Anticipating the Falklands Landing

7 March 2009

Yesterday morning we rose early, about 4.50am and prepared for a landing on Prion Island to see nesting Wandering Albatross and the South Georgia Pipit. A staff zodiac left the gangway after some difficulty loading and landed a short time later. On the way we passed through a narrow channel boiling with fur seal pups. After dropping off the shore party I returned to the gangway to collect passengers.

After loading the first two passengers it was apparent that getting 109 passengers on and off the ship would be nigh on impossible and fairly dangerous, particularly if conditions escalated. By the time the staff returned to the ship, 15 minutes after the decision had been made to abort the landing, the swell and wind had picked up even more making it a little difficult to get back on board for our crew of seasoned veterans. Unfortunately the wind and waves continued to build so that Plan B, the massive King Penguin colony at Salisbury Plain and Plan C, Right Whale Bay were also out of the question in the conditions so we secured the decks and made for the Falkland Islands a little ahead of schedule.

As we pulled away from South Georgia we bid farewell to our last iceberg and were seen off by flights of albatross, petrels and prions. The waves continued to hammer the ship sending clouds of spray over the top deck and blue water over the bow. On occasions the force of the waves sent shudders through the ship. To give you an idea of the forces imparted on the ship when I stepped on the scales in the gym at the top of a wave I almost achieved weightlessness, weighing in at less than 70 pounds and at the bottom of the wave as we slammed into a trough I weighed in excess of 260 pounds. For the record I weigh approximately 175 pounds.

Some folks love the swell. It really is an amazing sight being up on the bridge watching the drama unfold, however, for the majority it’s a little uncomfortable and for some downright miserable. Given we’ve had a good few days and are fairly tired after a hectic schedule a day or two in bed wont hurt!

We’re still experiencing some rough conditions today, however, happily, the forecast is for fairer winds and good conditions for our landings in the Falklands. Earlier this morning we passed by ‘Shag Rocks’, a rocky outcrop in the middle of nowhere. Four rocky outcrops rise straight from the ocean floor. The small ocean shelf provides a rich food source for a shag colony which must number in the thousands. We continue to enjoy great close-ups of albatross and are savouring the prospect of some calmer seas later today.

A few blogs ago I mentioned running into a huge pod of migrating Sei Whales. These whales were beyond the ‘furthest south’ we expect to see Sei Whales. Now that we have an oceanographer on board, Lars Boehme, whom we picked up at Husavik, we have a theory as to why we saw them so far south. Apparently on South Georgia this summer approximately 95% of the Gentoo chicks failed. Many parents deserted their chicks as they struggled to find enough food for themselves. The water temperature was reportedly 5C warmer than usual. The theory goes that the Southern Antarctic Circumpolar Current failed to deliver its bounty of krill for the Gentoos to gather food for their chicks. The King Penguins forage further from shore and have a different breeding cycle so this may explain why the King Penguin chicks did not suffer a similar high mortality rate. If the current failed to deliver the krill to the north, this may explain why the Sei Whales were found so far south. I hope to get a more thorough explanation later today when Lars and his seal biologist colleagues give us a lecture on their work on elephant seals.

David Sinclair