Poems from Godthul

This am, DeDe and Pop Pop veged out. This pm, we’ll walk part of the trail Shackelton took over South Georgia to get to the whaling station and rescuers. Of course, he climbed across the whole island and over 9,000 feet – we’ll do about 5 k, and about 1,000 ft. height.
For today’s blog, here are two poems from Godthul, two days ago.

Godthul: Good Cove – 1
Vast bowl heaved from sea
Tufts of grass to craggy scree
Solitary man.

Godthul - 2
Kayaking smoothly
Midst swells, snow, seals, snaky kelp
Picture thee and me.

Last of the day

So... one last tidbit. We topped out at 22 inches of snow, lots and lots of the white stuff.

Twenty two inches
It's tough to get through it all
Cold, silent beauty.

Keith

Here's a poem of the day from our trip to Alaska, about our guide, Keith, who walked alone across the Brooks Range.

Keith

Catabatic wind
Wolf, bear, ice, frostbite threaten
In silence, knowledge.

Humpback whale - a poem

Here's a poem about a humpback whale:

Powerful drama
Dorsal flags, lobtails, arch, dive
Breach, twist, and explode.

No pics continue!

Google, where are you?

In the meantime, a poem from the North - Alaska - that may be mirrored in the South -Antarctica:

Anenome globs
Flowering filaments flow
'Mid mussels, and tube worms.

A Journey

On an earlier trip with Lindblad/Nat Geo, we went to Baja California. We were one day on the Sea of Cortez, looking at all the different life at sea. Here is a long poem about our day.


A Journey


Fifty fellow travelers
Escaping cold, grey days and nights
Expecting to be pampered
In a communion with nature:
Walks in the desert, and hopefully,
A chance to reach from the Zodiac
And pet a whale.


Remember this day -
The breeze mottles and darkens
The deep azure water.
Pacific describes the warm, glistening blue
Under a cloudless sky.


Remember this day -
Devil rays leaping with a full flip and twist
(Degree of difficulty 6.2)
Hammerheads swimming two feet below the surface,
Jelly fish floating by.


Remember this day -
Frigates playing with the ship's antennae
Sperm whales lolling, spouting askew,
And fan-tail diving,
Blue and humpback in the distance.


Remember this day -
Thirty dolphins running with the Sea Bird
Jumping, leaping, bow-surfing
Singly and in threes,
Fifty travelers leaning over the rails
To share the sight.


Expectations met and satisfaction, but more -

A dark line appears on the sea-side horizon -
Moving, shimmering, frothing, as it nears.
We leap to the Zodiacs to be part of the melee.
A thousand or more dolphins boil the surf -
It's Mardi Gras in the Sea of Cortez.


Expectations exceeded create
An internal bedlam of excitement -
Remember this day.


Sustain the sea -
Not just for the devil ray, dolphins,
Frigates, whales and me.


Sustain the sea -
So our grandsons' and granddaughters'
Grandchildren can, like we,
Sit by the bon-fire under Orion,
The Big Dipper, and the Pole Star
Singing songs and remembering
That dark line on the horizon:
Mardi Gras on Cortez's Sea.