South Georgia afternoon

Right Whale Bay was our afternoon stop, but the seals were so numerous on the beach that we couldn’t land.  That’s a good problem to have, for the island in general, but it meant that we would instead explore the area by Zodiac. 

This shot reminded me of the Galapagos, with seals and cormorants sharing a rock, but the air temp was at least 40 degrees cooler!

Then this shot made me think of an alpine lake, with the snow-covered jagged peaks and waterfall –

However, you probably won’t find Elephant and Fur seals, penguins or tussock grass in Europe. ;)

Even though we couldn’t land on the beach, I nearly got my fill of Elephant Seal pictures, with this one obliging with a big yawn –

Any time the King Penguins would move along a beach, they tended to line up and look like a bunch of aristocrats on parade –

The muscle mass that these big guys must have to move their bulk is pretty impressive –

A nice family tableau…

… and an impressive “schnozz”.

Here you can see the recent battle scars on both the Elephant seal, as well as the Fur seal in the background –

We were treated to the sight of the poor female nearly being crushed by the male, who is four TIMES her size!

This beach was definitely packed with Elephant Seals…

… with many of them yawning in the late afternoon.

This is a pretty short post, since the next one will blow you away (I hope). I’m closing with this guy seeming to say, “Well, I think YOU’RE funny looking!”