Elephants !

After lunch we cruised to Elephant point which promised – you guessed it – elephant seals, and lots of them. As well there were abundant penguins and other bird life. What a pleasant contrast to Deception Island.

The elephant seals were huge wallowing mounds of flesh, like a giant slug with a head. The effects of large amounts of food are exhibited with the noises associated with flatulence: belching and farting and many are lying in their excrement.

As distasteful as my description sounds there is some kind of affection that can be afforded to these creatures one has empathy with the facial expressions resulting from good sleep after a big satisfying meal.

They are not entirely inactive, they do the occasional bit of exercise with great yoga moves.

We were informed that the seals on this island are predominantly male. The size of the nose indicates the age of the animal. The females are out feeding after spending a long time feeding the young. The juveniles remain onshore and are quite adorable with their large dewy eyes and white coats.

Along with life, there is death. Some of the young failed to move on in the years. Fortunately not from the wanton slaughter of yesteryear, but maybe from accidental crushing of an adult or other natural causes. The birds on the island would of soon finished off the flesh of the carcass on offer.

There was a penguin colony on the island and as usual, they put on an interesting parade with their upright stance and loping walk.

I am glad that film photography was a ‘past’ time. I think I would have spent as much as the voyage on film ! These birds demand and get every photographer’s attention with their character exhibited in all manner of poses. You could easily spend a whole day looking at one bird or seal and its antics. The pro or amateur pros had a field day and were blasting away with their camera triggers, it was pretty hard for me too to keep away from taking a shot.

Other birds are a greater challenge as I try to capture them in flight. It is not easy with my Olympus Tough or Sony compact camera, but somehow I manage. I feel somewhat emasculated with my equipment when I saw the gear that others are carrying, but the one thing I enjoy is not having to lumber kilograms of motor drives and associated bazooka shaped lens.