March 7, 2018
We’re at sea today on Le Lyrial, heading to South Georgia Island. There are mandatory biosecurity checks to occupy the passengers during this day at sea. Boots are checked for cleanliness and sent for scrubbing if they’re not. Parkas, back-packs, and anything being carried or worn as an external layer are vacuumed for seeds and other undesirables. All passengers have to sign the declaration that they have performed the biosecurity checks and will continue to self-check during the visit to South Georgia.
The most exciting thing that happens all day is a flypast of the Falkand Islands fisheries patrol Hercules aircraft, which does a fly-by over Le Lyrial as we head to South Georgia Island. It’s a cloudy day with a bit of fog and light rain, which does a brilliant job of camouflaging the approach of the aircraft, and deadens the sound of the engines.
March 8, 2018 en route to South Georgia Island
Another cloudy sea day to South Georgia Island, with fog making visibility difficult. It’s not particularly cold at 8 degrees Celsius, but the light winds mean little to no bird life around the ship.
In the afternoon, we should be able to see Shag and Black Rock, but from a distance of about 2 miles with sea fog, all that is visible are a few shags flying back and forth to their nesting sites. On a sunny day, Shag Rock is covered with shags. Not long now until we reach South Georgia.
