Crossing the Polar Front

On Halloween we boarded the Pharos SG in the afternoon. The Pharos is the Government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands’ (GSGSSI) Fishery Patrol vessel. It is she who ensures that the fishery around South Georgia is sustainable by stopping illegal fishing and making sure that all fishing vessels comply with the regulations to get a licence to fish in these waters.

We had what felt like a bit of a false start because we left that afternoon to go round the corner to get fuel from the Naval base in East Cove. We left Stanley in very unusually calm weather and loitered in the sound waiting to go round to East Cove. While loitering most of us went up on deck and witnessed the most beautiful sunset over the hills of the Falklands. At the same time we were entertained by groups of penguins swimming home from the days fishing. It was quite an amazing site to see these beautiful, graceful birds porpoising through the wavelets, knowing how ungainly they would be as soon as they reached the beach at Gypsy Cove. It really felt like such a privilege to be standing there amidst all that beauty, watching PENGUINS in the water, rather surreal actually.

After refuelling, which took pretty much all day on Thursday, we left East Cove and started our journey properly in the afternoon. Even though there is very little swell the Pharos rolls unbelievably. I have to say that I would really not like to be on her in a big sea. We each have our own cabin which will be the last time we don’t share for a while. The cabins are a fair size with a bunk, a ‘day bunk’ (a sofa) a desk and a wardrobe. The routine on board is fairly monotonous, as passengers we aren’t put on either ‘cook’ or ‘gash’ (cleaning) duty so it is a case of trying to keep oneself busy. Most people have been watching films on their laptops. I have been sampling the delights of the onboard ‘library’ and varying that with trips to the bridge, walks on deck, bird watching, eating and sleeping. On Friday the Chief Engineer, Kim, gave us a tour of the engine room which was very interesting. The Pharos is a Diesel Electric ship which means that her five engines create power which is then transformed into the electricity which drives the propulsion. She was built for the Northern Lighthouse Board (in Scotland) and so she is incredibly manoeuvrable with rudders that can turn 70° at slow speed (most rudders only turn about 35°) and an extremely powerful bow thruster which means that she can go right up alongside buoys and lights to pick them up for maintenance. She is not ice strengthened but her bow is reenforced to deal with bumping into buoys.

The birds following the ship are phenomenal. I saw my fist ever Albatross!! A Black browed Albatross, soon followed by a Wandering Albatross, one of the biggest birds in the world. Others I have seen include: Grey-headed Albatross, Giant Petrels. Cape Petrels, Atlantic Petrels, Wilson’s Storm- petrel and a Prion but I couldn’t identify the species. It really is awe inspiring to see a Wandering Albatross with a wing span of 2.70-3.25m playing in the wind around the stern of the ship, swooping alongside  and hovering with a simple shift in feather alignment and to also see the Wilson’s Storm Petrel doing exactly the same thing but with a wing span of only 0.38-0.42m. I keep thinking how much my Grandfather would love to see these magnificent birds.

On Saturday we crossed the Polar Front (or Antarctic Convergence as it is sometimes called). We are now in really Antarctic waters, which was proved by the fact that instead of being pelted by rain on my trip around deck this morning I was pelted with wet snow. I was rewarded for my snowy sojourn on deck however when I saw a group of about 5 or 6 Antarctic Fur seals swimming alongside the ship, obviously on their way to South Georgia for the breeding season. The males arrive there in November and set up territories and the females arrive later in the month. 98% of the world’s population of Antarctic Fur Seal breeds on South Georgia, more than 3 million.

We arrived at King Edward Point (KEP) early on Monday morning and now the adventure really begins!