Falkland Islands ~ Where are the Jays

West Falkland Islands of Saunders and West Point (day 1)

After a day at sea where we learned all the rules for stepping foot on land in this part of the world and welcome talks, we are ready to make out first “ports”. I put ports in quotation marks because we did not have a wharf or pier to step out onto but rather we did wet landings in the zodiacs. So glad for waterproof pants and boots!

little cubby holes on the side of the ship while meant for smokers were great to sit out of the wind and watch the world go by

West Point Island - Penguins and Albatross cohabitating

Our first stop was a small island that one family lives on and sheep farms part of the island and maintains part of it as a bird sanctuary. We get off the zodiacs and thankfully get to leave our lifejackets behind as we start to walk up a hill since the birds are on the far side of the hill. On the way, we can see some sheep off in the distance. In addition to items of everyday life here such as a windmill and a couple of Land Rovers.

Upland Goose

Carol in her waterproof outer jacket and ear band - it is windy here.

This steep hill is where many of the hatchlings are

The pictures below are from the bird sanctuary of which a large part is currently a rookery. We get to see young rock hopper penguins and albatross. The birds happily share the area. Well we did see some squawking when someone got in someone's spot, etc.

Black Browed Albatross

Albatross on a nest

Southern Rockhopper Penguin

Albatross hatchling

Click here to see and hear this Penguin and Albatross rookery

2 Albatross back to back

As we made our way back to our zodiacs, we were welcomed into the farmhouse for tea/coffee and cake. I suspect it is related to the side of the island the house is on, but it is not windy here and they have some huge, gorgeous plants right outside their door. Then back to the ship so we can visit our second island of the day.

Farmer's home

the spread of cakes they had for us.

Austral Thrush - garden resident

Wildlife spotted in route to Saunders Island

This ship has an open bow where you have a good vantage point to spot wildlife, often with one of the expedition guides to help spot. Jeff took advantage of that while we had the short journey between the two islands. In addition to birds, he saw a penguin "porpoise" just like a dolphin does to breathe. The guide pointed off in the distance at a spout from a whale. The finale was a Commerson’s Dolphin bow riding. They look smaller and are black and white.

Imperial Cormorant

Click here to watch Dolphin bow riding

Saunders Island - 4 types of Penguins; Gentoo, King, Magellanic, Rock Hopper

Next island, next wet landing. Not so quick there. On our way into the landing in a little bay, we were escorted by some dolphins - it was fun. We are going to see mostly penguins on this island. Like the other it is a former sheep farm, but I do not see any sign of a current farm while we were there just bird sanctuary.

We start by walking up a short rocky hill. The other side of the hill has a gorgeous beach on it that belongs to the penguins.

Gentoo Penguins

Turkey Vulture

gentoo penguins - adult on left child on right

children are still too young to get their own food so the parents must feed them

Striated Caracara

Magellanic Oystercatcher

Brown Skua

penguin footprints on the beach

we watched this guy coming down the hill to the beach and finally into the water; he dived and stood up again a couple of times

Click here to watch this Gentoo Penguin march to the sea

King Penguin

that rocky spot in the middle of the hill is actually more penguins

Whale skeleton

Only Penguins outnumber the Sheep

Magellanic Penguin nest in burrows

King Penguins with egg resting on feet and covered by brood patch

this is the side we came in on -all rocky

Magellanic Cormorant

East Falkland Islands - City of Stanley (Day 2)

Jeff and Carol separated for this site. Carol did a 3 hour nature trek while Jeff did a 4 hour hike to Mount Williams and Mount Tumbledown

Nature Trek

Our trek started near a cove with the wreck of the Lady Elizabeth, an iron sailing ship that had wrecked in 1913. It was used for storage for a while, but now just sits close to a beach. Anyway, our leader showed us a wide variety of plants including a couple that are only found in the Falklands. We also saw some birds and some penguins. Amazingly to me the temperature for Stanley that day was 55 degrees versus the 59 back in Fort Morgan. However, there was a cold wind blowing in Stanley and the windproof/waterproof outer layer of the ship provided parka was a little on the light side so not feeling like 55! As the walk started, we immediately saw a pair of flightless steamer ducks; later we would see another couple with a youngster. Then we saw a kelp goose which is a good sized all white bird. We learned that our trek had started on the windy side of the peninsula and that all the plants stayed low to the ground here, but that when we got to the other side of the peninsula the same type of plants would be taller.

One plant we saw a lot of is Diddle Dee: a small bush with little red berries. The berries can be eaten but are rather bitter. However, they do make a jam with them as both Jeff's and my guides said: with enough sugar anything is good. The area was a former sheep farm and our path was the former jeep route, so we walked in the former ruts. I noticed that the ruts were incredibly deep in places and the area reminded me of the peat bogs in Ireland. Good memory because he our guide stopped at a piece of peat someone had cut and left. Later we would walk in areas that were quite spongy as more evidence of peat. Other plants we saw on the windy side were balsam bog, marsh marigold, almond flower and scurvy grass. Balsam bog looked like moss growing on a rock, but the rock was actually part of the plant and could host other plants. Marsh marigold looked like a marigold. Almond flower had an almond shape. Scurvy grass is edible has citrus in it (tasted citrusy too) and was used to treat scurvy. Another interesting plant was pig plant. There are wild strawberries on the island that are quite edible and look similar to the pig plant's fruit which unfortunately is poisonous.

Diddle Dee top left
Bottom left survey plant
Top right smooth daisy
Bottom right tall firm

balsam bog plant is the moss looking mounds

When we got to the other side, we were all unzipping and enjoying the warm temperature. Normally there are a lot of penguins in the area, but not so much when we were there. As we walked, we passed a canon from WW11. The gun was never used because WW11 never came here while there were fights in WW1 here. We kept walking and saw burrows for the Magellanic penguins. Then we got to Gyspy cove which was the name of out walk which was a nice cove. We ended at Yorke Cove. Yorke Cove is where the Argentinians first came into Falklands' waters during the conflict in 1982. The cove was only reopened a couple of years ago. Seems the Argentinians had placed land mines throughout the sand dunes, and they had to be found and dismantled before they could reopen the cove.

Yorke Cove

Mount Williams and Mount Tumbledown hike

Tom and I opted on the Mountain Hike. Our guide Brian has lived most of his life in Stanley and his family has lived here for 160 years. He served in their version of the reserves and had quite a few stories to tell as our hike took us through some of the primary infinity battles to secure Stanley during the Falkland's war.

We began our 4 hour hike with the rocky outcropping of Mount William on the horizon. Our guide starts with how the Argentinean invasion didn't start off as they planned, he points out where their troops intended to land and where they were forced to land. The British had 60 troops on the island (double the normal compliment), but not near enough to stop the invasion. You probably remember the events reported in the news. What we learn is how the British retook these strategic heights overlooking Stanley. The story I found most interesting was that the Scotts Guard had to replace the Welsch Guard for the attack on Mount Tumbledown. These solders were previously serving Royal Duty at one of the palaces and included both guards and band members. Just goes to show when you go to the changing of the guard, those are real soldiers. Along the way, we see water filled craters from the shelling, an Argentinean mobile kitchen and improvised shelters.

Monument to Scotch Guard on right
Overlooking Port Stanley

Argentina helicoptered in these mobile kitchens

This shelter would have been covered in thatch

Crater from Royal Navy shell

Initially this island was important because it was on a strategic sailing route before the Panama canal. Cattle were introduced in the 1800s to provide food to the sailing vessels. The island also provided a source for fresh water and scurvy plant to provide vitamin C.

Jeff and I found each other in the town after our respective walks. We wandered around for the short time we had before we had to get back to the ship. We checked out a local grocery store (very British) and wandered a little. We saw the local Anglican and Catholic Churches and a couple of other key sites.