The Pelagic Australis

Considering where we are, we don’t get many visitors at BI, especially in winter. What we do sometimes get are boats of different sizes sailing past. This is by no means an everyday occurrence, and spotting a ship on the horizon is every bit as exciting as spotting a whale. A while ago, myself and Jess were collecting diet samples in a Black Browed albatross colony on the side of Molly Hill when we spotted a small yacht sailing around the north cliffs of BI. The swell was enormous and the little yacht was pitching and rolling along every axis. Considering how close to us they were, I decided to play the friendly neighbour, and radioed them to say hello (we all carry walkie talkies when out and about). Without knowing the name of the boat I radioed “Yacht, yacht. This is Bird Island, Bird Island”. Thankfully they understood English and a friendly Englishman replied “Bird Island, Bird Island, this is yacht (he may have been smirking when he said this) Pelagic Australis, Pelagic Australis”. We then had a friendly chat and joked about how seasick some of their crew were, and how mercilessly the rest of the crew were teasing them. I asked what brought them to our neighbourhood, and after joking (we hope) that they were invading Bird Island, they told us they were down as part of the rat eradication project on South Georgia. We tried to point out to them where we were standing, and they tried to point out a Southern Right whale between us and the yacht, but to no avail. We then wished them good luck on the rest of their trip (looking at the seas ahead of them they needed it) and they said they’d call again on their way back in a couple weeks time.

               

Lo and behold, two weeks later, I’d strolled out to the end of the jetty to practise my photography (still learning) when I saw a yacht hanging around just outside the bay. I radioed again and it was our friends on the Pelagic Australis once again. This time they’d sailed close enough to wave hello. Again, we had a nice chat about rats, seals, and wanderers, and even made some small talk about the weather, before waving goodbye as they set sail for home. 

The crew of the Pelagic Australis stopping by to wave hello (photo by Cian Luck)

The Pelagic Australis setting sail for home, escorted by wanderers (photo by Cian Luck)