Landing on Culverville Island
Our landing was on a rocky beach with Gentoo penguins all around us. To our right the line of penguins stretched for a hundred meters or more. On our left the beach was wider and we could see seals barging into each other. At the top of a beach were rocks that lead upwards to a snow covered hill.
As we walked up the beach away from the sea we passed whale bones. Beneath the rocks was a great vantage point for watching the seals.
The hills behind the beach
I followed the marked path up through the first rocks until I reached a small snow field and the followed the path that traversed the the hill’s slope.
The path was quite slippy and at times my progress was very slow as slipping down the slope to the rocks below was not an option. There were a couple of smaller rock fields to climb through. Once past the false summit the snow field that covered the mountain was clearly visible.
As I followed the red flags, that marked the safe route, there were penguin creches below me.
The creches were where the snow field met the rocks.
At the end of the patch the expedition team’s photographer waited for the few us who had made it the end of the path. The views were fabulous below us.
Up above me birds circled around the penguin creche. The birds landed close by but the penguin chicks were now as big as the birds and they seemed to just ignore the predators.
Below me everyone was busy taking photos of the wildlife amongst the rocks and the snow.
This is the climb up through the snow to the false summit.
Expedition team members guided us up the first rocks up the hill.
