Finally! On land again. Overnight the ship took position and in the morning looking out my porthole I saw a small bay and a flat sea.  That meant a landing was in my future.  Because of the calm sea state it was an easy zodiac trip to Westpoint Island, an island home to a whopping two people. The island was also home to a very large colony of wandering albatross. These amazing birds shared their real estate with some rock-hopper penguins as well, a new species of penguin that we had not seen yet. The rookery was on the far side of the island with two possible routes to traverse.  It was possible to hike about a mile straight across or undertake a more meandering three mile path around the northern portion of the island. For those who were not up to either option it was also possible to be ferried by two range rovers.

Approaching the west Falkland Islands

After being cooped up in the ship for four days more than half of the guests chose the longer hike and we set off in groups as soon as enough people had landed. Our landing was very civilized as the zodiacs simply had to pull up to a jetty allowing us to easily climb out. Since I was in one of the early zodiacs I was in the first group of hikers to set off. We hiked up the side of a small hill, green with tussock. As we went inland a bit the landscape reminded me of the Yorkshire Dales in England that I passed through two years ago when I did the England Coast-to-Coast hike (see those blogs if interested). Shades of red, green, yellow, and brown blended together across the landscape creating an artist’s palette, no discernable pattern, but splashes thrown everywhere. I even saw one or two sheep, another flashback to my England adventure.  What was different, however, were the many burrows we passed containing Magellenic penguins, yet another new species of penguin. It seemed a bit dislocating to see sheep and penguins sharing the same pasture!

The wind blew so strongly across the island that the trees are permanently blown to one side.

After about an hour and a half walk and another small, but challenging hill reminding me that I needed to spend more time at the gym when I return home, we arrived at the rookery. The passengers who transited the island directly were already staked out around the edges of the colony, only the tops of their heads visible even I was looking down a slope at them. The rookery was surrounded by a deep ring of the six feet tall grass. Eager to see what had everyone so enthralled I started down the hill, careful of my footing as I wended my way around the giant clumps of grass as I could not see where I was putting my feet. It was really fun to walk through the unusual foilage; I felt like I was in a maze of some sorts fighting my way to the prize at the center. Emerging from the concealing tall grasses I stumbled into a group of focused photographers who barely noticed my presence. Following their gazes I too was enthralled. In front of me, not more than three meters, were hundreds of albatrosses, the majority sitting on their chimney-like nests a foot or so off the ground, guarding what looked like newly hatched chicks. The smallest hatchlings were so white they were almost translucent while the older ones, though still appearing quite young, had started to develop some color and contrast. In many cases both parents were present, one standing guard around the nest while the other provided more direct warmth and protection for the baby.

An albatross on her nest with a baby.

Surrounding the birds, hopping from place to place on the rocky terrain that served as a foundation for the albatross nests, were hundreds of rock hopper penguins. Watching them move I could easily see how they got their name- they literally were hopping from rock to rock as they moved easily through an extremely uneven terrain on their short stubby legs. They, too, had babies in various stages of development. There was a lot of activity and noise in a small amount of space!

The albatross and penguins seemed to live fairly harmoniously although occasionally I noticed some screaming discussions that perhaps meant something to the participants- to me it sounded merely like a lot of squawking and chirping. The colony extended all the way down the hill to the water’s edge and around the corner of the hill. At any given moment albatrosses were in the air, taking off or landing- not always gracefully. What made our visit so special is how close we could get to observe the animals without disturbing them, providing some excellent vantage points to observe all of the parents sheltering, feeding, and teaching their young. I spent nearly an hour, moving from point to point on the outskirts of the rookery, watching all of the interplay and action.

The grass surrounding the albatross nests was tall and fun to walk through.

Finally I turned to retrace my steps in the tall grasses and find my way up the hill to smooth terrain. I decided to walk back straight across the island; it still felt good to be able to stretch my legs. Back at my starting point at the jetty side of the island I did not immediately head to a zodiac, but took a recommended detour to a house on the left.   The couple, Bob and Jenny,  who live on the island in the house, serve as caretakers for the family that has owned the island for more than 100 years. Approximately 50 years ago the family started a tradition of serving British tea for visitors and that tradition still continues but now upheld by the caretakers. Consequently before leaving we were invited to stop by their home to enjoy “tea and cakes”. I did not know what to expect but it certainly was not the incredibly burdened table displaying approximately 20 different kinds of baked goods accompanied by dainty china tea cups. It was amazing! I asked Jenny later, after sampling a reasonable number of treats that were new to me, how long it took her to prepare for a crowd. Being somewhat of a baker myself I knew how much work was involved with preparing such a banquet and could not imagine doing it every day for months. She informed me that it took about 16 hours to prepare and went on to admit that while they do not get ships in quite every day, the bulk of six month cruise season does have her in the kitchen baking. Since they live quite isolated lives, I guess that is one way to pass the time……

The ship moved while we were having lunch to our last excursion of the trip, a stop at Stuart’s Island. Stuart’s Island, an island of the West Falklands populated by a veritable crowd of six people, is home to four different penguin colonies (and also, of course, sheep). It is shaped a bit like a hourglass. Near the center is a pinched piece of land that allows easy access to the beaches on both sides. That was our landing spot and one of the densest populations of penguins. As we headed up the beach we had to veer to the right in order to not disturb a large population of gentoo penguins, also with babies in various stages of growth. Nestled just in front of the gentoos as we moved to the right was a very small group of king penguins, many of them resting eggs on their feet, patiently incubating them waiting for them to hatch. As we approached the beach on the far side of the island we also saw Magenellic and rock-hopper penguins as well.

Magellenic penguins on the beach roaming around.

The beach was beautiful, white, green and teal hues shining against the white sand background. Penguins scattered down the beach, of all species, were in motion towards or from the water, bringing to mind Miami Beach or Honolulu Beach. The penguins always moved in groups; it was rare to see only one bird dive into the water. As they emerged they would stop to prune as a group, pause then on some unseen signal start off again. It was never clear to me that any group of penguins had a destination in mind, but there certainly was constant movement. I sat on the beach and watched them for about 45 minutes noticing how each species moved differently. The Gintoos were the most fun to watch. They spread their wings out and angled them slightly behind them and moved quickly, almost as if running, always looking like they had a specific mission in mind and were late. The Magellenic, with their tuxedo like stripes, seemed to have a bit more side-to-side sway as they moved more sedately through the sand. The king penguins, taller than the others, strolled majestically and serenely through the surf and sand with little waddle. I’ve already commented on the short hopping gyrations of the rock-hopper penguins. So much variety!

King penguins incubating eggs. The eggs are the bulges at the bottom of their bodies and the eggs are sitting on the penguins’ feet.

After sitting on the beach and enjoying the beauty of the ocean and the antics of the penguins I decided to meander back to examine the gentoo colony more closely and watch the behavior of the chicks. As I approached and started observing the birds, I realized that many of the adults wandering around the outskirts of the colony were on rock hunting missions. As I watched one adult, he would hunt around, pick up a rock with his beak, stroll over to a specific nest, which I assume held his mate, and drop a rock next to her. Then repeat. It was not clear to me how coherently the dropped rocks were going to pile up to make a big nest, especially in this case as the other penguin was already sitting on something, but that did not stop this guy from continually adding rocks to whatever pile he was creating. The chicks were cute, with their heads sticking out from under the body of their parent, as they peered out to see what was going on in the world. There was a lot to watch.

Eventually it was time to go back to the boat, turn in all of our wet gear, and head the ship in the direction of Stanley and our disembarkation point. Our trip was coming to an end.

Gentoo penguin with young.