Today was filled with lectures and films. Our fellow
travelers from OYAs VENNER, the Friends of South Georgia offered several
lectures today, some in Norwegian and others in English. Perhaps the most
unique presentation was the running commentary provided by Kjell Tokstad as he
showed us the 8mm film he shot when we spent 2 summers and 1 winter at the
whaling stations on South Georgia . It was the
early 1960’s and he was 15 years old when he went south.
This first-hand information and experience continued in the
evening as 8 of the OYAs VENNER members answered questions from the audience
about their time working in Antarctica , some
at the land stations while others worked on factory ships. All were quite young
when they came south for work.
After dinner the FRAM encountered a large pod of migrating
fin whales. For about a half an hour we watched with amazement and joy as 50 to
100 of these large creatures surfaced some within 15 meters of the FRAM.
