South Georgia Museum Blog – October 2025 

This month’s South Georgia Museum Blog is written by Operations Assistant Rachel. 

Our journey south began on the 24th of September- or it should have at least. After several delays, we finally left the UK about 30 hours later than planned and made it to the Falklands with just enough time to grab a few hours’ sleep before heading to board the Pharos SG. 

The Pharos SG is the South Georgia Government’ fisheries patrol vessel that helps transport teams on and off island. The boat journey took four days, and we were blessed with a smooth crossing. We spent lots of time watching for whales from the bridge, eating great food cooked by the onboard chef, and getting to know our colleagues. We sailed past icebergs which were a big hit with everyone on board, and we saw plenty of birds. My favourite being the cape petrel, with it’s fantastic wing markings and swift flight. 

Once on the island it was quite the whirlwind first week! We needed to be inducted to the site at King Edward Point (KEP) and to our home base over in Grytviken. We had some first aid training, field training, and wildlife training (for moving around them safely and with minimal disturbance). We also needed to get everything from KEP over to Grytviken so we could get started on the work in the museum and shop. This meant biosecuring a lot of things! Biosecurity is really important on South Georgia as it allows us to check everything coming onto the island for potential pests- including plants and animals. It took about a week to biosecure all of the shop stock and get it moved over, but it was worth it to help keep this wonderful island pest free. 

Once we were settled in Grytviken, the real work could start. We were taught how to merchandise the shop, how to operate the till and all of the processes related to this, such as barcoding, sorting stock rooms, etc. We were also taught how to open and close the museum, and we had some object handling training. We also looked at fire extinguisher checks, pest trap checks and everything else needed from the Operations Assistants over the next six months to keep things running smoothly. By far the best training day was the annual clean of the Prince Room. It is our natural history collection, and we were all thrilled to have the opportunity to see some of the objects up close and to get the room looking fabulous for our guests. 

Our first cruise ship of the season brought a bride and groom along with it, so we had the pleasure of seeing our first South Georgia wedding within days of being on island. It was a slow and steady stream of ships after that- perfect whilst we were all still in training. We had a total of 11 ship visits for the month, along with 5 yachts. And we were even treated to several dinner invites on the ships, which was a fantastic experience every time! 

I can’t update you on island life without mentioning the wildlife. It is by far the best thing about being on island! 

The elephant seals were here the day we arrived and pups have been born weekly for the past fortnight. We’re also blessed to have several small groups of king penguins that hang around base, and the odd gentoo! A highlight for all of us was mid-month when a young leopard seal showed up. These are a rare visitor to the island, and we were all thrilled to be able to spot the individual and take lots of images. 

In the last week of October, the large male fur seals also started showing up. Until then we’d only have the playful juveniles hanging around, which are incredible to watch. They are almost like puppies, always chasing each other and play fighting! The males are much larger and have quite magnificent manes, so it was easy to spot their arrival. Soon the females will be along, and pupping season will start. Hopefully by next month we’ll have news of the first fur seal pups of the season being born! 

Until then, we’ll keep you updated on our social media channels. So, stay tuned for more news from the island!