Salisbury Plain

Our last stop on S. Georgia (it's a big island) was Salisbury Plain. This is home of the second largest King penguin colony. I didn't get an estimate for the largest colony size, but this one is estimated to have 160,000 breeding pairs. For whatever reason the young penguins here are way more forward about checking you out. Several different ones walked up to me and pecked on my hand or boot. One actually followed me around and every time I stopped he got in front of me and made a big show about something, like he wanted me to do something or go somewhere. He's the one in the first pic.

After this stop we were done and began our long sail to the Falklands which brings me full circle to the "10,000 mile journey" post a while back. The last pic below is a set of rocks a day out from S Georgia. They are not part of any land mass and are really in the middle of nowhere. There are generally lots of whale sightings here because this is the top of a mountain rising up from the sea floor, which is otherwise very, very deep in the Scotia Sea. We crossed the Polar Front soon after this and the air warmed up immensely, though still chilly.

That was the end of the Antarctic part of my expedition, I'll start posting New Zealand dispatches next. Thanks to Shelly for posting these, and setting up the website.

A zealous King penguin fledgling pecking at my camera

Part of the colony at Salisbury Plain

Shag Rocks between South Georgia and the Falklands