Christmas Day - we woke in Stanley Harbour - on a cool cloudy but brightening day. After breakfast we were taken by zodiac to shore for our last dry landing and were landed on the jetty - as we approached we saw our first antarctic fur seal basking on the end of the jetty. We immediately jumped on one of the buses and joined the 2 hour and very interesting city tour. It took us past wrecks of old ships, including the Lady Elizabeth - apparently there used to be more until a worm appeared on the scene and ate them, the domestic airport, the lovely beaches - only one which is over a mile in length can be used as all the others are still mined from the 1982 war, the totem pole - with distances to other parts of the world - the closest to us being St Neots, the school,the hospital, the Governor Generals large house, by Stanley standards,set in well tended gardens, a large private whalebone display and the guns used to kill thousands of whales, George the last surviving reindeer - they were originally brought to South Georgia by whalers for food but have since been removed from the islands to allow habitat recovery, the cathedral with its whale bone arches in front (today's photo), the mizzen mast of the SS Great Britain- which was taken from here to be restored to Bristol docks - having lived next door to it for several years in Bristol docks it was interesting to learn more of its history, and the 1982 war memorial - with all the names of the 200+ British personnel who lost their lives in the war. The road just behind the memorial was named Thatcher Drive - to them Margaret Thatcher is a goddess - and there is soon to be a statue of her erected in Stanley. We finished the tour at the Historic Dockyard and museum - before heading in we went to the hotel opposite for a coffee and to write the postcards we had been given as we got on the bus. Refreshed we posted the cards in a British red pillar box and ventured to the extraordinarily full, well presented and interesting museum. The best bit was listening to the reflections of those who were children at the time of the Argentinian invasion in 1982 - I realised just how vulnerable and scared the islanders must have been and albeit the cost of the war - in money and lives - may have been great - protecting them and the preventing them being oppressed and forced to live in a way they didn't want to was important. I was reminded of the 2013 referendum result where 99.8%voted to stay linked to the UK - only 3 voting against. It was also interesting that the guide did not like saying the word Argentina and only once said it on the tour when he couldn't think how else to explain something!
The sun was now out and we had a lovely warm leisurely walk back to the jetty -looking in the few shops that had opened especially for us as we went. The wind was now quite strong so the ride back to the boat was a tad damp - we fortunately had all our wet weather gear others who had gone for a dry landing now realised that didn't mean a dry journey! I went to the gym on our return so we missed lunch but ordered room service instead.
In the afternoon we set sail for South Georgia, after afternoon tea and trivia - which we enjoyed as it tested the grey matter, we went to listen to Hanne Nielsen talking about Antarctic explorers - Scott, Amundsen and Shackleton.
Then after a recap and briefing session by the expedition team we headed to the Captains table for dinner - we had been invited along with a couple from London, Warren and Denise, who we became quite friendly with and a couple from Lancashire.
We had some great conversations led by the Brits but the Captain is clearly the strong reserved type, who is wedded to the sea for half the year and his family in Poland for the other half. As we crossed into the Antarctic convergence - the outer cold ring of water on the edge of Antarctica which acts as a barrier to the warmer waters above- we went through thickening fog - if it got too bad the Captain said he would have to leave - luckily it didn't and he stayed until the end of the meal.
Back in the room we read the Daily Chronicle which gives some useful general knowledge about the region we are in or the wildlife and our importantly our itinerary for tomorrow - reading it became a nightly ritual along with eating the chocolate or cookie treat that was left for us on the bed.