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South Georgia:
Salisbury Plain and Prion Island
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Monday 19th November 2018
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A map of South Georgia
in context. Don't be fooled by the place names, which make
it seem friendly and accessible. Quite the contrary. It
is stunningly beautiful, but oh so remote, with a human
population of 32 in summer and only 16 in winter. For wildlife,
however, it is paradise! |
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This map shows our actual
route over a three day period. We approached the islands
from the west, passing Shag Rocks (not shown on this map)
yesterday afternoon, before arriving in the Bay of Isles
this morning. We were hoping to go ashore at Salisbury Plain
in the morning, followed by Prion Island in the afternoon. |
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After spending lots
of quality time on the plain and taking far too many photos,
it was time to make our way back to the beach and onto the
waiting zodiacs, making sure to follow all the instructions
we had been given about keeping our distance from the fur
seals. This wasn't easy, because of their closely-spaced
positions along the beach. There was a slightly scary moment
when one of them almost collided with us as it made a dash
across our path right in front of us, to intervene in a
territorial dispute between two other seals. We were completely
ignored, in fact, I don't think he even saw us and would
have trampled over us if we had been in his direct line
of attack! |
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After a truly amazing
morning, we went back to the ship for lunch. |
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What the ship's log
failed to mention is that this seal wouldn't budge from
its position in the middle of the only pathway leading up
to the albatross nesting areas. After several unsuccessful
attempts by expedition staff to get it to move, Cheli, who
was standing waist high in the sea guiding the zodiacs in,
came to the rescue. Armed with a pebble which she had picked
up from the beach, she marched up the path. I don't think
she actually threw the pebble, but she gave the seal instructions
to move, using language we didn't quite understand, but
which was unmistakably firm! A minute later, she marched
back down the path... job done! |
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Thereafter, the seal
sat quite close to the path and contented itself by growling at
everybody who went by. |
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View from the top
of the path, close to the Albatross nesting areas. |
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Derek took a number
of beautiful photos of these birds in flight. |
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Back on the beach,
the expedition team was still having to keep the fur seals at bay. |
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I will treasure my
memories from today, which was the best of the trip so far, I thought. |
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