Amin's Adventures

Plan B has been working and today was no exception. We arrived early at Saunders Island, which is just to the East of Westpoint Island and is the fourth largest island of the archipelago. We had a view of a beach in front of us and the promise of King, Chinstrap, Gentoo and Magellan Penguins plus a Cormorant rookery and another Black-browed one as well. Well, the swells were white and the Expedition Team took a Zodiac to shore and shortly thereafter deemed the landing too hazardous.

Plan B was to go around to the other side of the island and then go ashore. This was a two hour process as we had to go around some shoals at the point of the island and then turn in. While on deck, we saw a few of the usual suspect birds and an occasional Porpoise.

We arrived at the “Plan B” spot and it looked much less rough, but we would not be near the spot where the King Penguins lived. King Penguins are a slightly smaller version of the Emperor). From the ship, we could spot a few penguins on the beach and then turned a brown rock into a Weddell Seal! Preparations didn’t take long and we were off on our last shore landing of the trip. And it was a doozy! I sat in the front of the Zodiac and took the full brunt of the crashing waves, we were all soaked on the outside, but our waterproof gear shrugged off the wet and left us dry. We got off the Zodiac in almost boot high water and strolled into a remarkable sight.

Magellanic and Gentoo Penguins in the surf! I finally had my good Magellan Penguin shot! Then we looked at the Weddell Seal, who was motionless and had an ugly coat. Apparently he’s shedding and during this time preserves his energy and just lays there. Along the beach there was lots of brown seaweed in it, but there was something darker lurking. A Leopard Seal was surfing an sizing up the penguins. Luckily we saw no gore and enjoyed viewing the penguins, oystercatchers and gulls on the windswept beach.

We decided to walk inland, but the winds got the best of us. There were several penguins walking towards the beach and lots of Geese in the inland ponds. As we turned ourselves around, we had to bend into the wind to make progress towards the shore and awaiting Zodiacs.