Jason Harbour

Jason Harbour is a small landing site roughly halfway between Grytviken and Stromness. Although modest in size, its sheltered circular bay offers good wildlife viewing opportunities when rough weather makes other landing sites difficult to visit.

The bay here was first surveyed in 1893 by Carl Larsen, the father of South Georgia whaling, and is named for his ship Jason. Larsen took out a lease on the land here five years after founding Grytviken, intending the bay to be a safe harbour for his whaling vessels. The old hut at the near where zodiacs land today is the sole reminder of this period – built in 1911 to serve as a refuge hit for mail deliveries along the coast. It still contains a small stove and a wooden table carved with graffiti from visiting ships (contemporary visitors are forbidden from adding their own names).

If you walk over the tussac grass behind the hut (taking care to avoid elephant seal wallows) you find yourself standing on a narrow isthmus overlooking the quiet waters of Little Jason Lagoon. This is a lovely spot to explore by kayak, largely hidden from the wind with plenty of wildlife on its shores to watch while paddling.

Elephant seals are the most prominent residents of Jason Harbour. The glacial outwash behind the beach is a maze of tussac, streams and wallows favoured by elephant seals during their annual moult. Ironically, this landscape is the product of one species no longer present: the now eradicated reindeer who had severely overgrazed the native vegetation, inviting the seals in in their wake. As elsewhere on the island, fur seals are in present in ever-increasing numbers, having started to breed here around 20 years ago.

There is a modest king penguin colony of around 40 pairs of birds breed here along with brown skuas, plus kelp gulls and blue-eyed shags on the nearby cliffs.