Falklands, South Georgia & Antarctic Peninsula - 2004 - All Photos Photo Gallery by Jean McConochie at pbase.com

Falklands, South Georgia & Antarctic Peninsula - 2004 - All Photos

- Photos by Jean McConochie - Processing and post production by Dave Werner - All photos © Jean McConochie 2005 -
- Photos optimised for Mac viewing - For PC viewing, please bump up the brightness a bit. Thank you! -
- Click on individual images for larger versions ("Original" is best) - Then click on "next" in upper right of frame for slide show -
|

pages 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 ALL

For Context ...	- Detailed Map -	Our port of embarcation; M.S. Endeavour is at the pier on the right.	The only penguins with bow ties that we would meet.
The crew of the rust-streaked Cabo de Hornos look on, bemused, as across the pier . . .	. . . the "Bristol-fashion" Endeavour boards its passengers.	Pulling away from the pier.	Endeavour, now under way, clears its harbor tug, Chan Chan, for other work.
	A lone giant petrel followed the ship.	Free of the Strait of Magellan and at sea at last.	Shirtsleeve weather found only Dee and Jean "suited up."
A family of upland geese.	A penguin corral, from the "bad old days."	Black-browed albatrosses nest here late each year.	Tussock grass -- we'll see a lot of this.
Albatrosses aloft are out zoom lens range, for the moment.	Larger albatross and cormorant neighbors protect the small rockhopper penguin from predators.	The rockhoppers hop up these cliffs one stone (or foothold) at a time, to reach their nests of stone and grass.	The black-browed albatross prefers a nest-cone of mud and grass.
	Salt-laden westerly winds leave the Falklands nearly treeless.		Two introduced species -- gorse and rabbits -- have become pests here.
Rush hour on New Island: abandoned fishing vessel, Zodiac, yacht, and Endeavour, bumper to bumper.	The striated caracara--"Johnny Rook"--is the scavenger of the Falklands.	A nesting blackish oystercatcher eyed us calmly as we landed.	Serious photographers poised for action.
This Magellenic gentleman is having none of it and is returning to his burrow.	But not before Jean nabs him.	These two -- also Magellenic penguins -- were a bit more social.	"What do you suppose it is?" "I don't know, but that red coat has to go!"
A Cobb's wren, one of a pair nesting in the gorse.	Rob and Lorraine McGill, the island's owners, receive guests at their farm.	Though the name seems ominious, Carcass was named for a British warship.
	Kelp geese -- two males and a female -- on the beach below the farm house.	Two Johnny Rooks live up to their reputations as scavengers.	Our host, Rob McGill.
After a satisfying "farmer's tea," shipmates relax in the McGill garden.	This could be a road across the English moors, except for the Johnny Rook enjoying a dust bath.	The barque Lady Elizabeth, built in England in 1879 -	Artifiacts of a whaling past, that dates back to the mid-1700s.
British row houses of the South Atlantic.		Christ Church Cathedral (Church of England, 1892) is known for its arch, made from the jaw bones of a blue whale.	The vehicles of choice for Stanley's 2,000 residents seem to be Land Rovers and SUVs, -
The British proprietor of The Bakery proudly sells empenadas and pizza as well as steak-and-kidney pies.	Colorful tin roofs brighten the landscape. With no trees and unworkable granite, all building materials must be imported.	The bridge. One of the able-bodied seamen (ABs) on watch -	Aft station on the bridge, with radio shack beyond.
Lecturer Kim Heacox gave a talk based on his biography of Ernest Shackleton (Washington: National Geographic, 1999).	"All photographers on deck" for our first ice bergs.	Ice sails, pieces of the former Larsen Ice Shelf.	Approaching Grytviken ("Try-Pot").
In 1775, Captain James Cook claimed South Georgia for England, naming it for George III.	The view from Endeavor's "flying bridge."		To save his men, an exhausted Ernest Shackleton crossed these mountains in 36 hours, -
	Founded by Captain Carl Anton Larsen in 1904, -	The whaler's cemetery at Grytviken is the final resting place of Ernest Shackleton.	Visitors to the cemetery are challenged by fur seals, who are . . .
. . . protecting their infant pups.	Elephant seals, including this juvenile female, also stand gaurd.	Sir Ernest -- "the Boss" to those who served under him -- has the tallest stone.	The mariner's star adorns Shackleton's headstone.
Visitors travel a long way to leave tokens of respect.	Kim proposed a toast to the Boss; we saluted with Irish whiskey.	Dee and Jean, dressed for adventure in the spirit of Shackleton.	The Grytviken site is watered by glaciers.
King penguins moving at a good clip . . . (for penguins on dry land).	"This time, let me do the talking."	This steam-driven whaling vessel, on the beach for 50+ years, has its (rusted solid) harpoon gun poised for action.	The former hydro power house, Grytviken whaling station.
Adandoned fuel oil tanks and the restored church.		In the whalers' church, it's easy to imagine the "Shipmates, . . ." sermon from MOBY DICK being delivered from the pulpit.
The Norwegian Larsen sailed with Otto Nordenskjold's Swedish Antarctic Expedition (1901-04), then founded Grytviken, -	Shakleton memorials in the whalers' church.	Mrs. Brown's book ANTARCTIC HOUSEWIFE (1971) describes life in Grytviken in its last years as a whaling station.	Some of the group chose a hike in the hills above Grytviken.
	Endeavour awaits our return.		Abandoned steam sealers rafted up in King Edward Cove.
The old Grytviken whaling station is undergoing restoration.	"What do you mean, 'It's too cold.' We're penguins!"	"--Sigh-- "	Elephant seals are named for the males' prominent noses; this one is a juvenile.
Older male elephant seals all have battle scars on their necks.	Beach calesthenics.	"It's fascinating that they walk erect, but I've never seen one swim?"	"It's a penguin thing . . . ."
In their four weeks of nursing, elephant seal pups gain 20 pounds a day.	King penguins gravitate to lenses.	Barren muddy flats near glaciers are the kings' preferred habitat.	"I hate Lindblad . . ." (Apologies to Quantas.)
British sailors dubbed young kings "oakum boys" because their down coats resemble oakum, -	Teenage angst . . .	In ornithlogical texts, this is known as the "ecstatic display."	"Christina's [The Penguin's] World"
"Don't ask."	A recently hatched chick is always hungry. Anything might be food, even Jean's boot.	"Are you my mother?"	The ship's naturalists estimated 200,000 king penguins at this site.
When skuas (upper left) begin to circle at tea time, a mournful penguin cry of alarm sweeps across the valley.	Safety in numbers: napping penguins group together in orderly rows.		The resolution and out-of-focus "bokeh" of the Pro 1's lens make it a true "L." (Find a Canon photographer for translation.)
"Who's your photographer?"	A king and his court.	Chicks rely on half-digested krill from their parents, both of whom bring food.	Inquistive snow petrels pay us a visit on board the ship.
Approaching another enormous king penguin rookery.
Salisbury Plain is the path of a glacier that has now receeded.	Chick feeding on regurgitated krill.	"King, party of three, please."	"Right flank, advance . . . close the gap and we'll have them surrounded!"
A skull and breast feathers are all that remain of this unfortunate king.	On the plateau above the beach, fur seals find comfort in the tussock grass.	Life begins where a glacier has receded.	Sedum (a.k.a. Stonecrop)
	Ever-hopeful oakum boys looking for food.	A pleasant sight from shore at any range.	Assistant expedition leader Lisa Lagerstrom.
Fur seals and pups resent any intruders, so we moved around them quickly and carefully.	A female wandering albatross on her nest.	Expedition leader Ralph Lee Hopkins setting up for a shot.	Photographers watch a fledgling albatross while its parent watches them.
A first-year wandering albatross, about to test its wings.
	Fur seal attended by snowy sheathbills.	Who says there are no polar bears in the Antarctic?	The sheer walls of Hercules Bay are too slippery for us . . .
. . . but no problem for these macaroni penguins.	To early whalers, the yellow tufts resembled the "macaroni" feathers worn on the hats of 18th-century London dandies.	"Mr. De Mille . . . ?"	These penguins jump up rock faces in the same way as their smaller cousins, the rockhoppers.
Across the bay, a female fur seal surveys the morning scene.		Macaronis are about 27 inches tall.
"It's my rock! You got a problem with that?"	"Keep going!"	. . . Lecturer Shaun Powell seems taken aback.	Endeavour holding station in the mouth of Hercules Bay, with Zodiacs close to port.
This gentoo penguin and young fur seal share a room with a view.	The 110-passenger Endeavour looks very small against the cliffs of Hercules Bay.	Landing at Fortuna Bay for the "Shackleton Walk."	Hikers gather to trek the final four-mile segment of Shackleton's heroic crossing.
The ship's doctor at the halfway point, with Endeavor far below at Stromness.	How you gonna keep her back on Broadway, now that she's seen Stromness?	Like Shackleton, we slid down part way.
	The gentoo penguins of South Georgia nest in meadows or tussock grass, well above beach level.	Gentoos return to the same area -- and generally the same mate -- to breed each year.
Those who travelled by ship to Stromness had time to walk up into the hills to meet the trekkersand take photos.	The "commuter walk" from the bay to the nest.	Sharing the beach with king penguins are Norwegian reindeer, introduced in 1911.	The manager's home at the Stromness whaling station marked the end of Shackleton's heroic journey in May 1916.
In the spirit of Frank Hurley: a quadtone image of what was once called "the slum of the Southern Ocean."	The whaling station was a floating factory site (1907-12), shore station (1912-31), then major repair yard (1931-61).	In 1961, when the station was abandoned, fur seals were considered extinct in this area.	Fur seals and reindeer.
A beachmaster and his harem.	As in Miami, real estate on the ocean side of the sound is more valuable.	Fencing to protect the red-clad guests from the gray-clad hosts, and vice-versa.	Boots are carefully cleaned to prevent contamination between landing sites.
Endeavour's bridge.	So that's where they keep the kayaks.	A lifeboat, considerably larger than the "James Caird" in which Shackleton and his companions crossed the South Atlantic.
Bull elephant seals battle before an audience of king penguins	Fight fans stream forward to see the action.		"Oooh, I like this! How much?"
	Oakum boy with mohawk.	"Please, Mom, I want some more."	The southern giant petrel often lives near penguin colonies and lives on penguin carrion.
Kings explode out of the surf.	Just over three feet tall, the king penguin is truly a regal bird.
	When on top of the water, penguins look like an exotic form of duck.	Dr. Peter Littlewood, the ship's physician.	"Gentoo Heights," a nesting area overlooking the beach.
A gentoo showing off her newly hatched chicks.	Penguins in the 'hood.	"Carbon fiber! It's more expensive, but you can taste the difference."	After dinner, two hours before sunset.
Porthole photos of a Southern Ocean gale, shot from our cabin.	Pintado petrels and a lone antarctic prion.	In the contest for food stirred up by the ship's passage, the larger petrels shoulder the prions away from the inside track.
For several days after the storm, it was breezy on deck.	Tabular ice in the Weddell Sea, formerly part of the Larsen Ice Shelf.	Second officer looking over ice photos.	Adelie colony on Paulet Island.
Captain Carl Anton Larsen and his crew survived the winter of 1903-04 here, thanks to 1100 ancestors of this adelie penguin.	A tipped-over tabular berg.	Unlike gentoos, adelies nest on the beach. There are some 60,000 pairs of adelies on Paulet.	In 1837, the French explorer Dumont d'Urville named this penguin for his wife, Adele.
The blue color of this “bergy bit” shows that it is “old ice,” with most of the salt leached out.	Beached blue ice "growler."	They're back.	Pintado petrels wheel and turn in the ship's spray.
Dee poses in our cabin with Todd's "Birds & Mammals of the Antarctic, Subantarctic & Falkland Islands," our basic reference.	Jean's turn to pose. The drawers had special locks to keep them from opening when the ship rolled.	In the ship's well-stocked library, one passenger chose a jigsaw puzzle, . . .	. . . while another settled for a nap.
Kim tells the story of the Nordenskjold reunion at Snow Hill Island, our next destination.	Leaving snow squalls astern, Endeavour heads into the pack ice.	Testing the ice . . . a "hands-on" approach. Ice too weak for landing, we turn back north and head for Deception Island.	Bergs in the pack ice as we say good-by to the Weddell Sea.
Pintado petrels nesting on the cliffs of Whaler's Bay, at a spot called Neptune's Window.	Lecturer Karen Copeland displays samples of pintado nesting materials.	Snowmelt on crater walls is due to geothermal heat, not air temperatures.	Entombed whale boat is now a nesting site for petrels.
Once upon a time, on a day much like today ...	in fact very much like today, ...	in a place as cold and desolate as this, ...	a seemingly sophisticated New Yorker of Midwestern origins, took off her nice warm parka and most of her other clothing, ...
posed for a cheescake shot in sub-freezing temps, ....	and then attempted to walk on water.	She failed.	But, they did give her this auspicious document to display in her otherwise tasteful home.
Barrel staves on the floor of the caldera.	Neptune's Bellows, the entrance and exit of Whaler's Bay.	A big bergy bit (or small growler) provides a chinstrap lookout point onto the Bransfield Strait.	Deception Island's black volcanic sand is more luxurious than the rock beaches that we've been on up to now.
Angle of beach makes landing in light surf trickier than it looks.	Chinstraps enter the water one at a time. Smart ones on the beach watch for leopard seals.	Chinstraps taking in a low-angle sun.
Baily Head.	We watched this berg break apart.	Sunrise over the Neumayer Channel (6 a.m.).	Morning light strikes the cliffs on Anvers Island; pancake ice in foreground.
Nautical chart of Port Lockroy.		Endeavour attempts to shoulder its way through the pack to the British base.
This is about as close as we'll get; the man on shore may have to be disappointed.	We back away.	Penguins near Bransfield House seem to celebrate our defeat.
	Gentoos on pancake ice watch as we maneuver.	Human spectators man the bow.
Captain Lief Skog . . .	. . . consults the radar, . . .	. . . and has the second officer plot an approach to Jougla Point, Port Lockroy's "back door."	Now, up on fast ice, . . .
. . . we prepare to disembark.	The door opens, and . . .	. . . a chorus line of photographers, left foot forward, gingerly steps onto the ice.	"McConochie of Antarctica" hams it up, a bit too close to the ship.
Triumphant ABs.		Over the ice and across the bay to Port Lockroy.	On "fast ice."
Port Lockroy's permanent residents.	Weddell seal vocalizing (and drooling) while sleeping.		Whale bones and gentoos.
Shags and gentoos nest side by side.
Heading for home (Endeavour) across the ice, . . .	. . . Port Lockroy to our backs, . . .	. . . we return to the ship and end our Port Lockroy adventure.	Back in the channel, we are greeted by twin ice bergs, once the tip of a large shelf.
	Penguins on the porch . . .	Gentoos hitch a ride, while a predator leopard seal waits in the water.	"Let him wait!"
In the Neumayer Channel, we're seemingly celebrating their escape. -	Back in our Zodiac.
Back on the beach, . . .	Jean sits down on the beach to watch the show as gentoos emerge from the water.
"Who's she?"	"It doesn't matter. We'll go around."	Gentoos in snow above the beach.	"Weren't we supposed to get a place closer to the beach this year?"
	Back in our Zodiac, the magic continues.
Early morning in Andvord Bay.
		Kayaking in Neko Harbour
Ahead of us, the cliffs of continental Antactica.		North of Waterboat Point in Andvord Bay.
Rounding Waterboat Point . . .	. . . into Paradise Harbour.	Heading south in Paradise Harbour, . . .	. . . we passed the glacier-dwarfed Almirante Brown Argentinian base.

	Cliffs of the Antarctic land mass shelter nesting shags in Paradise Bay.	Endeavour noses her bow in for a close look.
Paradise Bay below Almirante Brown, our farthest south -- 64 degrees 54.85 minutes.	Low scud sweeps across the Antarctic peaks above Paradise Bay.
"Cruising for composition," Endeavour at dead slow generates no wake.		In a sunlit Paradise Harbour, there are no bad pictures.




			Delirious with the unlimited photograph possibilities around us, we turn the cameras upon ourselves.
Quite possibly the farthest McConochie south.			Endeavour picks up speed as we motor north into the Gerlache Strait.
Scud streaks across the peaks -- a perfect day ends as it began.	It all makes sense, almost, when you look at the map.	With the Endeavour northward bound at full ahead, it's time to get off those e-mails.
	Manager Bob Houston and head waiter Gaylord.	Gillian described this trip as a dream come true.	Assistant expedition leader Lisa Lagerstrom, dressed for dinner.
Jackie copies Betsey's notes.	On the bridge, the official map is furiously copied.		Kite-flying (!) on a balmy day in arguably (and ordinarily) the roughest body of water on the face of the earth.
			Framed prints of Frank Hurley's photographs of the Shackleton expedition, -
Container ship rounding the Horn.		Late afternoon light on Tierra del Fuego	Russian ice-breaker, turned Antarctic cruise ship, across the pier as we make our approach.
		Engines at full stop, Endeavour made fast to the pier, our voyage is at an end.
Endeavour's predecessor (the former Lindblad Explorer), now on the bottom of the Bransfield Strait.	Nobody wants to leave.	"Once you have been to the white unknown, you can never escape the call of the little voices." (Frank Wild)	--- McConochie of Antarctica ---
Daily South Atlantic Satellite Images (11/29 - 12/16/04)

pages 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 ALL

comment

Chris Spracklen		26-Jul-2012 21:04
Fantastic gallery containing some extraordinarily beautiful scenes, Jean. V

Rich Miller		21-Jun-2005 03:03
We've enjoyed Lindblad trips to Svalbard and Alaska, and are planning an Antarctic trip as soon as we can induce the kids to grow up and go to college. This gallery is a fine intro to what's in store - the opening penguin shots on S Georgia are particularly exciting, with many others to boot. Thanks for posting these. - Rich Miller, Ann Arbor

Guest		24-Feb-2005 01:50
super nice gallery. thanks for sharing.

Rikki		19-Feb-2005 20:17
Wow Jean, looks like that was a fantastic voyage. You did an excellent job with your photos. So many beautiful images, and a good job of storytelling too. I'm so glad we were all able to enjoy the journey together.

jim falls		12-Feb-2005 17:51
Great pictures of Paradise Harbour. I shall have to save my shekels for this one. Antarctica has never been on my radar screen but it is now. JIm

Guest		11-Feb-2005 22:46
This is a very nice gallery! /Jezz

click on thumbnails for full image

Type your message and click Add Comment

It is best to login or register first but you may post as a guest. Enter an optional name and contact email address. Name
Name Email
help	private comment