Sun 22 Jan 2017: Macquarie Island

Sunday. Macquarie Island. Moored off Sandy Beach. The weather is a bit iffy, a storm to the north. Today is a free wander along the beach. Five Macquarie workers are on board. They work with the usual team to look after us on the island.

Lunch early at 11:30, pumpkin risotto. Dinner is a choice, for mains, of fillet steak or southern codfish. At lunch we select our dinner main course. That allows the cooks to prepare the correct number of mains. I select the steak.

Ship food is very good. A bit heavy (in my opinion)... heavy in oil or butter, that is. Though that is less noticeable as my stomach settles :-) Most meals are quite low on carbohydrates. Much of the meat is a bit chewy, it sticks in my teeth. But then, so does any food. I had pork last night, a square of pork belly. The edges were a bit tough, the skin was too tough to cut. It was all delicious.

After lunch: by rubber ducky to the beach.

We land next to four elephant seals, sleeping in a heap. They occasionally open an eye, or roll over, or belch. There are piles of these seals all over the beach.

And there are penguins :-)

To the north is a King Penguin colony. It had a thousand chicks last year. An enormous mass of penguins ! The beach is covered with penguins! The chicks are just starting to hatch. We manage to spot one egg being carried on an adult's feet. We can hear the high cheeping of chicks already hatched, from out of sight in the middle of the flock.

To the south and up the hill is a Royal Penguin colony. Their chicks have hatched and the colony is very, very noisy. And smelly. Very smelly.

Penguins are constantly walking to and from the beach. There's a "penguin highway" between the royal colony and the ocean. We are allowed to cross the highway, but not stop in it.

There are penguins just sitting and standing, on the beach. Plenty of them still have some -- or a lot -- of their baby fluff. These ones will be last year's chicks who are still dependent on their parents.

Some penguins stare at us. Some come a bit closer. Seals occasionally open an eye at us. The most active seal waddles down the beach and into the sea.

Absolutely brilliant! Like every image or description of being with penguins. Except so much better to really *be* there :-)

And then it's rubber ducky back to the ship. For coffee. And rest.