During the night the weather has improved considerably. It's still cloudy but at least it's dry. Today we'll be visiting Gold Harbour and the zodiacs swiftly bring us to the western most tip of the beach.
We step ashore only a few meters away from a pile of about 50 elephant seals. Their massive bodies occupy almost the entire landing site. Burping and growling sounds fill the air and every now and then two young males start slamming their bodies into each other practicing for a time they'll have to fight for a harem.
Walking over the beach is time-consuming. There's so much to see. All around us king penguins are doing their daily things, feeding their young, trying to impress a mate, fighting rivals, etc.
On our right a fur seal creates a lot of confusion running into a group of
king penguins. They quickly run away. Behind us king penguins enter the sea or come ashore again.
After four hours we've traveled less than a kilometer from the landing site.
We walk back to the landing site to go back to the Polar Star for lunch but apparently missed the last zodiac. That means no lunch but who cares in a place like this. We walk back again, this time a little bit quicker as we intend to see the Bertrab glacier at the end of Gold Harbour as well. Then the clouds break up and for the first time in several days we see the sun again.
For a while we watch two skuas picking at a fur seal carcass. At a certain moment they almost creeping into it in their attempts to find the last piece of meat.
At the other end of the beach, the black sand changes into pebbles. This turns out to be a perfect spot to watch king penguins coming ashore. Tobogganing through the surf they reach the shore, stand up and walk further. Many times, however, a new wave comes rushing in, overthrowing the poor king. Sometime this even happens a second time making it very hilarious to watch. In the meantime many king penguins can be seen swimming around. They seem to enjoy themselves pretty much.
Again it's difficult to stop watching and to continue walking along the beach. But if we want to see the Bertrab glacier, we'll have to.
On our way we pass a wounded macaroni penguin (the first macaroni we see!). It still has the strength to keep a sheathbill away that tries pecking at the macaroni's back. e also see a few nesting sheathbills, hidden under large stones, and an imperial shag (with blue eyes). And, of course, many, many king penguins.
Then we reach the other end of the beach. In front of us we see a glacial lake limited on one side by steep walls. High up the walls the Bertrab glacier ends. Every now and then a distant rumble indicates the falling down of several cubic meters of ice. Unfortunately by the time we hear the sound, the actual avalanche of ice's already gone. The glacial lake is surrounded by thousands of king penguins.
I decide to climb one of the moraines for a better view over the surroundings. The loose gravel and the steep slope make the going tough but I manage to reach the top. From here the views are even better. The left shows the glacial lake with the king penguins
mirroring on the flat surface. The other side shows the even higher number of
king penguins on the beach.
Even a fur seal has reached the top. And an Antarctic tern decides I'm coming to close to its nest, which is made clear to me by some dives over my head.
I continue walking over the moraine. To the right I see an even larger lake and the terminal face of a glacier, on the right I've a beautiful view on the Bertrab glacier. In between there's a maze of moraines. Unfortunately it's time to go down again.
With about an hour left, we don't have to hurry. Walking back we pass the king penguins, the fur seals and the elephant seals again. The shag's still sitting on its piece of rock, the sheathbills are still sitting on their nest and the macaroni penguin is still lying were it lay down a few hours ago. With ample time left we reach the zodiac. All in all it has become a beautiful day.
Tomorrow St. Andrews Bay!