Our day began shortly after 7am with gusty winds and a moderate
swell at our landing site on the western side of Fortuna Bay. Once we scrambled
ashore we had a walk along the beach through 100’s of playful juvenile Fur
Seals and occasional King Penguins. Our walk took us to the immense King
Penguin colony at the end of the bay. Here we were in the midst of 10’s of
thousands of King Penguins. The birds were in all stages of life from eggs to
downy brown chicks to molting juveniles getting their waterproof feathers to
regal adults to molting adults.
The afternoon was split into several activities. About 60 of
us went over to the eastern side of Fortuna Bay where we bypassed a large
elephant seal on the way to our gathering spot to begin our climb to re-trace
the Shackleton hike. This 6.5km or 4 mile hike replicates the last leg of the
cross-South Georgia trek that Shackleton, Worsley and Crean accomplished after
they landed their small boat the James Caird on the western side of South
Georgia Island. The hike starts with a steep climb mostly over frost-fractured
sharp shale then traverses a central hilly section before beginning the
down-slope zip-zag trail down the long talus slope to the riverbed below. The
hike reaches only about 300m or 900ft so elevation and oxygen are not the
problem, it is the sharp and loose footing that requires caution. The snow has
melted by this time, the late in the summer, and the shallow braided meandering
riverbed is easily crossed and re-crossed until we reached the lounging fur
seals near the rear of the ruins of the Stromness whaling station.
The other major activity was a series of Polarcirkle boat
cruises from the FRAM that motored along just off the beaches in front of the
ruins of the whaling stations at Leith, Husvik and Stromness. As the day ended
the FRAM lifted the anchor and we headed for the Falkland Islands.
