LIVINGSTONE ISLAND

JANUARY 25TH

Hannah Point & Humpback Whales!!

We woke and realised that today would be our last expedition day. The time had flown by and we were really sad to think that our trip was coming to an end. Throughout the night the ship headed back towards the South Shetlands and we had almost come first circle. Once thing that was better than our first visit to these islands was the weather. We donned our landing clothes for the last time and headed out to the zodiacs. Hannah Point is commonly known as Antarctica in a Nutshell for its abundant and varied wildlife. This island was home to three species of penguin - Chinstrap, Gentoo and the less common Macaroni! We were fortunate enough to see a pair of Macaronis almost straight away and they were amazing little things and quite different from the other species. They were crested penguins and their bright yellow crest really made them stand out from the crowd even though they were a lot
smaller than their cousins.

We also saw a mass of elephant seals wallowing around on the ground. It has to be said there is no pleasant way to say it but they absolutely stunk. This heaving mass didn’t seem to do much other than just burp and fart and the smell was rancid. It was a nightmare trying to walk slowly around the penguins whilst being gassed out by these wallowing bags of wind. They were also in moult so didn’t really look at their most attractive and the smell really did make you want to get away from them as soon as possible! We then made our way further round the beach and saw Skuas, Kelp Gulls, Giant Petrels and Snowy Sheathbills. The Skuas were always on the lookout for the odd penguin chick but the chicks seemed to be aware of this and the crèches put up a fight whenever a Skua came a little bit too close.