This morning we arrived at Hannah Point on Livingston Island, having re-crossed the Bransfield Strait to the western side of the South Shetland Island.
As we landed on the beach, we caught site of a few large elephant seals & some Chinstrap penguins. Although this was exciting, the best was yet to come!
Monika led the expedition up the steep beach & through some jagged rocks, to arrive in the main penguin colony. Dotted in amongst the thousands of
Gentoos & Chinstraps were several breeding pairs of Macaroni penguins! Apparently they had been blown off course on the return journey
to where they were born, and had set up nests amongst the other species.

A further 100 metres on, the main group of young male elephant seals were sprawled out on the beach, sleeping, fighting & generally making as much
noise as they could. A very young elephant seal appeared to take a shine to the Doctors bright White Wellington boots, and rapidly hauled himself up
from the sea to get a closer look!

This proved to be an ideal location to sit and watch pairs of penguins displaying in a mating ritual to find a partner, or nest building for those who had found a mate.
Higher up in the cliff faces, pairs of petrels could also be seen nest building.

To see more photos,
click here for thumbnails.
or
click here for a slideshow.