Falkland Islands – penguins, albatross, sunshine

Feb 1, 2015  Westpoint Is: 51o/21'S/060o/40'W
Feb 1, 2015  Saunders Is: 51o/19'S/060o/15'W
Feb 2, 2015  Stanley: 51o/41'S/057o/51'W

Yesterday we visited 2 islands in the Falkland’s group – Westpoint in the morning & Saunders in the afternoon – both are privately owned.

The weather was superb – sunshine, gentle breeze, around 10oC. Following an early breakfast after we'd dropped anchor in the bay, we were in the zodiacs at 8:30am & heading to Westpoint Is, owned by the Napier family. The caretakers, a husband & wife, are the only inhabitants & have their yacht tied up at their dock. We walked about 2 kms from the landing beach to a cliff on the ocean-side of the island where Black-browed albatross mate & nest, and live alongside Rockhopper penguins.

It was mesmerizing watching the albatross gliding by – very challenging photography-wise, but there are a few that I’m happy with & approx 70% that I deleted! Light grey fluffy chicks are still in their nests, often watched by mum or dad, while others were calling out for food. Mating rituals were plentiful.

The afternoon at Saunders was totally different geographically and for animal sightings. Here there are masses of Gentoo, Rockhopper & some King Penguins. I walked from our landing on the “bay” side inhabited by Gentoos, across to the “ocean” side where the Rockhoppers live. What gorgeous & curious animals they are – living up to their name by hopping from rock to rock to get to & from the ocean andtheir burrows.

Along the way to see these, I saw Magellanic penguins sitting in the fields alongside sheep & geese! The owner of the island farms sheep and the penguins co-exist on the hillside.

I was standing at the edge of the water with my back to the sea photographing Rockhoppers climbing and jumping, when someone said “look behind you.” Suddenly I was surrounded by about 20 Rockhoppers that had surfed in on a wave. I stood very still (didn’t want to frighten them) while they clambered up the rocks. It really was a very special moment.

We spent the afternoon in the sunshine watching the penguins swimming in the shallows, sitting out beyond the surf-break, surfing in, standing up and running/hopping from the beach to the rocks to head to their burrows.

It was a really beautiful day until I was walking back, watching penguins up on the rocks, when I tripped on some kelp and landed on sand with my camera below me. No damage to me – the camera had a slight hiccup, but that’s now sorted out. Fortunately there are people on the boat that know a bit about this – and should it recur, I have my 600D as first back-up!

Today we spent the morning in Stanley, an outpost of the British Empire – down to some old red telephone & letter boxes that looked oddly familiar from my childhood.

We’re just leaving Stanley now – next stop is South Georgia in 2 days. Hopefully the sunshine will stay with us – it’s unlikely that the smooth seas will remain - but for now it is very pleasant sailing!