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West Point Bay
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At 9.00 we were off on our first visit of the day to West Point Island, a small island (as its name suggests) on the west side of the Falklands. The island has been farmed by the same family since the late 19th century. Now they augment their income with visitors.
To get to the island we had to be shuttled across in zodiac boats, a process that we would become accustomed to over the next days. To help us on and off the boats seamen were posted at strategic points. Alighting from the boat included wading the final couple of yards to dry land, so Wellington boots were essential.
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The main area of interest was on the far south west side of the island, so it gave us the opportunity to stretch our legs over the 2km walk. For passengers not so inclined there was a landrover shuttle.
In the main the walking was easy over grass covered peat, but towards the end we came upon some boggy spots with one lady going in up to her calf.
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Caracara (Juvenile)
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Rockhopper Penguins
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Tussock grass
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Black-browed Albatross, in flight
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Albatross & Penguin Colony
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Rockhopper Penguins
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Black-browed Albatross, in flight
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Rockhopper Penguins
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Upland Geese
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Gate
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Falklands Austral Thrush
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Long-tailed Meadowlark
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Turkey Vulture
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Southern Giant Petrel
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Steeple Jason Island
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Landing at Steeple Jason Island
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The ship had to anchor a little further out than had been necessary in the morning and the landing was on to rocks and so a little more tricky.
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Shore at Steeple Jason Island
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Tussockbird
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Striated Caracara (Juvenile)
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Gentoo Penguins
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The Gentoo Penguin colony was divided in to two sections with the chicks, in the main, separate from the adults. We had been given instructions on how far to stay away from the penguins so that we didn’t harass them but Skuas flying over head were doing a far amount of harassment.
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Brown (Subantarctic) Skua
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Tussockbird
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Gentoo Penguins
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Black-browed Albatross
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Tussockbird
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Black-browed Albatross
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After a while we walked on round to the far side of the island to stand among the tussock grass and watch the Black Browed Albatross, many with chicks on a chimney pot shaped nest.
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Yellow daisy
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Striated Caracara (Juvenile)
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Lichen
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Finally we returned along the coast looking at some of the flora, most of which we couldn't identify, and being amused by friendly tussock birds. In addition we also saw an early Snowy Sheathbill and Black-Crowned Night-Heron.
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Lichen
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Unknown flora
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Unknown flora
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Unknown flora
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Unknown flora
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Brown (Subantarctic) Skua
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Black-chinned Siskin
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Upland Geese
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Snowy (American) Sheathbill
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Gentoo Penguins
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Long-tailed Meadowlark
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Gentoo Penguins
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Gentoo Penguins
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Returned back on board with just enough time for a shower before the Captain's Cocktail Reception and Diner, which had been postponed from the previous evening due to the weather and the fact that few people were about.
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Black-Crowned Night-Heron
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Overnight we moved on to Port Stanley. We rose at 5.30 to watch as we passed Pembroke Lighthouse and the promise of dolphins, which never appeared, so instead we caught up on our notes before a 7.00 breakfast.
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Cape Pembroke Lighthouse
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Three different optional extra trips had been arranged for the morning; a tour out to a traditional farm; a bus tour of Stanley; a drive out to a peninsula for bird watching; we didn’t fancy any of them preferring to stretch our legs by walking.
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Stanley
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At 8.00, after all the tours had left we descended the gangway and turned right to Stanley but very soon realised that to get out of the docks we had to first go left. Retraced our steps, checked the direction and proceeded out of the docks crossing a steel bridge to dry land. A little further along the channel away from Stanley was the hulk of the Lady Elizabeth, but with the sun reflecting off the water it wasn’t the best time to take a photo of it.
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Turkey Vulture, in flight
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From the end of the bridge we discovered a shore side foot path and finally turned towards Stanley about 2 km away. Strolled along observing the birds around us, Oystercatchers, Kelp Geese, Steamer Ducks, Turkey Vultures, as well as a couple of wrecks and hearing the announcements form a cruise ship anchored in the channel.
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Cruise liner
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Magellanic Oystercatcher
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b
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Greater Kelp Geese
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Steam engine block
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Greater Kelp Goose
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Greater Kelp Goose
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Greater Kelp Goose
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Ruddy-Headed Goose
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Greater Kelp Goose
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Southern Giant Petrel
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Kelp (Dominican) Gull
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Flying Steamer Ducks
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Southern Giant Petrel
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Reached the outskirts of Stanley with single story homes, a little in the style of New Zealand, with brightly painted tin roofs and continued on to the Information Centre in the middle of town. The lay out of the town is one of just a few streets wide but stretched out along the shore of the channel. From the well stocked Information Centre we picked up a free ‘Historic Trail around Stanley’ to go with a town map and ‘Penguin News’ we had been given on board. Continued south along the Channel mixing sight seeing with bird watching and a little light shopping until we reached the Museum where we paid our entrance fee of £3 or $5 to view some of the artefacts from historic Stanley and items taken from the many wrecks in the Channel.
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Victorian Terrace
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Christ Church Cathedral
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Mast of SS Great Britain
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Southern Giant Petrel
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1982 Liberation Monument
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Lamp post
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Flying Steamer Ducks
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Greater Kelp Goose
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1914 Battle Memorial
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Jhelum hulk
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Post Stanley rush hour!
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Keep Gibraltar British
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Street
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The only thing missing at that distance from town was a coffee shop and so we made our way back, searching out suitable establishments to end up in the coffee shop inside the large ‘West Store’, the town’s supermarket. Like most other things around Stanley it was owned by the Falkland Island Company, a company which has dominated the town in a paternalistic manner for over 100 years.
Looked back in at the Information Centre to see about using the Internet, but at £3 for 20 minutes we gave it a miss and instead wandered back to the ship for a 13.30 departure and lunch.
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FIC
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Upland Geese
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Falkland Flightless Steamerduck
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Lady Elizabeth hulk
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Kelp
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Falkland Flightless Steamerduck
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Returning to ship
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