Itinerary

AM

Land at West Point Island to visit Rockhopper colony

PM

Land at Saunders Island to see Black-browed Albatross and more Rockhoppers

Susan's comments

Good morning. A good view to start the day. We've had 36 hours of a bumpy, and as they say in the navy, a lumpy sea, but now things are a little calmer as we approach the west Falkland Islands. The first stop will be a mixed penguin colony. Starting with a few rockhoppers! xxxx

Today we made land after battling 36 hours in a force 6 to arrive on West Falkland, Grave Cove to look at the Gentoo penguin colonies. The Gentoo nest in underground burrows so we had to be very careful where we walked. Many Gentoo chicks had been born in the last few weeks but the parents were busy guarding them from the cara cara birds, who were constantly dive bombing the families looking for anything from a broken egg to a tiny chick. It was very interesting to see the penguins were inquisitive and not frightened of us, although we were very careful to keep our distance. Clearly the remoteness of this island and the lack of human interaction has made the penguins brave and bold. Bio security is incredibly important and all our clothing has to be checked, boots washed down and no bags put down on the ground. The weather has remained very windy so we were unable to make our second landing this afternoon but we are going to sail slowly on to Port Stanley in time for a breakfast arrival. There is a strict speed limit for all boats around the Falkland Islands of 10 knots. The landscape is breathtakingly beautiful and it reminds me of Scotland but more remote and wild. We have been told the only thing we leave behind is our foot print and the only thing we take away is our memories.