Day 13 – At Sea, Shag Rock

The petrels were probably commuting to Shag Rocks, a “must see” destination roughly 150miles off South Georgia on the way to the Falklands. Since the whole ship was buzzing with anticipation, I went out to see what the fuss was about.

It turns out it’s a collection of six jagged rocks with multi-generational layers of excrement poking out of the ocean like a dinosaur’s rotting teeth. The dinosaur was a 150 million year old seamount, part of the undersea Scotia Ridge, a literal buffet of krill and fish frequently hunted by hungry whales and seabirds who later relieve themselves on these rocks. Finally, the ocean’s temper cooled and we were lucky enough to drift close enough to fully appreciate the thousands of nesting and screeching imperial cormorants. A majestic collection of rocks for anyone who enjoys geology and has a total lack of imagination.

Day 14 – At Sea

In between bouts of sea-sickness and general existential dread, I decided to split my time between the comfort of my bed and the deck, where I and a few other maniacs braved gale-force wins to experiment with slow shutter speeds, mostly to capture birds gliding into the Atlantic before we followed suit. Eventually, the crew called us in and put us in a time out.