From Cape to cape. Expeditions by land and sea.

[RooFlyer]

Welcome back

 

[drron]

The last of her pics-

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Then back to the ship and wait for me to return-

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[drron]

So to my collection.Had to wait for another zodiac to arrive before we set off through the fur seals.Can be aggravating trying to charge you.

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We weren't the only ones on the hike-

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Most of the infant fur seals are cute though-

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But this one stole the show-

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[drron]

Still a long way to go-

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Over a rise and the view unfolds-

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I often try to imitate the animals.I had this fellow bemused-

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Oh no.The king has lost his head.

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[drron]

What a sight-

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Some are still sitting on eggs.Unfortunately those are doomed as it is too late in the season to produce a viable youngster-

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Apart from keeping the egg warm if you let too much be seen a giant petrel will have eggs for breakfast-

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The young need to be this size to have a good chance of surviving-

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Safety in numbers.

 

[drron]

This little fellow will be lucky to survive-

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Here's one chick that didn't make it-a few brown feathers left.

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But these older chicks should do well as they lose their baby feathers-

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[drron]

Nearly there-

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But there are 2 less chicks-

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But it wasn't the skua who made the kill-

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The giant petrel reclaims his meal.The one behind him is a much larger chick.And another that met it's end not long ago-

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Time to turn back-

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[zig]

That is an enormous number of penguins drron. Did the expedition team give an estimate on how many were there?

 

[mrs.dr.ron]

It is a shame we don't have smell-a-vision :shock: thousands of penguins is an assault on the olfactory nerves

 

[drron]

I swear the ball went in the hole-

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So those 3 fellows walked up to me,walked around me then moved to the side to have a little discussion probably along the lines-"do you really think that is drron?"
The scenery on the walk back was stunning-

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Going the right way.
Even the seal pups can have it tough-

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One last thing to do before I get in the zodiac.Annoy the twitchers by getting South Georgia's only songbird to walk up to me-

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[drron]

That is an enormous number of penguins drron. Did the expedition team give an estimate on how many were there?

the Expedition staf estimated 250000 but I think it could well be more as the colony went up a couple of valleys that were behind hills.Add to that all those walking the land and beaches plus those out to sea I would say you could add another 100000 to that.

 

[drron]

On the way back to the ship a leopard seal followed the zodiac.boy are they big and fast.
The ship then repositioned to Prion island whilst we had lunch/a few last shots as we sail away-

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The sea had started to get a bit of a swell and the anchorage not protected so a bumpy zodiac ride until we got to shore and then clambering over lots of kelp on the beach.

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A lot of the penguins were moulting.Of course there were fur seals and a duck-

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But that's not why we are here.

 

[drron]

And we weren't here for these-

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A skua and chick.These are the reason for our visit-

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The Wandering albatross.This island is opened for visits only in March to tourists so the nesting and chicks wont be disturbed.The population was declining but in the last 8 years there has been an increase of 2 new breeding pairs.A start but a long way to go.Wingspan of up to 4 metres so a very large bird.You have to stay on a walkway so not too close to the birds.There was a very small chick in the nest of the far bird in the last photo.
Back to the beach-

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[drron]

Had to wait a fair while for a zodiac back to the ship so wandered around the beach-

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[drron]

Wednesday and our second day in South Georgia.There were meant to be 2 landings today but a fair swell and strong winds from the east put paid to those plans.Instead we did 2 fjord cruises.They were spectactular.First is Drygalski fjord at the south eastern tip of the island.

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[drron]

I'll let the pictures do the talking-

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[drron]

So those were mrsdrron's pics now mine starting with sunrise over Coopers bay where our planned landing was to be.the landing site was the other side of the rocks and was copping the full blast of the weather-

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They are heading back to the landing site.

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It was a reasonably long fjord-

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and at the end the Risting glacier-

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[drron]

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A couple there for those who like rocks.

 

[drron]

As you can tell I never get tired of ice-

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[drron]

Now for some blue ice-

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