Penguins, Penguins and more Penguins....

We had the chance to visit Bertha's Beach, so called because a ship called the Bertha was wrecked there, supposedly due to a magnetic anomaly on an island near the beach, which is called Direction Island.

Bertha's beach has a large Gentoo penguin colony, about a 2.5 mile walk from the car park, although we did see a lone King Penguin.

Gentoos are funny to watch, as they almost run along the beach with their wings stretched out behind them!

The Gentoo chicks were hatching and growing quickly, although they were all in different stages of development.

There is a chick somewhere under the penguin here...a tiny little ball of fluff at the tip of the parents' beak

Harry took it all in......

It was fascinating to watch the chicks feeding....

Whilst other parents were busy making additions to their nest...

This picture reminds me so much of "Badger badger badger...."

Some good news on the way back though....the Hartland Point, a resupply ship had docked....somewhere in one of those conatiners is our Asda order!

The day after visiting Bertha's Beach, we went back to Volunteer Point.  When we first went, it was just Simon and Harry who visited.  This time, all three of us went, including Alex, and Ruth the PE Teacher's mum, Chris, and brother, Rob.

It's about a 6 hour round trip, with 4 hours of it off road.  You drive for around 40 miles to Johnson's Harbour on a typical stone track, at 40mph, and then drive 11 miles off road to finally arrive at Volunteer Point.

Simon felt confident he could remember the route out, although Alex wasn't so sure at this hill, although he did cope with it...  Guess driving a vehicle is bit different from steering 4,000 tonnes of Royal Navy ship....  No one got lost, and no one got bogged, which was a bonus!

As ever, some of the King Penguins were strikingly beautiful....

...and some were looking a bit rough from moulting....

This one obviously wants to fly......

There are other forms of wildlife here, including sheep.....

....petrels....

and steamer ducks....

....who like to stretch after their rest!

It was obvious that the King Penguins were egg sitting.  They balance their egg on their feet and cover it with their feathers.

Courtship.....

A lonely chick....

...which hopefully wont end up like this one

This juvenile amused Harry...."Look Daddy, he's wearing a hat!"

The colony is huge....if you look closely you can see the small lump above their feet where they are incubating the single egg.

Other penguins can be found at Volunteer Point, such as the burrowing Magellanic....

....which are dwarfed by the King Penguins....

...there are also Gentoos.   This shot was an amazing sight as 40-50 Gentoos suddenly emerged from the water at the same time!

Sea cabbage is in abundance.....

and Harry decided to make some sand angels!

 on the way back I photographed this old sheep dip

 Sheep dipping is no longer carried out.