[password] rachel25
[position] 51 21.042s 060 41.039w
[status] Anchored at Settlement Harbour, Westpoint Island
The wind blew steadily all night at The Neck, playing tunes in the rig and disrupting sound sleep. We awoke to a typical Scottish haar blowing in from the ocean and bringing with it the calls of ten thousand birds. We rowed ashore, and walked again through the penguin rookeries. First the Gentoos, then the Kings and moving on up onto the grassy slopes, the Rockhoppers and the Magellanics. Life is hard for these guys and death is all around. The corpses and skeletons of many lie in the sandy gravel, testament perhaps to the last gale, or to parents who didn't make it back. The scavengers of death are all around too. Striated Caracaras, Turkey Vultures, and Giant Petrels strut through the rookeries, the penguins snapping at them if they get too close. We spent two hours watching nature's play unfold, our senses tuned into the sounds, sights and smells of life and death. May it continue unhindered by human kind.

Back on Ithaka it was time to go. We left with double reefed main ready for the forecast 30 knots. It was there briefly but died away quickly so we hoisted full plain sail and headed west to this sheltered natural harbour on Westpoint Island. We rowed ashore and met Alan and Jackie who are employed by the, now very old, owners to run the island farm. He was getting ready for the electrical engineer who is flying in tomorrow to fix the wind generator. Most inter island travel is by plane. These people do not seem to be mariners.
We walked across the island to the cliffs on the western side where we found another Rockhopper Penguin rookery and a large colony of Black Browed Albatross, all mixed up with each other. The chicks of both species are grey fluffballs. I thought it must be frustrating for the young penguins to watch their albatross mates stretch out their wings and take to the air, and to realise that their little wings are only made for swimming.
[END]