300,000 King Penguins...

Brilliant sunshine and no wind greeted us for our visit to magnificent St Andrews Bay. The weather could have been foul every day on South Georgia, but we have been very lucky to get some much of the good stuff. The temperature was a balmy 3-4C.

But, and we were warned, this was to be our wettest landing so far. The beach faces directly out into the bay and there are no suitable little nooks to protect a landing zodiac from the swell. Half the expedition staff were assigned to boat handling on the beach, so (unusually) driving the zodiacs was left to the ABs. The landing procedure was straightforward but wet - wait for a swell then catch the wave as far up the beach as possible. The next wave flooded the zodiac from the rear before we have a chance to clamber off near the bow.

Easy to get water in your Bogs at St. Andrews!

Just about everyone got off the Orion in St Andrews Bay. Some passengers hiked up to a glacier, others to a rookery, and others just strolled along the long, black sand and pebble beach.

King penguins enjoying the magnificent vista of their home.

A few elephant seals amongst the mass of penguins.

The beach is about 3-4km long, and, above the wash-line, it is wall to wall placid king penguins with the occasional grumpy fur seal and some recumbent female elephant seals. Some 150,000 penguin pairs are estimated to be on this beach! It is quite a sight.

There's not an inch to spare on the beach in front of this magnificent mountain.

That's wall to wall king penguins.

Compare the pair: elephant seal vs fur seal skulls.

There is the usual penguin activity, that is, a lot of standing around with much slapping behaviour between two members of a threesome. The air is full of the fanfare songs of the birds - can't be a mating call, too late in the season for that. There are many fat brown king penguin chicks, some in various stages of moulting in preparation for their swimming career. And one or two scrawny chicks too - it seems these are late birthers who will not have enough fat on them to survive the winter.

Chick starting to shed baby fur from the ground up.

This chick doesn't seem to be fat enough to survive the winter.

This chick is all fatted up with enough blubber to last the winter without a feed.

The kings have cute feet.

But on this beach, we have an excellent opportunity to watch, close up, the parade of penguins into and out of the water. There is a steady trickle of the birds walking, with infinite dignity and no apparent sense of urgency, to the water where they hop in and swim away to feed. (We often see them in pods swimming together 10's of kilometers out to sea.) At the same time, groups of maybe 100 return to the beach trying to get to sure. The kings are great swimmers, but in these rough conditions they prove to be relatively poor surfers, and only 2 or 3 make it in on any given wave. The rest are swirled back into the ocean. Every so often there is a wave that propels a big number onto shore. This process is not dignified - face planting seems to be a common landing, but they get up on their feet quickly. Then, walking up the beach, they flap their tiny wings furiously to dry off.

This is a seriously big group of king penguins. But in November, the same scene would have been of elephant seals.

Watching the penguins desperately trying to land, it's evident that some never seem to make it. They must succumb to exhaustion, and giant petrel scavengers squabble over them just a few meters offshore.

A pod of kings looking for the right wave to bring them to shore.

Two way traffic: some going into the water, others coming out.

It's a rather ungainly arrival at the beach.

Giant petrels (named after Saint Peter, walking on water) seem to walk purposefully around the beach, scanning left and right, no doubt looking for a penguin in trouble. When they get bored with that, they start a ponderous run and, with apparent great difficulty, fling themselves into the air.

Meanwhile, this giant petrel scans for any potential prey.

Some king penguins position themselves for a good view.

Not fine sand on St Andrews Beach.

This wonderful scene on this long, black beach all takes place before a magnificent panorama of not one but three glaciers (left to right, Cook, Buxton and Heaney), glistening in the sunshine, and Allardyce Mountains up to 2000m high. This must be one of the most glorious bays in all of South Georgia - in these conditions, for us, it certainly took the gold medal.

In a land of glaciers, this one overlooking St Andrews Bay is particularly magnificent.

Is he looking for someone's tracks?

Two king penguins studiously ignoring us visitors.

Leaving the beach was just as exciting at arriving. The staff had turned the zodiacs around and, when the swell was right, eight passengers, two by four, would wade out and rush onto the boats while the staff tried to hold them steady. Then they brave the waves to push the zodiac out, the AB starts the engine, and off we go. In the evening, the passengers gave the staff and crew an ovation for not only the long day they had put in but for their extraordinary efforts in safely handling the zodiacs at the beach.

Sunset near St Andrews.