unoccupied except for a few Kings waddling around, occasionally jumping into the radiant green turquoise water. The only things missing were palm trees and hammocks. It would have been a paradise if it were not for the penguin poo dotted around, and the extreme windchill which forced me to wear 3 windproof/thermal layers even though it was the tail end of the summer. It was actually so windy that at one point I was transfixed by the constantly changing patterns made by the fine grains of white sand as they were blown ferociously across the beach. It would have been great to take time lapse shots, but hindsight is always bliss - it was only the first day I tried out my brand new Canon 600D properly and I hadn't even heard of the terminology.

Despite the windchill, the penguins seem to love it though, so I guess at least someone was benefiting. 

On the way back to the 4x4 we took a quick glimpse of the Magellanic penguins, even spotting a dead one lying on the ground. I didn't get to spend much time with them, although I really would have liked to. It later turned out this was to be our only opportunity to see this species.

It was a great day trip and I would highly recommend Volunteer Point to anyone visiting the Falklands. The 6 hour return journey of bumping up and down in a 4x4 was definitely worth it. Although I only spent a few hours with them, I already had a lot of admiration for these wonderful creatures and their ability to survive under these sub-Antarctic conditions. 

What a fantastic prelude to the Deep South.

For more information about Volunteer Point and the various penguin species and colonies in the Falklands, visit the Falklands Conservation website, where you can also adopt a penguin.