Musgrave Inlet

Today we explored Musgrave Inlet on Auckland Island in Zodiac boats. Best in show were the rock hopper penguins, so called because these tiny birds hop about on the rocks by the shore, occasionally swimming out for a feed.

I had some nice closeup using my Nikon with a 400 zoom but have had no luck getting pics from the camera to my tablet or phone. Will keep trying.

We went into some spooky caves along the shore and also sighted light-mantled albatross and skuas.

This evening we are upping anchor and heading for Cameron Island. I’m enjoying the observation lounge on the top deck and am about halfway through the 500 page history of Antarctica given me by Susan at Christmas.

Chinese-speaking blog followers might be interested to know that about 20% of my shipmates are Mandarin and all announcements are promptly followed up in Chinese translation. I sat next to Grace, one of the translators, who holds degrees in translation and has a number of these gigs. She grew up speaking Cantonese so had to learn Mandarin as a second language to get into the business.