King Penguin Central, Salisbury Plain, South Georgia Island

January 9. We were blessed today to visit what is probably the world’s largest nesting colony of King penguins. Zodiacs dropped us on a beach full of seals. Babies were everywhere, playing with the ship’s boot scrubber, popping up out of grass tussocks, and the expedition staff had to clear a path through some feisty males. We walked on Salisbury Plain among thousands of penguins to the main rookery, which reportedly has 100,000 nesting pairs. It is impossible to depict 360 degrees of penguins. Among all the penguins were lots of fur seals and some elephant seals. Jan, thinking a very large rock near her, looked like a good place to rest, suddenly realized it was an elephant seal!