Saunders Island 2

By the time we had set up camp we were very glad to brew a cup of tea before going exploring. Below the Swiss Hotel water is available from a hose which taps a spring in a little gully. It only trickles very slowly so it takes quite a while to fill a container but there are always penguins to watch while you wait.

A bit further along the hill is a pit latrine in a very cosy little shed which is securely wired down to large metal stakes. There is a window which looks out across the hillside and out to sea - it must be a loo with one of the best views in the world. Just outside the loo was a magellanic penguin's burrow with an adult and chick who always seemed to stand to attention when you visited as if they were on duty or waiting to collect your money. Once when I was in there an enormous gust of wind shook the hut and the parent penguin got blown off its feet and down the hill. It looked slightly put out as it trudged back up again!

We walked back along the beach, getting blasted by the blowing sand. John was wearing shorts and his legs got really red and painful. It was harder when we returned against the wind. There is a skeleton of a small whale on the beach and a lot of gentoo penguins were coming and going in and out of the sea.

At the end of the beach we climbed up the steep hillside until we came to the first colony of birds - a mixture of rockhopper penguins and imperial shags. They are all mixed up together with adults and chicks and was generally very raucous and crowded. We didn't proceed any further that evening as we wanted to get dinner cooked and have an early night.