Part I: Seals teeth and whales ears - Scott Polar Research Institute ...

A fortnight later, we decided to go skiing on the ice slopes behind Observation
Bluff which should have had a coating of snow. It was late by the time we had fitted
skis and so on, but 3 hrs remained until Ob time. I intended to count seals in Clowes
Bay on the south coast, when the others had to return. Carrying skis we walked over
to Elephant Flats and up the valley onto the McLeod Glacier. Unfortunately, we
found the snow very hard and discontinuous with bare ice in patches. Hardly the
best surface for skiing, let alone learning to ski. We all took some hard tumbles and
would be stiff next day. The bindings of my skis were not sufficiently tight which
reduced control considerably; Ralph had Kandahars and Derek Alpinas like myself;
none of us had metal edges. We found some quite good powder snow later, but it too
was discontinuous. So the others left for the Ob. and I left my skis by a prominent
rock and strolled down the glacier.
There were several giant petrels roosting on the lower slopes, and skuas and
Dominicans flew around. The seals were not very numerous and the beaches
difficult of access due to ice cliffs. In future I would try to use the dory for that bit of
coast. I worked along the coast to the west, giving the crevassed front of the glacier
near the ice cliffs a wide berth. After the eastern ice cliffs there were bands of rocks
forming moraines which swept down to a point where there were two or three
islands. These were later to be named Shagnasty Islands (occupied by a shag
colony). Penguin rookeries occupied the point and islands, and red excreta indicated
Adélies. I also estimated about 5,000 chinstrap penguins on this part of the coast -
but didn't notice the shag colony. Most of the chinstraps had finished moulting but
some had a few old feathers still attached. From my perch on top of the ice cliffs I
watched parties of penguins swimming and porpoising in the clear water far below.
They moved very quickly and erratically - much faster than most fish. Periodically
they shot out of the water and in again with a loud splash - almost a report. I
watched them jumping out of the water onto floes in the bay and some, slipping
back into the water on the steeper growlers, showed great perseverance in
attempting again and again to climb out.
The next section of Clowes Bay contained no suitable beaches for elephants and
anyway a count would only be possible from the sea, because of heavy crevassing
and steep rock cliffs. Accordingly, I turned back having seen one Weddell seal on a
floe. I extended the count northeast from where I had started and covered all of the
coast up to Northern Oliphant Islets. In this bay there was an accumulation of floe ice
supporting no less than 17 Weddells and one leopard seal. I then returned over the
pass as it was getting dark, picking up my skis on the way. I got in late feeling pretty
tired and with the beginnings of stiffness in various muscles - the result of falling
repeatedly on hard blue ice.
A week later the temperature had fallen to -8°C. The sun came out to enhance
the beauty of new fallen snow, and it seemed set for a fine day, so I decided to do
another seal census around the northwest coast. We set out at about 11 o’clock and
had a little difficulty launching the dory. Small brash had frozen on the shore and the
recent snowfalls had covered it to form a shelf about a foot above high water. In the
sea large chunks of brash and growlers had to be avoided until about ten yards out
when open water began. But it was coated with the crystal patterns of young ice and
in the absence of wind it was very smooth and 'oily'. We made our way inside Billie
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