The Most Remote Island in the World !

Atlantic Ocean-Falkland Islands-Stanley  The start of my second voyage and my 2nd visit here. Reminds me so much like Ireland at times. They even have peat bogs  like home. But they have a gale that can shorten your visit here if you arrive by ship. Little Old England I would say. The most iconic sight is the whale bone beside the Cathedral. You can see it on the bottom right. 

A excellent Post office in Stanley. I used to think it was called Port Stanley. But no just Stanley. This is also the Philatelic bureau for British Antarctic Territory and South Georgia. 

Atlantic Ocean-South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands-King Edward Point   This is where the Post office is on South Georgia. No one lives here permanently. But scientists often stay over the winter season. If there is one place to go to Antarctica this is by far the best. The best Scenery and wildlife with 1000s of King Penguins. 

More Penguins . You can sit right beside them. Amazing. A great selection of stamps and postcards in the Post office here. 

Antarctica-South Georgia-Grytviken  This Postcard is showing Kind Edward Cove in winter. Grytviken is  where the old Whaling Station is and also the souvenir shop. Kind Edward Point is the administrative centre. As I was the only Irish man on the ship, at the grave of Earnest Shackleton the famous Irish explorer, I gave a speech and we left some whiskey ! When you see South Georgia for the first time it is just OMG !!! 

Posted at Grytviken but there is only no  Post mark here . This is the  one at Kind Edward Point. Beautiful stamps . 

Antarctica-Norwegian Bouvet Island   Well where do I start? This is the most remote Island in the world period!. The French man who discovered it did not even manage to land. I can well believe it. This Island is near impossible to get on to . Luckly for me and the ship we did land on 10 March 2006. Approx 50 at most  landed by zodiac over two days. . On the first day ,the third group of people to land, the zodiac overturned. We had to work hard to make sure no one drowned and in that freezing water you have not got much time. So it took some time to dry the zodiac passengers who had gone into the sea. It also meant that we had to wait 6 hours for the waters to calm down so we could get off. We landed here with a Norwegian Flag and a  Norwegian biologist. I believe because of the risk to lives very few if any more ships have attempted a landing here since. Without a doubt the most difficult place to land and visit. A trip I will never forget. 

There is no Post office on Bouvet Island. So when we arrived back  in Cape Verde the Norwegian  biologist took this postcard and mailed it  in the nearest Post office in Oslo. Very far away. It is just by chance that the date is exactly one month from the date of the landing that the postcard was postmarked in Oslo. 

This is the left hand side of the Postcard. It has the stamp of the  ship and also the Captains signature . The ship was the  M/V Aleksey Maryshev, a Russian icebreaker. http://www.betchartexpeditions.com/pdf_files/atlantic_Odyssey.pdf