Circumnavigating South Georgia - Part 3

*Fleece finds Willis Islands and safe harbor at Elsehul

After leaving Shag Rocks in the afternoon the day was sunny and totally beautiful. The sea allowed us on deck with our binoculars and cameras without fear of being drenched in ruinous saltwater or washed overboard and seabirds soared back and forth in our wake. That morning a speck of land that is Willis Islands, the northwestern most part of South Georgia, was found on the horizon. As the speck on the horizon grew with its backdrop of clouds, the clearer the attacking sea could be seen ravaging the rocky cliffs of Willis Islands. People are not supposed to land on Willis Islands or its near neighbor, Bird Island, because they are seabird sanctuaries. Seabirds nest on the ground and are vulnerable to rats. These islands are presently rat free. Rats, however, have ravaged many populations of ground nesting birds around the world and these rats are usually introduced by people.

A few miles from Willis Island Dion lowered the sails and we went to engine. Within moments the backdrop of clouds raced toward us, obscuring the sun, surrounding us with horizontal snow and a screeching squall. The Fleece did not fail and we motored from snow into a fog bank being pushed by high winds. Nonetheless we cruised the crashing coast of Willis Islands and then Bird Island thinking we would go on to Trinity Island and drop anchor in Jordan Cove. The entrance to the cove was blocked by large ice and Dion suggested we make a course for Elsehul a larger cove to the East. The observable beaches along the route were covered in fur seals and elephant seals. It is the beginning of the breeding season and each grouping of seals was in turmoil establishing and defending territory. Thus we came to Elsehul and its calm inner bay where we dropped anchor prepared to spend our first night in South Georgia.

Elsehul is a nesting place for grey-headed albatross, light-mantled sooty albatross and black-browed albatross that find its high bluffs and hills good for nesting. For those of us lugging 30-pound packs of camera gear, the 45-degree slopes to attain the heights and photograph these beautiful birds is quite daunting after four days of being tossed about of the Southern Ocean.

WEATHER

The weather around and on South Georgia is fairly consistent throughout the year because the island is anchored in the East flowing Antarctic Circumpolar Current that surrounds Antarctica with its colder water temperature than the world's oceans that abut this current. These colder waters erect a natural barrier in the seas and determine the weather of a place like South Georgia. Sea ice does not form at South Georgia, except in a few sheltered fjords. South Georgia does produce its own small icebergs from glaciers. Glaciers and snowfields cover about half of the island in permanent ice and snow. The large tabular icebergs that are seen in the seas in the neighborhood of South Georgia are from the crumbling ice shelves of Antarctica itself. The high mountain ranges contribute to the changeability of the weather on South Georgia. The island itself in arc shaped from northwest to southeast. Antarctica dominant weather blows in from the underside, southern side, of the island and is confronted by the high mountains. The cold air is compressed as it is forced up and over the mountains by the prevailing high winds. As the cold air crests it is often as if demons were suddenly released from confinement and that wind of recently compressed air now races down the northern slopes at ferocious velocities until it hits the bays and open sea on the other side. It is not uncommon for these winds, called williwaws, to reach 100 km or more.