It’s been 5 days at sea, I’m surrounded by the strangest sample of people I have ever been confined. One man collects skulls of every shape and size and takes a bite of everything he sees, we don’t know whose next. Dan is a lovely man from the States, he looks like Santa Claus and …
A long long long time ago, well, just a bit more than a century ago actually. South Georgia was the kingdom of whales. Humpback whales, sperm whales, fin and blue whales. unfortunately, the story doesn’t end with a “they lived happily ever after”. They were almost wiped off the face of the earth, their population drastically dropping as they …
Yesterday we experienced yet another miracle of South Georgia, thanks to Darrel’s good planning and smiles from the weather gods. Aurora and Darrel weighed anchor at Larsen Harbor at 4:3o am, first light, navigating us out and around the bottom tip of SG. By 6, we are on the fabled and storm battered southwest side of the island, with light winds. Icebergs …
After almost 2 weeks, I am learning to speak South Georgian. The deep, resonating bass tone of the elephant seal males is easy – we hear it echoing across the water from over a mile away. It could be the resident beach master asserting their dominance or deterring a hopeful rival. Or maybe it’s a …
On Monday (10/14) we awoke early in Elsehul Harbor to gusty winds up to50 knots, and its very cold – salt water freezing onto the cockpitshelter, its too much for our kayaking plans. We motor to Rosita Harbor,at the west end of the Bay of Isles, a placed I have anticipatedvisiting for more than a …
“Justine, Justine”, a quiet voice jolts me awake from just the otherside of the curtain. I’m cosy in my bunk, snuggled into my fluffysleeping bag, swaying gently with the motion of the yacht. It’s dark andcold outside, it’s 2am, but I must drag myself out of bed to go up ondeck for my 3-hour watch. …
(Last update for the Season) We are home now. After 39 hours of travel including stop over time and grateful at a quiet cottage to sleep before driving the last hour to get home. We are home now. Lyle writes voraciously all his thoughts and ideas. He reflects deeply on the changes he experiences as a …
As we near the end of our month-long Antarctic adventure, it’s hard to find words to describe our experiences (we took A LOT of photos – maybe they will convey it better once we have proper internet again and can share them). In the meantime, on one our last full day on the Spirit of …
We spent the last three nights anchored near Vernadsky, the Ukranian Base, before departing and heading North this morning for Palmer, the American Base. From our anchorage at Vernadsky we managed to squeeze in several adventures. The night we arrived, half the group camped on the island while the other half enjoyed a bit more …
Today, Google posted a beautiful tribute to my friend – memories in honor of what would have been Steve Irwin’s 57th birthday! I love it because the drawing of Steve standing on the floating iceberg brings back memories from some great times. We had a lot of fun on that film shoot, and I feel lucky …