The weather has finally turned against us. It was too windy to land at St Andrews Bay which has the biggest colony of Kings on South Georgia (hard to believe there could be more than there were at Salisbury Plain). When I woke up I could see them covering the beach. The end of a rainbow lit a small group at one end. It was magical. I was a little dissappointed when Julio made the announcement that it was too windy for us to land. I suppose 45 knots is a little strong for the zodiacs.

Later this morning we did manage to get ashore at Moltke Harbour although it was still quite windy and the sleet blew sideways. I was able to hang out and watch the smaller groups of King penguins, but the highlight really has to be the Elephant Seals. I'd always thought these guys were really ugly. OBS's the staff call them - Odiferous Blubber Slugs. The older ones have really ugly probiscus growths (which is where they got their name). At Moltke though we were able to get quite close to some of them and i found myself fascinated. These animals are HUGE. At around 8ft long the ones we saw were only young males but the adults grow up to 20ft and 4000kgs!

The sounds these guys make have to be heard to be believed. The constant belching and farting turns your stomach (and sorry Bede and Cobes but you guys have NOTHING on these creatures) . They look like they shouldnt be able to move but they can move suprisingly quickly across the sand. Normally they dont do much but we were lucky enough to view a group of males who were frequently sparing. Watching this mounds of blubber lift half their slug like bodies into the air and then slamming against each other was a sight to behold. Hopefully I'll be able to upload the video I took to give you an idea. I was mesmorised and spent most of this landing up at the far end of the beach watching the spectacle. They had some remarkebly human characteristics. The ends of their flippers looked like fingers. Especially when they scratch them

This afternoon we moved to Gold Harbour which is apparantly many of the crew's favourite landing spots and now I know why! Thousands of King penguins stretched along the beach. A little narrower than Salisbury Plain, it felt more interactive and less overwhelming. I just picked a spot between the fur seals near the water and the Kings at the back of the beach and layed down and watched. Several of the birds came over to investigate me :) A little white sheathbill pecked at the mud on the soles of my boots. Woollies came and squarked at me for a feed. The adults put on fantastic displays crowing into the air and spreading their flippers/wings. I couldnt stop laughing as a group of 3 walked along alternately squarking and slapping at each other. It was like the 3 stooges :) (will hopefuly get that vid up too). My favourites though were the ugliest of the Kings the moulting woollies - or the semiwoollies as I called them. These guys are like teenagers. The moult happens unevenly and they get left with ugly little tufts of brown down and patches of the gleaming feathers that show what they will become. They are the most inqisitive though. Like teenagers they seem to have no fear and will come right up to you. They pecked at my bag, my boots, my pants and my parka. The twist their head comically as they check you out. It is truly an amazing experience. I also enjoyed watching them interracting with other passengers. One semi woolly seemed completely fascinated by Alistair. He was pecked at, leant on, almost climbed on amd at one point the bird was pecking in his ear! (maybe he hadnt washed properly hehehe)

The sheathbills also seemed to love the zodiacs. I watched as one zodiac zipped up and down the beach with hald a dozen riding on the bow and a few more flying around the drivers head (could tell which of our fab zodiac drivers it was though).

All too soon we were dragged back to the zodiacs to head back to the ship. The seals swam alongside for much of the way, widing in the wake and seemingly as reluctant for us to leave as we were.