Journal of a Sabbatical

February 2, 2000

and Shackleton got here in an open boat?

Position:

Cooper Bay, South Georgia
54-47 S
035-48 W

Today's Bird Sightings:
wandering albatross
black-browed albatross
gray-headed albatross
light-mantled sooty albatross
southern giant petrel
northern giant petrel
Cape (pintado) petrel
snow petrel
soft-plumaged petrel
Antarctic prion
thin-billed prion
white-chinned petrel
Wilson's storm petrel
black-bellied storm petrel
Georgian diving petrel
common diving petrel
king penguin
gentoo penguin
chinstrap penguin
macaroni penguin
South Georgia shag
snowy sheathbill
brown skua
kelp gull
Antarctic tern

Mammal Sightings:
fur seal
elephant seal

Today's Reading: The Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin

Explorer Ship's Log Entry

When I close my eyes I see prions darting above the waves. They're imprinted on my retinas, I guess. I have no idea what species they are because they're ghost images. Prion identification has been a big topic of conversation today. A cloud of them surrounds the ship. The cloud surrounding the ship is mainly thin-billed prions according to the prion experts.

We have stunning weather today! The sea is pretty calm too. It might even be described as gentle. What a difference from our past few days. Spectacular approach to South Georgia through a sea filled with huge icebergs, some white, some blue, some tabular, some fanciful shapes. All enhanced by the brilliant sunshine. The smaller, fanciful ice bergs had evidently split off from the much larger ones, still very much in evidence with their huge water-carved caves. It was thrilling to sight land after our rough time at sea.

Our first sight of South Georgia was Cape Disappointment, so-called because this is the spot where Captain Cook realized that he had not discovered the great southern continent after all, just an island. It's not clear whether Cook appreciated the wonders of South Georgia at that point.

As we approached South Georgia, the ship was surrounded by hundreds of diving petrels flying frantically to get out of the way of the ship. White-chinned petrels and black-browed albatrosses glided close to the ship too, gleaming in the sun. Antarctic fur seals appeared periodically and we saw at least one Southern elephant seal on our approach too.

Finally, just before 6:00 p.m. we got into the Zodiacs to go ashore at Cooper Bay, on the southeastern end of the island, home to both chinstrap and macaroni penguin colonies. After three days onboard it felt awfully good to get off the ship. From the ship we could see hundreds of macaroni penguins, fur seals, and lots of other kinds of birds. After landing on the rocky beach, we had a steep climb through tussocks filled with fur seals to the macaroni colony. My darn waterproof pants are too long. Had to take 'em off to finish the climb. It was worth it, though. The hillside was thick with macaroni penguins where it wasn't hiding aggressive fur seals. I admit to being a little afraid of the seals. A couple of times young fur seals blocked my path and I had to scare them off with rocks or find another route between tussocks. There sure were a lot of 'em.

There's a nice view of the whole bay here from up high among the tussocks. As I was sitting on a rock just below the macaroni colony, I saw two pairs of light mantled sooty albatrosses doing their synchronized flying courtship thing. I know I got the identity right because Victor was sitting on a rock behind me confirming the id.

I feel awed by the life and beauty here. I feel grateful to be here in South Georgia, maybe just a tiny echo of the huge gratitude Shackleton must have felt, but gratitude nonetheless. It only took us the better part of three days to get here. Shackleton was at sea 17 days in a tiny little boat, which he had to chop the ice off of to keep it afloat. I can't believe he got here in an open boat.