Circumnavigating South Georgia – Part 4
Elsehul Bay
Our early afternoon arrival in Elsehul Bay allowed us time to anchor, tidy up the ship after an arduous four day crossing and launch the zodiac for our first landing. Dion's familiarity with Elsehul made for an easy landing spot that would allow us to learn to cross the fur seal and elephant seal covered beaches with relative ease and in safety. Ever present and very curious penguins came up to our landing as if they were a welcoming committee for the local inhabitants. Fur seals are almost always aggressive and it is not uncommon to be charged by various individuals who it would seem want to eat your leg off. Dion had brought each of us a long lightweight pole and with the first attacking seal he shouted and lightly brushed it's long whiskers. This ferocious being pulled up instantly yelped in surprise and retreated. Dion had not even touched any part of this seal, except the whiskers. This he informed us was all that was necessary to "navigate the beach" and avoid being bitten. By the end of our three weeks crossing many over-populated beaches we became adept at out bluffing these frightenly furious charges without anyone, seal or human, the worse for wear. Several years before I was walking beside the expedition leader of a larger group passing through fur seals, when one successfully slashed our leader's heavy outer garment and tore his rubber boot. Fortunately, his skin was unpunctured which had it been would have threatened serious infection. Fur seals are cute and very attractive to look at from a distance, but most knowledgeable beach-crossers really want to stay out of their way to avoid any confrontation.
We had landed on this first beach in order to see remnant trypots from the past when seals, penguins and whales were boiled down to retrieve their oils. In spite of the rising weather, wind and snow, we decided to cross the bay to another beach in order to climb the bluffs to photograph Grey-headed Albatross. While our ascent was not vertical rock climbing, the slope was greater than 45 degrees and often required that we grab the tussock grass to pull ourselves up the slippery slope. That was us, but Dion seemed more sure-footed than a Big Horned Sheep and easily out-distanced us to the top...for us nearly an hour’s climb. The weather continued to close in and wind was blowing more strongly.
Normally one would like to deal with good light and safe weather for taking photographs of your subjects. In South Georgia one is very lucky to have any perfection of conditions and you have to be prepared for whatever comes. By the time we had achieved the goal of shooting these Grey-headed Albatross on their nests we were covered in icy mud, nearly being blown off the bluffs by huge, cold blasts of wind and tired. Dion exercised his command prerogatives and called for a retreat. He figured the winds were closing in on 40 mph and was concerned that we still needed to return to the beach and get back to the Golden Fleece before things became worse! The descent was fast and smoother than I would have imagined. It reminded me of scree-running that I had learned many years ago in the Canadian Rockies. We made it to the Golden Fleece when I learned that our climbing was not over just because we were about to board the zodiac. Every return was to be terminated by one last climbing obstacle. The Golden Fleece is not a tourist boat...it does not have a gangway and a crew to assist your coming aboard. From the rocking zodiac one has to learn to hoist themselves the five or six feet over the gunnels from the unsteady platform of the zodiac. When you are wet, tired and cold--loaded down with pounds of Antarctic gear this is a daunting feature of the trip never considered. But what exhilaration to accomplish the day's goal and still have the energy and strength to pull yourself aboard what now seemed a safe and snug home. There were hot showers, clean clothes, warm food and a bunk to fall into that was not falling away from or rising up to greet you. I did sleep well this first night in South Georgia.
Daybreak was in much better weather and our enthusiasm for another day ashore was greatly enhanced. I wanted to photograph in detail the trypots and surroundings. To that end we returned to that beach. The trypots are smaller than the big rending vats found in the whaling stations in various bays of South Georgia...more about this later. The pots were left over from the early days, 1800's, of the whaling industry. Today a large, male fur seal made it clear that the trypots were part of his territory. He eyed my activities with intense interest and as a result he is in many of the images I took that morning. We boarded the zodiac went back across the bay to our previous climbing site.
After our climb from the previous afternoon we were all prepared for the ascent. The weather was much better and we quickly came to realize that there were reasons for the mud channels we had climbed up in the wind, rain and snow of the previous day. In fact it was a great surprise to me that fur seals appeared in the tussac grass as we climbed. They were the cause of these muddy, slippery and smelly trails all the way to the top! And at the top there seemed to be as many fur seals as on the beach. Amazing. I found that for some reason we had not seen them the day before or they had simply not been there or the weather had captured our non-bird attention. Now I had to be alert that a fur seal might be asleep behind the tussac grass and if disturbed from its slumber, would some be charging out. My initial reaction was, "What on earth are they doing way up here?" But I was not up here myself to deal with fur seals. I was after the Grey-headed Albatross with their very attractive yellow stripped, black bills. Often a nesting couple would be cuddled together looking peaceful and content.
We then came across Black-browed and Light-mantled Sooty Albatross. What a treasure trove of these handsome and endangered birds. We spent hours hiking the backbone of the bluffs and cliffs, watching the soaring and cliff take-offs of these large birds. No matter how high we seemed to climb we found fur seals.
Early in the afternoon we returned to the Fleece to clean up after our climbing-hike and to eat lunch. There was an agreement that we had used up a lot of energy and strength and that a zodiac cruise to Joke Cove would be nice and perhaps there would be something to photograph. Joke is a small cove in Elsehul Bay. There were more fur seals, shags and a Gentoo penguin colony. As we came into the cove we saw many of the Gentoo in the water returning from fishing going to their nesting sites. Dion indicated that we would leave Elsehul Bay in the early evening and sail onto the next stop during the night. The five hours of climbing in the morning made it a sure thing I would sleep soundly and be ready for bed immediately after dinner that night.
Our early afternoon arrival in Elsehul Bay allowed us time to anchor, tidy up the ship after an arduous four day crossing and launch the zodiac for our first landing. Dion's familiarity with Elsehul made for an easy landing spot that would allow us to learn to cross the fur seal and elephant seal covered beaches with relative ease and in safety. Ever present and very curious penguins came up to our landing as if they were a welcoming committee for the local inhabitants. Fur seals are almost always aggressive and it is not uncommon to be charged by various individuals who it would seem want to eat your leg off. Dion had brought each of us a long lightweight pole and with the first attacking seal he shouted and lightly brushed it's long whiskers. This ferocious being pulled up instantly yelped in surprise and retreated. Dion had not even touched any part of this seal, except the whiskers. This he informed us was all that was necessary to "navigate the beach" and avoid being bitten. By the end of our three weeks crossing many over-populated beaches we became adept at out bluffing these frightenly furious charges without anyone, seal or human, the worse for wear. Several years before I was walking beside the expedition leader of a larger group passing through fur seals, when one successfully slashed our leader's heavy outer garment and tore his rubber boot. Fortunately, his skin was unpunctured which had it been would have threatened serious infection. Fur seals are cute and very attractive to look at from a distance, but most knowledgeable beach-crossers really want to stay out of their way to avoid any confrontation.
We had landed on this first beach in order to see remnant trypots from the past when seals, penguins and whales were boiled down to retrieve their oils. In spite of the rising weather, wind and snow, we decided to cross the bay to another beach in order to climb the bluffs to photograph Grey-headed Albatross. While our ascent was not vertical rock climbing, the slope was greater than 45 degrees and often required that we grab the tussock grass to pull ourselves up the slippery slope. That was us, but Dion seemed more sure-footed than a Big Horned Sheep and easily out-distanced us to the top...for us nearly an hour’s climb. The weather continued to close in and wind was blowing more strongly.Normally one would like to deal with good light and safe weather for taking photographs of your subjects. In South Georgia one is very lucky to have any perfection of conditions and you have to be prepared for whatever comes. By the time we had achieved the goal of shooting these Grey-headed Albatross on their nests we were covered in icy mud, nearly being blown off the bluffs by huge, cold blasts of wind and tired. Dion exercised his command prerogatives and called for a retreat. He figured the winds were closing in on 40 mph and was concerned that we still needed to return to the beach and get back to the Golden Fleece before things became worse! The descent was fast and smoother than I would have imagined. It reminded me of scree-running that I had learned many years ago in the Canadian Rockies. We made it to the Golden Fleece when I learned that our climbing was not over just because we were about to board the zodiac. Every return was to be terminated by one last climbing obstacle. The Golden Fleece is not a tourist boat...it does not have a gangway and a crew to assist your coming aboard. From the rocking zodiac one has to learn to hoist themselves the five or six feet over the gunnels from the unsteady platform of the zodiac. When you are wet, tired and cold--loaded down with pounds of Antarctic gear this is a daunting feature of the trip never considered. But what exhilaration to accomplish the day's goal and still have the energy and strength to pull yourself aboard what now seemed a safe and snug home. There were hot showers, clean clothes, warm food and a bunk to fall into that was not falling away from or rising up to greet you. I did sleep well this first night in South Georgia.
Daybreak was in much better weather and our enthusiasm for another day ashore was greatly enhanced. I wanted to photograph in detail the trypots and surroundings. To that end we returned to that beach. The trypots are smaller than the big rending vats found in the whaling stations in various bays of South Georgia...more about this later. The pots were left over from the early days, 1800's, of the whaling industry. Today a large, male fur seal made it clear that the trypots were part of his territory. He eyed my activities with intense interest and as a result he is in many of the images I took that morning. We boarded the zodiac went back across the bay to our previous climbing site.After our climb from the previous afternoon we were all prepared for the ascent. The weather was much better and we quickly came to realize that there were reasons for the mud channels we had climbed up in the wind, rain and snow of the previous day. In fact it was a great surprise to me that fur seals appeared in the tussac grass as we climbed. They were the cause of these muddy, slippery and smelly trails all the way to the top! And at the top there seemed to be as many fur seals as on the beach. Amazing. I found that for some reason we had not seen them the day before or they had simply not been there or the weather had captured our non-bird attention. Now I had to be alert that a fur seal might be asleep behind the tussac grass and if disturbed from its slumber, would some be charging out. My initial reaction was, "What on earth are they doing way up here?" But I was not up here myself to deal with fur seals. I was after the Grey-headed Albatross with their very attractive yellow stripped, black bills. Often a nesting couple would be cuddled together looking peaceful and content.
We then came across Black-browed and Light-mantled Sooty Albatross. What a treasure trove of these handsome and endangered birds. We spent hours hiking the backbone of the bluffs and cliffs, watching the soaring and cliff take-offs of these large birds. No matter how high we seemed to climb we found fur seals.Early in the afternoon we returned to the Fleece to clean up after our climbing-hike and to eat lunch. There was an agreement that we had used up a lot of energy and strength and that a zodiac cruise to Joke Cove would be nice and perhaps there would be something to photograph. Joke is a small cove in Elsehul Bay. There were more fur seals, shags and a Gentoo penguin colony. As we came into the cove we saw many of the Gentoo in the water returning from fishing going to their nesting sites. Dion indicated that we would leave Elsehul Bay in the early evening and sail onto the next stop during the night. The five hours of climbing in the morning made it a sure thing I would sleep soundly and be ready for bed immediately after dinner that night.
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