Falkland Islands

Sunday January 26. At sea towards Puerto Madryn

We spent Saturday in the Falkland Islands. It has some of the most dreary landscape I’ve ever seen. Rock mountains. No trees – there’s too much wind. But when the sun shines, the mountains glow with the scrub vegetation – grasses and mosses. On the beaches it’s tussock grass which can grow to three feet high.

I’ve a tour out to one of the Gentoo Penguin rookeries. It’s an hour and a half from Stanley – about half paved and half gravel. I’ve snagged a front seat in the minibus so I can shoot out the windshield. The land is very flat – except of course for the mountains. Sheep are an important product as are tourists and fish.  At Bertha’s Beach – so named for a ship, The Bertha, which ran aground and broke up on a little island offshore – we find Upland Geese, the males in bright white and the females in a reddish brown plumage.

And then there’s the penguins. All the Gentoos nested in the same spot well away from the ocean. When the chicks were born and grown a bit, the colony broke into four  or five groups. You can tell the adults; their plumage is pure black whereas the chicks are grey. Some of the adults are starting their moult; they will be ashore until their new plumage which is waterproof comes in. Some of the chicks are starting to fledge, that is grow their adult feathers. Meanwhile they run around looking for Mom or Dad to feed them. And they mostly ignore us. We’ve been told to keep our distance and not block any of the routes between the sea and the birds. Down on the beach there is a lone King Penguin in black and grey and gold. And two Magellenic penguins smaller again but distinctive with their white eye and neck rings. We’ve an hour here and then it’s another hour and half back to Stanley.

There’s a CaraCara – one of the predators – on a fence post by the armed forces base (there are 3500 civilians on the island and 1500 Army-Navy-Air Force).

Stanley is a nice little town. You’d swear you were in England. A supply ship comes in regularly from England bringing needed supplies. The Argentines are still in a tiff over losing the war 38 years ago!

Hope all is well.

Best

Bob and Elizabeth

12 Stanley - Falkland Islands