A main focus or our voyage is to commemorate the centennial of Earnest Shackelton’s epic Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. We followed the ocean track of their struggle from the Weddell Sea to Elephant Island and to King Haakon Bay on South Georgia.
This morning, most of our guests traded mud boots for hiking boots and mustered at Worsley Beach in Fortuna Bay so we could follow the in footsteps of the final 6km of Shackleton’s crossing of South Georgia. At the beginning of the hike, hundreds of Fur Seals hid in tussock lumps like so many snipers, waiting to pounce the unwary. Our guide Santiago led the way and minimized and disturbance to locals and visitors alike.
After about one hour, we had gained 300 meters in elevation and paused for a few minutes at the shores of Lake Crean. Blustery winds blew through the pass, so we didn’t linger there long. Less than 1km later, the narrow valley of Stromness seemed to open up at our feet. The path down to sea level was quite steep, but was negotiated without any drama.
Down below, Stromness is now a scene of industrial abandonment, and the ruins are off limits to human visitors. The throngs of Fur Seals ignore the signs to “keep out.”
Some of our fellow guests had opted to skip the hike and stay onboard the ship as she cruised from Fortuna to Stromness, and were quite fortunate to see a small pod of Southern right whales, a rare sighting indeed.
During lunch, the National Geographic Orion sailed southeast, and at 2:30 p.m. dropped anchor in Gryviken Harbor. As the final act of our commemoration, everyone walked up to the small graveyard to pay our final respects to The Boss at his grave. Appropriately, buried next to him are the remains of Frank Wilde.
