We motored from St. Andrews Bay into Royal Bay this morning to see the enormous Ross Glacier, which was calving off pieces as we watched. As we were leaving the skies finally began to clear, and we arrived in Gold Harbour with near-perfect weather. I spent the afternoon hiking along the cliffs looking for light-mantled sooty albatross, and managed to find a few of them nesting on the rock faces, including one pair that allowed me to approach within a few feet. These are beautiful and peaceful birds that are probably the most graceful fliers that we’ve seen thus far.
After leaving the cliffs I spent time on the beach with the elephant seals, fur seals, king penguins, gentoo penguins, skuas, and assorted others. The skuas seemed willing to have me sit next to them at an arm’s length, and the king penguin chicks followed me around, always a few feet behind. Most impressive today were the elephant seals, which were piled so thickly that it was nearly impossible to safely walk along the beach. In order to avoid the elephant seals I walked along the edge of the beach, but the fur seals had taken up refuge in the tussocks, and twice one charged in within inches before I could chase him away.