Probably the best week ever....

If anyone told me when I decided to come to South Georgia that my parents would be down to visit me there is absolutely no way I would ever have believed them.  However, this week that is exactly what happened and it was absolutely awesome!  I think it's fair to say the decision to visit was quite out of character, as they have never been on a cruise ship before and haven't travelled this far from the UK for a number of years.  However, I guess they had seen enough of my pictures of the place and listened to me wittering on about how wonderful it is to persuade them they should see it for themselves.  I was more than a little apprehensive about the whole thing as the seas around here can be very rough, the weather can be awful for days on end and there was absolutely no guarantee they would even be able to land at KEP.  As it was, on the day they were due to arrive all the morning trips ashore to Fortuna Bay had to be cancelled because of high winds, so it wasn't looking good.  I was trying to keep myself occupied and distracted by helping Ella with non-stick stuff on one of the jet boats (yes again, but not the same one), but I must have asked her about twenty times whether she thought they'd be able to get boats ashore or whether she thought the wind was getting stronger or dropping.  In the end there was no problem at all and my worrying had been for nothing as they had clearly settled in to life at sea extremely well and were enjoying seeing all the wildlife immensely.  It was wonderful being able to show them around base and introduce them to the people I've been living with for all these months.  It's usually the case when you go on big trips that when you get home you can never quite explain to family and friends what it was really like.  I am incredibly grateful that they were able to see it for themselves as I'm sure I'll end up talking about South Georgia far too much when I eventually return to the UK, and at least now they'll have a much better idea of what I'm talking about.  Saying goodbye was very hard as I won't see them again for nearly 6 months, but having them come and visit really was the highlight of the whole season.

My parents in the KEP bar!

After their visit it really was time for me to face up to the fact it was nearly time to leave and that I only had about a week left until the ship arrived to pick me up.  You might think that this would spur me into action to start packing and sorting out things for handover etc etc.  Unfortunately this was not the case.  All this realisation did was send me into a slightly manic phase where I started panicking about the fact I wouldn't be waking up in South Georgia for much longer and should therefore make the most of it.  Twice daily runs were instigated and a final overnight trip to Penguin River was decided upon with only a few hours notice.  Since Jo was no longer with us the sun did not come out this time as we pitched the tents, but it didn't rain and Micky, Ella and I had a lovely evening drinking wine, chatting, listening to music and eating amazing chocolate brownies.  I am going to miss nights away on South Georgia so, so much!

Looking slightly manic and very pleased with myself in our beautifully erected tent

The morning dawned clear and bright so we were awake very early.  When I heard gravel crunching outside the tent I just assumed Micky was out for a morning stroll, but when I opened the tent I realised it was in fact a large male elephant seal heading our way.  I initially assumed he was just passing by, but when the noise go closer and I looked again it became very apparent he had decided our tent was another seal and he was coming to investigate.  Neither the tent nor Ella and I would do well in a fight with a male elephant seal so I dived out of the tent at high speed and proceeded to give him a piece of my mind while waving a big stick about.  Luckily he seemed to get the message, but stayed watching us from nearby for a long time until we started to take the tents down and the whole scene just got a bit much for him.

Having stern words with the seal

I like to think he looks suitably chastised and repentant

We had to be back at base by 8am so there was just time for a quick cup of tea before packing up and heading home.

An audience for breakfast

The all important first cup of tea of the day

It's going to be really quite tricky to beat this as a view to wake up to!

Micky and I - I'm having a bad hair day as usual

The elephant seal pups are growing up incredibly quickly and this guy has already moulted, got himself a lovely shiny new coat and some serious attitude.