Page 26 - Cape-Camera-Nov-Dec-2021

Cape Camera November/December 2021

(from left) Gentoo chic waiting for his baby feathers to be replaced by swimming feathers; Gentoo penquin feeding her chick; Chinstrap
penquin; King penquin.

Very strict conservation rules had to be followed, like we had Every morning, we would find a daily programme on our cabin
to wash and scrub our boots after each landing, not to spread door, and regular announcements on loud speakers would in-
anything from one area to another, such as plant seeds or bugs. form us if something interesting happened outside, such as
It was forbidden to ever relieve yourself on land, and if nature sightings of whales - and we would all rush out on deck. On the
did call, a Zodiac would take you back to the ship. All sewerage first day, hardly out of Ushuaia, we did a safety drill where we all
and garbage was never dumped in the sea, but taken back to had to get into the lifeboats with all our gear on. That was fun al-
Argentina at the end of the trip. though a tight squeeze! Luckily we never needed to do it again.

Our voyage

Zodiacs returning to the ship The Zodiacs being off loaded. Moltanovskiy in Antarctica

We boarded the Prof Moltanovskiy in Ushuaia, the most south- batross, three types of Penguins (the Rockhopper, Magellanic
ern town of Argentina. The ship was named after a Russian and Gentoo), Turkey Vultures, Antarctic Skuas, Magellanic Oys-
who received the Nobel prize for determining the relationship tercatchers, Night Herons, Steamer Ducks, Patagonian Crested
between air pressure and weather, early in the 1900’s, to make Ducks, small Tussock Cindlodes birds, and fur seals - and that is
weather forcasts possible for the first time. We saw seals and only on the first page of my diary of the Falklands! At every land-
penguins all along the Beagle Channel out of South America, ing day, we were invited by the farmers of the islands to a huge
and when we sailed into the South Atlantic, we could finally tea and cake sessions, during which we learnt much about their
feel the rolls of the ocean remarkable lives.
waves under our ship. Another two days at sea took us to South Georgia, and on the
Our first treat was landing way we saw our first iceberg! Cameras were clicking madly, but
by Zodiacs at the Falkland compared to what came later, this was a baby one, only about
islands, and also visiting the four storeys high! On the days at sea, we had lectures to inform
town Stanley the following us about each species of bird or mammal we had or will be see-
day. It would take many ing, the ice or weather we might encounter, as well as the his-
pages to describe what tory of the islands.
we experienced there, but The five days on and around South Georgia, were the highlight
I will just list some of the for me, as far as wildlife was concerned. We had up to four land-
wildlife we saw: Upland ings a day, which was just mind-boggling! At the museum, we
and Kelp Geese, Striated learnt that researchers from many countries spend their sum-
Caracaras, two kinds of Al- mers working there, living in the restored rooms where the
whalers used to live. Thank goodness those years are now gone,
Gravestone of but it was not easy to look at those huge storage tanks for whale
Shackleton on S oil – an ugly reminder of what had happened here not so long
Georgia.
Cape Town Photographic Society 25