Breakfast at the lodge is at 8 and after that we were free to roam the island. Yesterday evening we walked to the beach where the Gentoo penguins come to shore and along the way we passed a few elephant seals so we went to look for them first. We soon found a lot of them resting in the sand and were impressed with their size, they weigh about 3500 Kg. We then crossed the island where we were “greeted” by a few birds of prey. They came flying up to us and landed about a meter away. Each time we walked away they would follow us until we were far enough from their territory. On the way back to the lodge other guests told us that there were 2 King penguins at the end of the other path. A few minutes later we saw them standing on the side.
After lunch we waited for the Figas flight to arrive so we could film and take pictures of the landing and take off of the small airplane.
Then it was time for a little trip by Land Rover to the far end of the island to see a cormorant colony. As it began to rain slightly we opted no to walk the 4.5 Km back but return via the seal viewpoint by car. This meant we had some extra time to relax at the lodge before going out again to the “penguin highway” and see the penguins make their way back to their nests.
After dinner we went out again to see the sunset and to see if there were any orca’s near the beach. Other guests saw them early in the morning hunting for seal pups. We plan to get up at 4 and see if we can spot them too.
Our plane is scheduled to pick us up at 9:20 but will make two stops before dropping us off at Pebble Island.
We don’t expect to have internet there so next update will probably be on Thursday or Friday.