The Journey Home - Part 1: King Edward Point

Leaving a BAS research station is a weird feeling. Having called such an incredible location home for 16 months leaving Bird Island is difficult, but I will always remember it with amazing memories. But my journey didn’t just end there. Due to the movements of the RRS Ernest Shackleton I was fortunate to be able to travel back home via Signy (South Orkneys) and first, King Edward Point (South Georgia)!

The Shack moored up alongside KEP

KEP is the closest neighbour we have on BI, but even they feel a million miles away when we are on station, so it was nice to finally see what it is like ‘around the corner’.

A few large elephant seals were ashore moulting to welcome us to KEP

In spending a few days on station it was nice to be able to see around the place, particularly when going out and investigating the field sites that the KEP scientists work at. One location I had heard about was Maiviken where the fur seals are monitored. At this time of year most of the adults are out at sea but it was brilliant to have some more time with pups, playing around in their very own lake.

Puppy lake...

...a fun place to watch curious fur seal pups swimming around

I'm certainly going to miss seeing these faces every day!

Very curious puppy!

Blonde pup! It was great to see a blondie one more time

Aside from the seals though I knew KEP was also a great place to see penguins. Having worked with so many macs and gentoos on BI it was nice to continue seeing the latter in small colonies around KEP. But the highlight was finally getting to see king penguins at the nest! Whilst it was a quiet time of year for these as well there is a location called Penguin River where there were a handful of kings still nesting and I got my first sighting of their chicks!

A few small groups of gentoos were around to remind me of my study species

Penguin river

The only 5 king penguins I have seen brooding chicks...

...but seeing even just 1 is amazing!

A few neighbourly squabbles occur in the colony

The chicks are still small and being brooded

Whilst it was nice to still see all the wildlife, where South Georgia really excelled in such a short visit is the scenery! I was used to BI where everything is at most an hour away and walking to Maiviken alone takes 2 hours on South Georgia. This increase in scale also relates to the scenery and South Georgia, with glaciers and snow capped mountains to see, is definitely quite a spectacle.

The scenery around South Georgia, this on the way to Maiviken, is stunning

Walking through the snow was a reminder of what we will be leaving behind!

This is something BI doesn't have, so it is great to get the extra experience

A trip out on a harbour patrol vessel to drop off supplies to a field team and see a glacier up close - yes please!

A blurry storm petrel feeds around the glacier

Scientists are just the latest people to come to South Georgia though. When whaling was a big global industry South Georgia had its own processing sites, one such location is Grytviken where much of the infrastructure can still be seen today.

The view of Grytviken (left), the cemetery (lower middle) and King Edward Point (upper middle)

Grytviken - an old whaling station, now a museum for tourists

The church at Grytviken is still active on South Georgia, with occasional ceremonies taking place

A few old whaling vessels can still be seen at Grytviken

A wrecked ship makes a great pool for puppies to play in!

Going back even further South Georgia is the site of Shackleton’s famous expedition, and it is his final resting place today. I can’t even begin to imagine how different it would’ve been to come to the Antarctic in those days and it makes me feel very grateful that early explorers came here and opened up the pathways for all Antarctic scientists of today to be able to carry out such important research!

The cemetery on South Georgia...

...containing Ernest Shackleton's grave