Monday 9 December 2013

Grytviken or the Bay of trypots

South Georgia is a marvelous place to stay, especially in days like these. We arrived in the early morning hours to a calm and peacefully Cumberland Bay, where we entered the northeast arm directly to Grytviken. 



We were welcomed by the official authorities of the island and then by their original and native inhabitants, the seals and the penguins.

While walking towards the cemetery to pay the honors to the “Boss” and his companion Wilde, we were escorted by a huge delegation of friendly southern elephant seals and less friendly fur seals. They showed us the way to the remnants of the former whaling station and we could sense the ghost of many ancient sailors and whalers between the buildings and the tanks. It was like going back in time, into the days of black and white pictures. 

We could hear the bells ringing from the church and the museum invited us to experience vividly how it was in those old days through the display of many artifacts and objects of that time.






 Yesterday, while following the footsteps of Shackleton from Fortuna Bay to Stromness we made this group picture with all the hikers at Crean lake, and you can see how lucky we have been with the weather.



Today, we had the chance to admire the small size of the replica of the James Caird boat in which the “Boss” and companions made the crossing from the Antarctic Peninsula at Elephant Island to King Haakon Bay, in South Georgia.

South Georgia is a wonderful green oasis in the Southern Ocean, which offers us the possibility to enjoy it in many different ways: on land as hikers, on ice or snow, or on the sea, by kayaking or by cruising in the more comfortable Fram...