The Falkland Islands

I drifted off to sleep last night as the chains of the anchor being lowered marked our arrival at The Falkland Islands 29 hours after departing Ushuaia on the Ortelius. We had fantastic weather and still do – sunny, 40s-50s, and not very windy. I attended most of the informative talks (what seabirds to expect in the next few days, how to compose your photos and the best settings for our conditions, Zodiac instruction and safety, and even a mock “abandon ship” drill where we all donned our big orange blocky life jackets (we have them in our rooms) and went up to deck 6, got checked in and actually all crammed into the lifeboats! There are 140 or so people on board – 93 paying passengers, 15 staff from Cheesemans’ Ecology Safaris (they chartered this ship) and the rest made up by the Russian crew that goes everywhere the ship goes. Two lifeboats – one for the port side denizens (includes me) and one for the starboard side denizens. They are the hard-shelled type that can roll over and over in strong storms. We buckled in, got another short briefing, and then we were free to go back to our rooms etc. We heard the crew does a full lowering and powering up the lifeboats every 2 weeks no matter where they are so I’ll see that at some point too I’m sure.

Today (calendar says it’s Jan 2, I really have no sense of days or time out here) we spent 10 hours on shore at New Island, the Western-most of the Falkland Islands, hiking about 6 miles with all of our cameras and binoculars dangling from our necks and snapping photos like there’s no tomorrow (1000s). I thought I was pretty ridiculous in full garb with binocs holstered in my special shoulder straps, Rebel with a wide angle lens on a short leash around my neck, and the big boy – a 70-300mm professional grade Canon lens on a 60D body slung on my right shoulder. I use them all quite a bit! What I didn’t have that others had: a tripod, a monster lens (400-500mm – think sidelines of a major sporting event), a separate HD video camera, and iPod with speakers and pre-loaded songs of birds to call them in, and even a GPS unit! 

Another thing that sure surprised me – fully 1/3 of the people on this tour have already been to Antarctica! Many on this same trip with the Cheesemans. For one woman it’s her 11^th trip to Antarctica, and a man in a different couple said this is his 9^th trip. Apparently this can get a bit addictive.

OK, back to the wildlife. Today we walked to two seabird colonies. Both had lots of Black-browed Albatrosses (above) and Rockhopper Penguins (below), with chicks. We also passed through an essentially island-wide colony of Magellanic Penguins- their burrows were everywhere so no straying from the trail for fear of collapsing a burrow and killing the chick and adult inside. I tried to get a good video of the Rockhopper Penguin’s braying display – it’s the best! Bill thrown into the air while crazy donkey sounds emerge, flippers flapping out to the side, and the best bit, a vigorous head shake at the end. I don’t think I’ll ever forget that behavior. Instant smile every time I think of it! Two more days of exploring different islands in this group before a 3-day voyage to South Georgia Island.

So far so good on the seasickness front too.  I used a Scop patch behind my ear and likely didn’t need it with the calm seas, but it didn’t hurt to be safe. Not even a hint of ick. Internet access on board is pay per megabyte (and they add up quickly) so the visual postings will have to be kept to a minimum until I return home. It’ll sure be a challenge selecting my top few photos to post.