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West Point
We were ready on time to be met by our hosts on West Point. The island has on offer a colony of black browed albatrosses with Rockhopper penguins intermingled. Nothing is on the doorstep, and we had a trek to the other side of the island (about a mile or so) before we reached our goal. In fairness the island owners did also provide Land Rover transport to close to the colonies for those who didn't fancy the walk.
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Around the island at the jetty and en route to the colonies were caracaras and upland geese.
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After a good look round we return to the main residence for tea and biscuits provided by the owners. They do this for all their visitors, including the multiple hundreds that turn up on the bigger cruise ships. After tea we have a bit of a wander beach combing and watching the birds and geese. There is a penguin colony in the distance but quite unreachable.
New Island (North Harbour)
We were delayed in setting off from West Point - the wind was wrong and the tides were wrong, and if the ship went off it would be all wrong. We hang on a bit and arrived about and hour and a half later than we were expecting. However after landing we were again greeted by our host and directions given on how to reach the colony of black browed albatrosses.
We set off across the sand dunes and our first encounter was at a pond with geese and Magellanic penguins sharing the same space. The Magellanic are burrowing penguins, in that their nests tend to be a bit like rabbit warrens. We waited ages for one of them to demonstrate that they were underground penguins, and eventually one went in its "house"
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Continuing the walk uphill against a bit of a strong breeze we made visual contact with the beach on the other side. Close by was a large group of Gentoo penguins, with some Magellanic interlopers. Onto the beach and head down against the wind and the loose sand blasting against our faces we arrived at a rocky crag area in time to see a couple of battalions of rockhoppers come out the sea and sticking together advance up the hill. Also around the crags were oyster catchers and dolphin gulls, plus a variety of other birds.
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Up the steep hill that these penguins were going, was the colony of Black Browed Albatrosses and Shags. The area was a hive of activity with albatrosses and shags flying in and the rockhoppers jumping around to find their homes.
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Despite the very strong winds, it was, as usual, fascinating watching the birds behaviour and seeing them in flight. Sadly we had to start our mile and a half down hill, up hill, down dale, across beach trek back to the zodiacs landing. By now the tide was going out, and the shallowness of the beach/water meant that the zodiacs were grounding quicker than they could be filled with passengers, so it took a little longer than usual getting off. Some people also had to push the boats out into much deeper water to keep the vessel afloat - deeper than top of boot depth - so there were some pretty wet feet around!
This was our last holiday landing, so we said farewell to the Antarctic sub-continent and Antarctica, for now.
Being the end of the tour and in commemoration of services rendered, there was a naming ceremony for one of the zodiacs - it was christened jointly by our oldest male passenger, our oldest female passenger, and a lady whose ancestor once explored these waters.
Val adds her champagne to the already christened "Scott"
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