Sunday 4 March 2012 - Fortuna Bay & Stromness

Up at 05:30 today for a light breakfast in preparation for a 7:30 landing at Fortuna Bay which is a wonderful wild life location with hundreds of fur seals, some elephant seals and a King penguin rookery.  I took many photos during the two hours ashore.  At 09:30 we gathered back on board for a basic fresh bread and soup early lunch and then return to the island to commence the 5.5km Shackleton's  walk at 11:30.  The weather was perfect and the hike demanding as we scaled the steep, broken slate strewn hills.  In this part of the world trees and bushes do not grown and the only vegetation are patches of grass and moss.  Along the way we stopped on the peaks for photos and rest.  I walked the entire way with Ruediger a retired German professor, often in deep discussion about historical aspects which affected Germany during the last century.  Here's an interesting man with a tremendous knowledge and lively sense of humour.  The descent was dangerous and very steep and I did hear about one of the walkers taking a bad fall on the way down.  When we reached Stromness whaling station (now deserted) our leg muscles knew that they had been on a three to four hour walk in the mountains.  With everybody back on board ship we weighed anchor and sailed past Leith harbour and its large and now abandoned whaling station which still appears in good condition after 50 years.  At sea we sat with friends in the lounge sharing drinks and jokes.  Dinner was a jolly affair.  On the way to bed we checked the lost and found and discovered a large piece of dried fish in a plastic bag (lost??).  Must be the Chinese...!?  Who else would bring that??  Had a better sleep tonight.