The origins of the canal date back to the 18th century and the construction was interrupted by the French Revolution. The canal was intimately linked with the activity of timber-floating to feed the growing energy needs of the expanding population of Paris. The logs were assembled into 50m.-long rafts in Clamecy, from where they were rowed by “flotteurs” on the slow, tiresome voyage (+200kms) along the Yonne and the Seine rivers to the quays of Paris. Being a “flotteur” was arduous work: they were often up to their knees in ice-cold water for days on end…

For more info: read GEBHART BLAZEK’s excellent webpage on this subject:

The Falklands archipelago consist of two main islands and 338 smaller ones, covering a total of 12.173 km2 -almost half the size of Belgium. Founded in 1844, Stanley is probably the world’s smallest and most remote capital. It is a handsome, welcoming village of about 2000 people. Very British atmosphere, although the architecture is that of a frontier town, except for a few Victorian step gable houses. Despite its occupation by thousands of Argentine troops from April 2 to June 14, 1982, Stanley escaped almost unscathed. It remains the center for the archipelago’s wool industry, and more recently became a port for deep-water fishing industry. (Info from Lonely Planet “Antarctica” guidebook).
Photos taken with NIKON D200, 24-120mm lens on 8 January 2007.

Discovered in 1675 by London-born merchant Antoine de la Roche while sailing from Lima to England. Captain James Cook made the first landing on January 17, 1775. It was the most important center for the Southern Atlantic whaling industry from 1904 until 1966. The settlement of Grytviken was founded by the Norwegian Captain Carl Anton Larsen. In its heyday around 300 men worked in the station during the summer months (Oct.-Mar.) .

It is also the site from where the heroic Irish polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton left on his fateful Endurance expedition, and where he returned in the 6,5m lifeboat James Caird to fetch help for the rescue of his 22 expedition crew members stranded on Elephant Island, 800 miles away. Shackleton died here on his ship in the bay in 1922 and is buried in the lonely cemetery, alongside some Norwegian whalers (who died in a 1912 typhus epidemic) and an Argentine soldier -victim of the Falklands War.

The approach of South Georgia

The old whalers’ settlement Grytviken, founded by the Norwegian Captain Carl Anton Larsen in 1904. As many as 300 worked here in the industry’s heyday



British Antarctic Survey base buildings at Grytviken

Rusting whale processing equipment on the beach of Grytviken

Rusting whaler Petrel on Grytviken beach

The whalers church, Grytviken. Here Shackleton’s funeral ceremony took place on 5 March 1922, before he was buried in the local cemetery. Shackleton suffered a heart attack on board an old sealer, Quest, a vessel on which he planned his third Antarctic expedition, the Shackleton-Rowett Expedition, in the Weddell Sea area of Antarctica. At first his body was taken to Montevideo where it was learned that Lady Shackleton wished that her husband be buried in South Georgia.


Grytviken cemetery.

Shackleton’s tomb in the Grytviken cemetery. The granite headstone was made in Edinburgh. It was unveiled by the Governor of the Falkland Islands in the presence of whalers and the crew of R.R.S. William Scoresby, in 1928.



Communal house and dormitory of the whaling station.

Movies were one of the (very) few entertainments.

King penguin colony, Gold Harbour, S.E. coast of South Georgia. The relatively small island boasts some 160 glaciers.


King penguin colony, Bay of Isles, South Georgia.






Baby fur seal on Right Whale Bay, north west coast, South Georgia.

On the beach of King Edward Bay, Grytviken Whaling Station.

Seals copulating on the beach of Right Whale Bay

Salisbury Plain, S. Georgia

The James Caird approaching South Georgia. The trip from South Georgia to Elephant Island took the MS Hanseatic some 48 hours: in 1916 the journey in the opposite direction took a totally exhausted Shackleton and his 4 companions 17 days of harrowing sailing in this 6,5m lifeboat, in winterly gale conditions (incl. a huge tsunami wave!). It is rightly considered to be one of the most courageous survival stories in the history of exploration and navigation. (Photo taken at Dulwich College, London).



The James Caird is proudly exhibited at Dulwich College, south of London, where Shackleton went to school.

Commemoration plaque at Dulwich College, London


Falklands War: The Argentine surrender to the British in South Georgia (1982), Grytviken museum. South Georgia was from March 23 until 26 April 1982 a lesser known theater of the Falklands War: the painful, humiliating Argentine surrender to British Royal Navy officers took place aboard the HMS Endurance in Grytviken Bay.

Falklands War: Surrender document signed and annotated by the Argentine commander (Grytviken Museum).

Despite its name, Carcass is a small, wind-swept and very scenic island on the far north-western end of the Falklands archipelago. It boasts a great variety of wildlife. It takes its name from HMS Carcass, which, along with HMS Jason, established Port Egmont on Saunders Island in 1765-67.
The only inhabitants are a farmer’s family, the McGill’s of Scottish descent, living on the island (10kms by 4 kms in size!). The dominant vegetation is high tussock grass. The only trees on the island are a few Monterey cypresses, serving as windbreakers around the McGill homestead.

All photos taken with NIKON D200, 24-120mm lens.

On the return voyage through the Drake Passage towards Cape Horn we passed various spectacular Antarctic islands like Livingston and Deception island in the Shetland group. The last glimpse of Antarctica was of Smith Island.

The photo in the banner of my webblog was taken during a sunset in the Drake Passage, sailing away from the South Shetland islands.

Awesome silence and an overwhelming feeling of solitude strikes me as our vessel enters the ice-pack of the legendary Gerlache Strait. The snowpeaks of Liège Island, Brabant Island and Anvers Islands are slowly appearing on the starboard side. We are sailing down the west side of the Antarctic Peninsula. The strait was discovered and named by the Belgian explorer Adrien de Gerlache, leader of the Belgica Expedition (1897-99). His vessel ‘Belgica’ got stuck in pack-ice in the Bellingshausen Sea (at 71°22′S) and was forced to spend the winter of 1898 in Antarctic ice – an absolute first at the time. With great difficulty the team was able to cut the ship free from the icepack, to escape from having to spend a second winter there, and face certain death. Frederick Cook and Roald Amundsen were part of the crew of this epic polar exploration. The scientific data gathered by the various scientists on board were of great value to subsequent South Pole explorations.

Sea chart showing the entrance to the Gerlache Strait, Brabant Island and Anvers Island.

In Paradise Harbour and -through the spectacular Lemaire Canal- near Pleneau Island we discover a magic world of icebergs, penguin colonies and plenty of seals. Then we headed back north to Livingston island and Deception Island – part of the South Shetlands Island group.

Entering the Lemaire Canal





In Paradise Harbour, near Pleneau Island




Chilean antarctic base Gonzalez Videla


Fur seals near Pleneau Island

Livingston Island, South Shetlands: The penguin’s most dreaded predator, a sea leopard (Hydrurga leptonyx) is lying in wait for penguins returning from forays to feed their chicks up on the rocky cliffs. Sea-leopards can devour up to 25 penguins daily.
The penguins’ main enemy, the ferocious Sea Leopard; photo shot near Pleneau Island.

Exception to the rule: a white (albino?) gentoo penguin.





Sea-chart of Deception Island, South Shetlands: the very narrow entrance, called by sailors “Neptune’s Bellows”, is tricky to negotiate because of underlying rocks on the left side. A Norwegian cruise-ship, the Nordkapp of the Hurtigruten Line, ran aground here in January 2006 and had to be escorted by a sister ship back to Ushuaia.

Sunset over the South Shetland Islands.

The voyage home had us cross the dreaded Drake Passage (which -as the saying goes is either “Drake Lake” or Drake Shake”: for our luck, was the first!). The Hanseatic was able to pause right in front of Cape Horn, where we went on land to see the albatross monument, the lighthouse and the chapel. Then it was back to Ushuaia via the Beagle Canal. The end of an unforgettable voyage. The picture above was taken at 11.30 pm. upon entering the Drake passage: it shows one of the last islands of the South Shetlands, Smith Island, appearing in an esoteric midnight light.

Albatrosses accompanied us all through the voyage.

Cape Horn rises 424m with striking cliffs on its upper parts: crossroads of three oceans, and throughout history a marine cemetery. This is the headland that sailors shun. Over 800 shipwrecks lie on the ocean floor around the cape. Cape Horn was discovered in January 1616 by two Dutchmen, Jakob Le Maire and Willem Schouten, sailing in the ship “EENHEID” (Unity). They named the cape after their ship HOORN, which had accidentally burned down at Puerto Deseado on the Patagonian coast. The Drake Passage is about 950 kms long. If one is fortunate , one experiences the quiet waters known as the “Drake Lake”. Otherwise one has to be prepared to experience the “Drake Shake”, which seems to be the rule.

Cape Horn: monument to the albatross. The sculpture depicts an albatross in flight, and commemorates those lost in the treacherous seas off the headland.

On a memorial stone at Cape Horn: An ode to the Albatross, the most beautiful of all sea birds.

Map of MS. HANSEATIC journey, January 2007

ITINERARY: Bamako – Segou – Segoukoro -Teriya Bougou – San – Djenné – Sévaré – Bandiagara – Songo – Sangha – Falaise Dogondorpen (Banani, Tireli, Nombori museum, Dourou…) – Mopti – Douentza – Tombouctou – Bamako.

See the entire album here.

Dancing and exercises in the parks of Beijing