South Georgia Monochromes 3 of 3

15th to 17th November 2015, South Georgia.

Links go to posts with the colour versions of the images (where there may also be more information) and if an image does not have a link, use the preceding one.

Penguins parading past an elephant seal.

St Andrews Bay (Take 2).

Early morning on the beach.

Penguin highway with elephant seals in the water.

St Andrews Bay.

Not drowning, waving.

Gull over nursery.

Shaker tapestry.

Ocean Harbour Dreaming.

Remains of the Shaker colony and giant spinning wheel.

The Bayard.

Fur seal, king penguins and yacht.

Salisbury Plain (Take 2).

Fur seal.

King penguins.

Rosita Harbour.

King penguins hitting the beach out of the surf.

Salisbury Plain (Take 3).

King penguin.

Fur seal.

King penguin acrobatics.

King Penguin.

A crossing.

Elephant seal pup.

Nothing like a nice cushion….

South Georgia Monochromes 2 of 3

Sep23

13th to 14th November 2015, South Georgia.

Links go to posts with the colour versions of the images (where there may also be more information) and if an image does not have a link, use the preceding one.

Penguins and elephant seals in the early morning at St Andrews Bay.

St Andrews Bay (Take 1).

King penguin conga line.

Elephant seal. Nice place to sleep.

Young elephant seals.

St Andrews Bay.

King penguins.

At sea on the way to Moltke Harbour.

Moltke Harbour.

Fur seals, Moltke Harbour.

Giant Petrel.

Gold Harbour.

Macaroni Penguin.

Macaroni penguin at Cooper Bay.

Off the coast of South Georgia.

The Acropolis Iceberg.

The Chinstrap Iceberg.

South Georgia Monochromes 1 of 3

Sep20

10th to 12th November 2015, South Georgia.

I am now back from Tasmania and will be posting on that soon. Atacama and the trip to Mexico, Guatemala, Cuba, the Caribbean and Southern California will have to wait. (Fortunately, there were no hurricanes or earthquakes when we were in the Caribbean). First I will finish off South Georgia with three monochrome posts.

Links go to posts with the colour versions of the images (where there may also be more information) and if an image does not have a link, use the preceding one.

Snow Petrels in the crossing from the Falklands to South Georgia.

Falklands to South Georgia.

Black-browed albatross.

Emperor penguins at Right Whale Bay.

Right Whale Bay.

Fur seal, Salisbury Plain.

Salisbury Plain (Take 1).

Wandering albatross chick, Prion Island.

Prion Island.

Distant views from Prion Island.

Grytviken

Grytviken Part 1.

Grytviken Part 2.

Roy Mangersnes and a female elephant seal, Godthol.

Godthol.

Antarctic Tern.

South Georgia Cormorant.

Salisbury Plain (Take 3)

Aug12

17th November 2015. Salisbury Plain, South Georgia.

(Map of journey . . . . . . . . . . (2 and 14 (there should be a 15). Salisbury Plain)).

Here we are, back on the beach at Salisbury Plain, in our last landing on South Georgia. An ever-obliging group of king penguins wanders by.

Penguin portrait.

Fur seal.

Elephant seals.

Small squad in military formation.

King penguin “porpoising”.

A couple of king penguins just thrown up on shore by a wave, though the wave has receded.

Eye to eye.

Yellow beak.

Magenta beak.

Fresh out of the water.

Looking at the world in a different way.

Two’s company.

Fur seal.

A penguin contortionist.

Gotta get that itch…

Making the crossing…

Elephant seal pup.

At last, a pillow!

Snowy sheathbills trying to break into my dry bag under the misapprehension that there might be something to eat in there.

So, there it is, the end of the journey to South Georgia. I’ll do some South Georgia monochromes in a while and after that will come Atacama and the the Caribbean. But first, I’m off to Tasmania next week for over a month. More details of that in the next post….

Ocean Harbour Dreaming

Jul30

15th November 2015. Ocean Harbour, South Georgia.

(Map of journey . . . . . . . . (13. Ocean Harbour)).

In the afternoon of the 15th we visited Ocean Harbour, which seemed like a different world.

In the distance is the Great Dancing Hall and Parliament of the Shaker community who settled here many years ago. You can see some of their surviving sheep in the foreground.

The colony was founded by Ethel Mercaptan, who had become somewhat on the nose to many other members of her community so she led a splinter group to South Georgia.

Her mighty ship, the Wedgetail Beagle, still sits there waiting her command.

Though you can’t see the ghosts, you can see their chains.

The geese she kept to ward off any barbarian invasions of the ship remain on board and have made their nests there.

Meanwhile, the settlers created an abstract tapestry on the side of the ship, intended to depict either the future success of their new colony or their descent into hellfire.

The geese still watch out for potential barbarian invaders.

Unfortunately though, the captain of the ship, one Arbuthnot Queeg, had a secret heated compartment in the hold near the engine room that he had filled with giant pirañas, intending to either sell them in Peking or hold the city to ransom. The pirañas thwarted this plan when they ate through the hull and caused the ship to sink. They then perished in the cold waters of the bay.

This did not stop the colonists from painting an abstract tapestry on the rudder.

While the geese remain on board, the ship is contemplating turning into land

… and eventually into a forest.

Meanwhile the sheep have very little to do and spend their time lounging around, or since there is not much good grass, plunging into the sea to fish.

The giant spinning wheel remains, mute testimony to the plans to found a mighty clothing industry, had they just been more astute and chosen a kind of sheep that has wool.

So we gaze out across the pasture land to the empty spaces that might have been so much more.

The community itself has faded away as Shaker communities are inclined to do.

Travellers from space visit occasionally though.

The geese still hang around though there is no longer any crew to sail away in the ship.

And though the whole community has faded away, …

… a couple of chickens still hang around in front of one of the sheep.

Attention now, this is Mahommed Engels-Trump of the Pedantry Terrorism Squad of MI6. We have seized this post for dissemination of Fake Nudes (did I get that right?).

The ship is the Bayard, a sailing ship built in Liverpool in 1864 and was here being used as a coaling ship for the whaling station. It is 67 metres long and weighed 1200 tonnes. A gale in 1911 blew her across the bay where she sank in three metres of water and remains to this day. There was probably nothing romantic about the daily activities of the whaling station and the workers would have led hard lives in a spectacular setting and a cruel climate. MI6 deplores the misrepresentation here of fur seals, South Georgia cormorants and giant petrels. The “duck” on the water that was not mentioned is maybe a skua.

St Andrew’s Bay (Take 2)

Jul22

15th November 2015. St Andrew’s Bay, South Georgia.

(Map of journey . . . . . . . (12. St Andrew’s Bay)).

Chorus line passing the elephant seal.

Another landing before dawn, to St Andrew’s Bay again, that we had visited three days before. This time I managed to get onshore well before the dawn.

Dramatic pre-dawn cloud on a remote beach on a fine morning.

The sun has risen on the mountains but not where we are, down near the beach.

A bull elephant seal rises up and roars as the sun peeks over the headland.

Another bull elephant seal crtawls into view in the foreground. Close inspection reveals the scars of battle.

Vista up the river. Elephant seals in the foreground, king penguins along the river, glacier in the distance.

One of the elephant seals is now catching the morning light.

A bull roars…

Further on, the sides of the glacial river are packed with penguins.

All are king penguins.

A view of a wildlife metropolis, with conga lines going out to the sea for fishing. Perhaps they think there is safety in numbers, because there could be leopard seals or orcas lurking.

Now what do you think this is? Donald Trump on the wall of his building perhaps?

Not drowning, waving…

A whole city of infant king penguins in front of the mountains and glacier and a kelp gull flying overhead.

More the adults visible here.

Once again, the vast throngs on the banks of the river and further inland.

A reindeer antler lying on the beach.

Reindeer were introduced in the early 20th century to provide a food resource for the whalers. Numbers greatly increased after the whalers left and it was deemed that they were causing to much damage to the fragile ecosystem. Consequently they have all been killed, though some calves were previously relocated to the Falkland Islands.

Trudging across the river…

Down now at the edge of the sea, there were many king penguins swimming around in dense rafts, perhaps hunting shoals of fish.

…And some emerge from the water.

Gold Harbour

Jun24

14th November 2015. Gold Harbour, South Georgia.

(Map of journey . . . . . . (8. Gold Harbour)).

The next morning we landed at Gold Harbour, another wildlife hotspot. Here is a group of penguins wandering down the beach in the dawn light. As I was in one of the last zodiacs I only caught the last of that light.

Behind the parade of penguins is our ship, out on the horizon. Near it, improbably is a yacht. It must take an adventurous person to sail to South Georgia in a fairly small yacht.

A huddle of king penguins, parading along the beach.

I think this is a small river, rather than a lagoon.

King penguins and elephant seals.

A giant petrel on a nest, taking advantage of a rare patch of shelter.

King penguin chicks in front of a colony. It is raining and some rain has gotten on the lens.

Lots of chicks now.

Captions seem redundant for many of these images.

An elephant seal in front of a king penguin colony.

There is a skua in left centre, on the lookout for a meal such as a dead chick.

A skua again, walking around the elephant seal.

A couple of penguins preparing to prostrate themselves.

Definitely a demigod to worship here.

Hold on a second. Maybe not.

A farewell party not long before we left for the ship.

St Andrews Bay (Take 1)

Jun10

12th November 2015. St Andrews Bay, South Georgia.

(Map of journey . . . . (6. St Andrews Bay)).

Our next stop sailing down the coast of South Georgia was St Andrews Bay, where we would return some days later. We all got up well before dawn and piled into the zodiacs for the landing but I was in one of the last zodiacs so arrived just for the last of the dawn colours.

The wildlife in this post is almost entirely king penguins and elephant seals.

And sometimes some humans. The elephant seal pups can be very friendly. They start off about 80 kilos but they are quite harmless because they don’t yet have teeth.

Three king penguins in front of a varied vista in the early morning.

The one in front probably knows where they’re going….

Nothing like a nice comfortable place to sleep in the early morning sun.

Penguin city.

Threading past the elephant seals.

A couple of youngsters having fun.

This bull elephant seal wants to be taken a bit more seriously though.

Threading past the seals at the edge of the waves….

The upside-down face of the elephant seal at top left looks almost like the face of some strange Japanese toy (if you imagine it as being the right way around).

One group going in; another swimming past.

I’d walked for a long while along the beach and past a small river to get to a raised viewpoint for this view. It gives you some understanding of the amazing profusion of wildlife there. I probably would have preferred it without the photographer but I’m not going to try to get rid of him. The bird coming towards us at the edge of the sea is probably a skua. Click the image if you want a larger view.

Promenading at the water’s edge.

There is a lot of noise going on in these colonies and a lot of calling.

Taken out of context, this image would become almost abstract.

Quite crowded in places.

That’s a snowy sheathbill in front. Not the most attractive of birds if viewed close up but surviving here well enough.

I had left my camera bag on the beach while taking off with a few cameras and lenses. I returned to find it was being guarded. And he wasn’t too happy about giving up his nice comfortable pillow.

Right Whale Bay

Apr22

10th November 2015. Right Whale Bay, South Georgia.

Our first landing on South Georgia and the only time we encountered snow. Little comment is required for most of these images. All the penguins are King Penguins. There are also elephant seals, fur seals and a skua.

The young male elephant seal has been in the wars. Probably aspirations beyond his station.

A view from near the shore looking inland.

The penguins here are all King Penguins. They are similar in appearance to Emperor Penguins but not as large, up to a metre in height. Some species of prehistoric penguins reached as high as two metres.