Historic Grytvikyn in South Georgia

A cluster of old, historical and rusting buildings that once was a giant whale processing factory stands today as a reminder of times gone by. Hundreds of men worked and lived here, as they processed whales for their oil, meat, and bone meal. Search the place on Google and you can learn more about how expansive it was in the early 1900s. The government of South Georgia is just letting it decay in place, which may cause it to look a bit unkept, but yet it provides some interesting subjects for photos. Old machines, factory processing equipment, ships, harpoon guns, tools, and many other numerous items are there in the same place they were when things were shut down. The penguins and seals do not mind, as they walk around or lie around on the beach areas like they own the place! There is an extensive and very wonderful museum there that is worth seeing, a unique and quaint country church built in 1913 which is still used by a small congregation, and the cemetery for several of its former residents including, Earnest Shackelton, famous Antarctic explorer from England. You can read more about him in some of the first postings on this blog if you keep going back into "older posts." Besides these facilities a short distance away on the edge of the bay is the British Antarctic Research Station, one of several new facilities in the antarctic operated by the UK.