After an excellent first morning at Salisbury Plain in South Georgia, we headed onto a new location for me: Prince Olav Harbour. As soon as I finished lunch, I was back on the bridge wings to see what was around.
Antarctic Prion: The photos were better than on the crossing from The Falklands
Antarctic Prion: They are the commonest Prion breeding on South Georgia with an estimated population of twenty-two million pairs out of a world population of around twenty-five million pairs
Antarctic Prion: The Prions all look very similar and the bill size and shape are important features for Prions seen well away from their breeding colonies
Prince Olav Harbour is a small harbour in the south west portion of Cook Bay about ten miles East of Salisbury Plain as the Skua flies. It is the site of one of the seven main whaling bases that were established on South Georgia.
Heading into Prince Olav Harbour: The low cloud turned into rain for most of our visit
This Antarctic Fur Seal came out to greet us
The plan was for a zodiac trip around Prince Olav Harbour. There is a very dense breeding population of Southern Elephant Seals in the bay and this makes landings difficult during the main Antarctic season. Looking at the debris around whaling station, it's also probably unsafe to allow visitors to explore it.
We were soon in the zodiacs and heading out in convoy around the bay
The bay was calm and so it was fairly safe to use cameras in the zodiacs without the risk of salty waves damaging them
The weather wasn't great & we were all wrapped well in our zodiac
Some of the Southern Elephant Seal in the area
As well as the big heavy head, the lack of any ears indicates this is a Southern Elephant Seal
Wilson's Storm-petrel: They are comfortable flying close inshore and over the land during the day, as the Gulls and Skuas don't seem to bother them. This is a real contrast to Storm-petrels in the UK, where sadly many end up as food for these species
Wilson's Storm-petrel: This is the nominate oceanicus subspecies which breeds on Subantarctic islands from Cape Horn to the Kerguelen Islands
Prince Olav Harbour was a Norwegian whaling station which dates from a 1911 floating factory ship, with the shore station being set up in 1916. The whaling site was finally closed and abandoned in 1931. Unlike Salisbury Plain, the site hasn't been cleaned up and the remains of the whaling buildings litter the bay. Not only did the whaling companies go to South Georgia and the South Atlantic to kill Whales and Seals, they abandoned the sites when it was no longer financially viable, without bothering to remove their debris. Interestingly, the Norwegian company that originally leased the whaling site, sold it onto Unilever before the whaling was abandoned. So, it would be good if Unilever paid for the clean-up efforts. The South Georgia Heritage Trust is now responsible for surveying the abandoned whaling stations which are still polluted with asbestos, oil and other major contaminates, as well as, rusting and decaying buildings and ships. They are appealing for funds to help with this work, so clearly Unilever isn't contributing as much as they could. But it is good to see some of the new tour ship companies visiting South Georgia, like Hurtigruten are also helping to fund this work.
The Brutus was deliberately beached to serve as a coaling station for the base
A closer view of the Brutus
More of the whaling station: The zodiacs are advised to keep well clear of the whaling station, in case there are hidden underwater obstacles
A whale oil tank and jetty
The old buildings don't look particularly safe
These propellers can't have been cheap to leave in South Georgia
Dutch Birder Siegfried: Siegfried was head of the WWF for the Netherlands in his earlier days. You meet some people with interesting backgrounds on these expedition trips
The zodiac convoy continued to explore the bay
There was a reasonable selection of Birds in Prince Olav Harbour, but not in the great numbers we had seen at Salisbury Plain.
King Penguins and Antarctic Fur Seals: There were small parties of King Penguins around the bay
South Georgia Shag and Antarctic Fur Seals: They are small compared to our Shags
South Georgia Shag: This monotypic species occurs on South Georgia, the South Sandwich & South Orkney islands. Just about every isolated Subantarctic Island group in the Southern Oceans seem to have their own endemic Shag
South Georgia Shag: taking advantage of the derelict jetty
South Georgia Shag: It looks a good place for a nest, now that Rats have been exterminated from South Georgia
Snowy Sheathbill: The bizarre-looking Sheathbill family are another of the scavengers in the Southern Oceans around the Penguin & Seal colonies
Snowy Sheathbill: This monotypic species breeds in South Argentina, South Chile, the Falklands, South Georgia and the Antarctic Peninsula
Antarctic Tern: This is the georgiae subspecies which breeds on South Georgia, the South Sandwich & South Orkney Islands. This individual was proving Antarctic Terns would have no problem with the weather, if one turned up in a UK summer
Tour over and the first zodiac is reloaded onto the Plancius
It had been a long & enjoyable first day and we still had three more days left in South Georgian waters.
