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With its subzero temperature and snowstorms, the combined islands of South Georgia and South Sandwich will put all those bulky jackets into good use. The Islands, however, is more of a laboratory than a tourist spot. This British overseas territory in the southern Atlantic Ocean is better known as the base of the British Atlantic Survey, a research facility studying whales and the Antarctic. Although remote and inhospitable, this omnibus of bleak, mountainous islands has contributed to humanity significant findings about whaling and the Antarctic wildlife.

Tourism in the Islands has become a major cash machine in recent years, with many cruising ships and chartered yachts visiting it en route to its closest neighbor, Falkland Islands. Included in the cruise itinerary are docks to the Antarctic Peninsula and the Islands' capital, Grytviken.

Since London merchant Anthony de la Roché spotted South Georgia in 1675 and James Cook landed on Sandwich Islands in 1775, there have been no permanent residents in the Islands. There is a post office, but it serves more as a souvenir shop for buying UK-made post stamps. There is a governor (the same that governs Falkland Islands) but there are no elections because there is no one to govern. There is a Liberation Day to celebrate (June 14), but there is no sight of those liberated. Only a church, a small museum, a group of scientists, abandoned Norwegian whaling stations, an old Argentine meteorological laboratory, and a pair of World War II guns from the Royal Navy were left to make the Islands seem less barren.

There are no trees or shrubs, but amazingly, albatross, a large colony of King Penguins, petrels, and other herd of sea birds, were able to nest in the Islands' very skimpy quilt of green. Seals are frequent visitors, as well as whales patrolling the cool seas. There are no native land animals, except for the South Georgia Pipit. There are reindeer and mice, but these are 20th century stowaways from Britain. If there is something that's "plenty" aside from the snow, these would be the active volcanoes. The highest is Mt. Belinda on Montagu, while the submarine volcano of Protector Shoal in Zavodovski is the lowest.

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