2017 Chile, Antarctica & Brazil: Day 16 - A mighty expanse of penguins and a big fur seal colony ( All in a days work )

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Gallery : Photo Album - Gold Harbour to Ocean Harbour

The night ride from King Haakon Bay southwards, rounding Cape Disappointment in darkness, was not too rough, or we just slept too well. We were asked to get ready for a possible early morning landing.

We were woken up early at 5:30 for a quick breakfast, and set off to land on a beach at Gold Harbour at 6:30am.

We can see from afar, this amazing sight. Those of us with sensitive nose, could have sworn to have picked up the smell, we were probably a good 1 Km or so away.

Sandi and I arranged to share my camera, and we shall be strolling along together. With a tiny drizzle, the weather had improved a fair bit from yesterday, if only so temporary.

(Note: during this expedtion, Sandi and I shared my camera frequently, some of the photos used may have been shot by Sandi, I would like to thank her for letting me use them freely. )

On the beach, Nigel the naturist gave a quick briefing and run down of the safety codes etc., and the likely route we should take.

This is a very large colony of King Penguins with a small number of Adelie Penguins. And a good number of Elephant Seals and fur seals.

Quick a number of moulting King Penguins were there amongst the colony of a kilometer wide, estimated to be about 60,000 pairs. At the peak of the season, it could easily have 120,000 pairs.

Many of the young chicks were still wearing their baby feathers. Some were downright immature, and wandered around aimlessly, even bumbling into each other.

Some are still hatching their only egg for the season, and was probably too late, unfortunately.

But this egg wasn't too luckly, probably abandoned.

Others were mating happily, whilst others were feeding their youngs.

Yelling for a feed.

And got it...

A loving couple's foreplay ?

Here was another odd gentoo.

Another singer when a chorus fired up...

Predator Giant Petrels were around, angling for the odd lone chicks or egg, ready to pound, but nobody seemed to care.

Those feisty fur seals, but today, they seem less aggressive, perhaps a little too early.

This pair were quieten down by my pointing arm and waving fingers. Sometime stomping the ground would do the trick as well.

The big fat seals are smelly, and more busy with their sleep, with an occasional opening of their eye to check us out.

And they did no more harm than play fighting with each other, between naps. Usually a roaring spectacle.

And a last glimpse, after a couple of hours, before heading back to the mother ship for a proper breakfast.

Back on board, shortly after a late breakfast, we were told to get ready, and be prepared for another landing at Moltke Harbour of Royal Bay, further north of Gold Harbour.

But the weather had decidedly turned for the worse, cold and misty.

Here was our welcoming party by the rocky beach, what a smelly lot, some were moulting, which apparently, is an annualy event.

For those of us who were keen, which I presumed would be everyone, we hiked up 100m over a 1 km of slippery and rocky terrain, to reach a Gentoo penguin colony. The drizzle did not help.

Slowly, the mist became thicker as we reached the colony.

And drizzle slowly turned into snow flakes.

It was a happy lunch, no one seemed to worry about the weather, the topic was all about the amazing activities of penguins, seals, birds etc. We had all become an instant expert...it seemed.

Gusty wind had returned as we sailed northwards, perhaps it would help with the mist, but what about the sea. Fortunately, the boat was quite steady.

After mid afternoon, for those on the bridge, we could see mist were slowly lifting, clearly ahead is another harbour.

We finally anchored outside of Ocean Harbour at about 16:00. Time really was not important, there were plenty of daylights, but the gusty wind condition died just as we were going through our usual routine of preparing and boarding our zodiacs for a long 2 Km ride into the channels of the harbour. How lucky !

We landed in the late afternoon, amid improving conditions, no more drizzle, calmer waters, and the sky had brightened up somewhat, with some sunny spells.

Ocean Harbour is very sheltered, used to be a thriving whaling station, originally started with a Norwegian whaling company in the early 1900s. Later many other joined. There were football competitions etc. in its heydays.

But it would have been very polluted, with whale carcasses left to rot by the harbour side, wasted blubbers floating on water etc. Just imagine the stench, let alone the sights.

But today, it has claimed back by Nature, and a fur seal colony had taken hold.

All these fur seals were waiting on the beach. We were told, that the fur seals could be even more aggressive in Dec when the parents just had newborns, it might not even be possible to land.

And plenty of them nested amongst the tussacs behind the beach, one had to be keep an eye on where one was going, not only to avoid a loud repulsive bark from these creature, but also from stepping into a muddy hole or creek.

"Don't you muck around here, mate, stay out !"

But these little pups were too small to make a bark, just a curious glance. Probably still waiting for their parents to return with foods within a couple of days.

Old relics of the whale stations and a boat wreck are the only reminder of this once busy harbour.

Apparently, reindeer were once introduced to South Georgia by the Nordics, initially for hunting pleasure as well as a source of foods. However, with the ending of the whaling operations, and reduction of human residence, they became an environmental pest. A complete eradication program had been underway, for example, as late as 2014, 3000 odds were still found and culled.