We're back at Lagoon Island after our visit to Rothera research station, after bumping the lifting keel over many rocks on the way in. We have to retract the keel nearly all the way to reach the anchorage. (SEAL draws three metres with the keel down; one metre with it all the way up.) Rothera lies three miles away on a rocky peninsula on Adelaide Island. It's a fully equipped small village occupied by over a hundred scientists and support personnel in the summer and a skeleton crew of twenty-two in the winter. There are labs of all sorts, for oceanographers, geologists, biologists, glaciologists, meteorologists, etc. They work all over the peninsula, transported by Canadian-manufactured Dash-7 and Twin Otter planes. These were in immaculate condition, housed (along with Massey Ferguson tractors and other Canadiana) in hangers next to a 900 metre runway. This was under construction, again by Canadians, when Hamish was last here in 1992.

We had been buzzed by the twin otter in Lagoon Island, and we were presented with an aerial photo of Seal by Ian the communications officer at Rothera when he came down to visit SEAL in the afternoon at Rothera. We spent the whole afternoon touring the station with the soon to be base commander and off duty plumber. Great hospitality. The only such visit by yachties all year, although another yacht had called in briefly earlier in the season.

Seal, Lagoon Island.

Fur seals distribute evenly across the beaches, viciously growling and absurdly whimpering as they defend their territories from other fur seals and stray humans, but they take no notice, or steer clear of the enormous elephant seals who lie together in thigmotaxis in muddy wallows while they molt. They snort and burp in retching bubbly roars through their enlarged proboscises. These animals can weigh up to five tons (for a mature male) and dive to up to 1800 meters for up to two hours at a time (the average dive is about 500 metres for forty-five minutes). When moving on land, they travel like huge animated slugs for short bursts and collapse in exhaustion to be followed five minutes later by another trek.

Skuas crowd the cliffs, hills and screes. If anyone inadvertently comes close to the teenaged chicks waiting to mature enough to fly, adult squadrons dive bomb the intruder from all directions.

Dozens of molting Adelie penguins stand around waiting for their fluffy feathers to fall off so that they can swim. Suddenly one takes off towards the shore, followed in waddling procession by two others. After checking several spots, the leader dives in, followed by the second and then the third. But while the first two dash off, the third swims around in distressed circles and gets out. Not yet ready to swim. Most have left now, but there's evidence of a large rookery here in the season. (Posted by Roger)

For more about Seal see http://www.expeditionsail.com.