Date - 21 November, 2016
Weather - 3 degrees
Seas - Relatively calm
We lost an hour overnight as we moved our watches forward for the new Timezone which passes through South Georgia. Consequently, there were fewer at breakfast as many had slept in. It is now becoming quite cold with the maximum temperature outside at three degrees. We have noticed that the temperature in the ship has been lowered and many of us are now wearing more layers of clothing.
Each day on our cabin television and on the ship's network is the daily schedule so we can plan our day. As it was our second day at sea whilst making our way to the very exposed island of South Georgia there were a number of briefings in preparation for our landings.
Overnight we crossed a region in the Southern Ocean known as the Polar Front which was previously called the Antarctic Convergence. This is a natural boundary where the cold waters of the Antarctic meet the warmer waters of the north and it is where there is a concentration of marine plant life. This attracts many birds and other animals. Whales were spotted not far from the boat this morning.
Our first briefing at nine o'clock was "Penguins - A Natural History" given by the on-board ornithologist. We have seen four species of penguins so far, the Gentoo, the Rockhopper, the King and the Magellanica. We will see three more species when we get to South Georgia. The King Penguin which stands at a height of 1.2m and which we saw on Saunders Island is the largest one we will see on this trip.
Our second briefing in the morning was "Whaling in the Southern Ocean". This was accompanied by very old photos from the whaling industry days. There were many whaling stations on South Georgia and weather permitting we may visit an obsolete whaling station on the island. An old black and white film from 1949 showed whales being caught and processed on a whaling ship.
Lunch at twelve thirty was buffet style again serving a wide range of hot and cold dishes and lots of yummy desserts. Despite the excellent food on board we were cautioned at Recap last night about not cooking food in our cabins. Apparently some passengers from a specific ethnic group have been doing this!
The afternoon briefing was titled "Seals of South Georgia" and we learned about the elephant seal and the fur seal. The elephant seal has a thick blubber layer for insulation and the fur seals obviously have fur for insulation. The blubber has been used to make lamp oil and grease for machinery. Krill seems to be the staple diet for many of the marine animals including seals. We were given a few rules to follow whilst we are amongst the large number of seals that will be on the island. This included walk slowly, if charged then stop, look large by raising the arms to show you are in charge and stay about five metres from the seals.
Despite the good seas we were one hour behind schedule in reaching Shag Rocks north of South Georgia so the Recap Session was brought forward by one hour and viewing of Shag Rocks took place at seven o'clock. Shag Rocks are the northern point of South Georgia and they were impressive jutting out of the deep ocean. It was freezing standing on the deck taking in the view so we will have to wear all our warm gear tomorrow when we go on the zodiacs.
The next few days' activities around the east coast of South Georgia will be determined by the weather and making the most of sunrise at four o'clock and sunset at eight thirty. Everyone is very excited about reaching this isolated island in the Southern Ocean. There were a couple of iceberg competitions which started today and passengers were encouraged to go out on deck and try and spot one and also listing a time when the first one would be spotted. Henk won the competition for sighting the first iceberg which was a large one on the horizon at about seven o'clock this evening.
Whilst having dinner we spotted many seals jumping in and out of the water and a lot of ice floating by.
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