Overnight we had anchored in Fortuna Bay (named after the first whale catcher to operate out of Grytviken) which made this mornings disembarkation easy. We were in the earliest group as we had opted to walk inland from the beach to the king penguin colony - smaller than yesterday's - only 7000 pairs.
As we disembarked we saw a rare blonde baby fur seal ( today's picture) this gene combination is seen now and again but luckily for the pup it seems to have no effect on their survival. Enroute to the penguins we saw lots of fur seals in the tussock grass, up the slopes, some quite high, and lying in and on the side of the small streams along with the penguins. As we approached the colony there were increasing numbers of penguins standing alongside the small tributaries and along the edge of the mountain streams to our left. We also watched a large petrel, the vultures of the antarctic, getting stuck into a seal carcass.
As yesterday the colony consisted of adults and youngsters in various stages of molt - some more attractive than others - if you sat down and were quiet they, being very inquisitive, would come and peck at boots and trousers to see what these aliens were made of - as expected their beaks were very strong!
We slowly walked back to the beach and watched a very young seal, with their umbilical cord still attached, and whose mum had gone to sea snuggled into the expedition gear for comfort!
All back on board the boat set sail for the Grytviken, another old, but partially restored whaling station with a church, post office, shop, museum and british research base.
We again disembarked early as we had opted for the uphill walk to Maiviken, a viewpoint looking out over the entrance to Grytviken. It was good exercise and after a couple of photos we again left smartish so we could enjoy a peaceful return walk and enjoy walking along a lovely mountain stream. As we got back into Grytviken I took photos of the views, watched a family of fur seals lying in the ruins of the whaling station, visited the post office and sent some cards, which could take 6-12 weeks to get back to the UK depending on when the ship comes to collect them, visited the museum and shop then headed off to the cemetery to see Shakletons grave. The grave faces south as the South Pole is where his heart is. Other graves belonged to old whalers and one Argentinian sailor.
The track to the graveyard was littered with fur and elephant seals - albeit none were really feisty clearly they are used to people! There were also king and gentoo penguins on the waters edge and pintail ducks with off spring, a rare sight, which is brilliant for the species.
In the evening the director of the South Georgia team and wife to the Government representative ( the Falklands Governor is also responsible for South Georgia) gave us a talk on the rat extermination programme which will hopefully ensure the native populations of birds survive - the South Georgia pipit eluded us but it is the southern most songbird and as there are no trees nests on land so needs help. There was also a plea for sponsorship of a hectare or more the helicopter baiting project - we didn't support as we already have our good causes but some others did.
At dinner we were joined by one of the museum team, of three, who spend about 7-8 months in Grytviken. Ships visit almost daily so they don't get too lonely albeit our American guest was married to a Dutch guy, who was looking after the IT on the US polar base, they only saw each other for 4 months of the year when they go home to France which she wants to rethink - so near and yet so far!
The team were returned to shore at 10.00pm no doubt with several donations for the rat extermination project! The ship then set sail for our next location - Gold Harbour in the south of South Georgia.