Another day in the Falkland Islands! We sailed overnight from Stanley (eastern side of the eastern island) to Saunders, which is the fourth largest island and is closer to the east island. Saunders is known for the thousands of “bird pairs” they have such as albatross, caracaras, and five species of penguins.
As happens with Mother Nature that plan (Plan A) quickly turned to Plan B, mostly due to the 30 knots wind gusting to 50 knots, making a landing treacherous. The announcement made was that we were going to sail to an alternate Point and land there, but instead they were able to go to the other side of the island where winds were calmer (only slightly calmer….it was a blustery day!).
The initial trip over wasn’t too bad – no waves crashing over the Zodiac and no horrible bumpiness on the water – only a little rain. The landing was a true beach landing where they run the Zodiacs as far onto the sand as possible, while remaining in the water.
As always, the expedition team was on the beach waiting to help us disembark safely and quickly. The first thing that caught Jay’s eye were the cows. On the beach. Cows on the beach eating seaweed. That’s normal for these cows, but not a normal sight for a Midwesterner!
On the beach, we were given a briefing on the lay of the land. Head left down the beach to see Gentoo penguins (about 1 km) or head up the hill to see the Albatross (about 1 km) and the Rockhopper penguins (another 1 km).
Having seen Gentoo penguins the day before, we headed to the right. It was a steep walk with a lot of uneven terrain, and a whole lot of poop (cows, sheep, penguins)! The trail was extremely deceptive though. You see one of the red flags that marks the path and think you’re about there, or that the terrain evens out, but the trail continues upward.
And upward again. And again. All with what became a constant wind, but no rain. A few jeeps passed those who were walking up the hill, mostly filled with fellow passengers. How the heck did they get that privilege?!
Apparently those with walking difficulties were offered the chance to ride up the hill rather than walk, although they were dropped off at the Albatross’ and either had to trudge on to see Rockhoppers or turn back to shore once they checked out the Albatross colony. A ride would have been nice, but it truly would have taken away some of the adventure as well as negated the taking of several breathtaking view pictures!
The trip was more than 1 km (.62 miles) as the 1 mile mark was passed before getting to the Albatrosses. Again, a little something to add to the adventure. One of the guides said the penguins were about 10-15 minutes away, but the walk was a rough 1 km walk, rougher than coming up the hill. Not trusting the measurement of 1 km to be accurate, knowing the walk would be rough both ways, and being satisfied with the walk to the Albatross, we headed back to the beach.
A Zodiac was waiting barely offshore, having only a couple of people onboard and adding a few more before heading back. Before heading to the ship there were maybe 6 people onboard. But the boat was stuck in the sand. Despite the expedition team’s best efforts, they couldn’t push the boat back. Rather than have everyone scoot to the front of the boat, they had the two people in the front hop out.
They freed the boat and then had the two that were “kicked off” load up, and then added two additional passengers. Did we mention that Jay was one of the two that had to hop out? She quickly declared that if she was weighing the boat down that much, she needs to reconsider her choices for Thanksgiving dinner. This brought some chuckles, particularly because they didn’t make the big, burly guy sitting in the front of the boat disembark.
Together we attended an afternoon session about the Northwest Passage, a trip that several of the Hurtigruten ships take. While it was a sales pitch to market the tours, it was a great chance to see where in the Arctic they go, what they do, and what they see. Pretty certain that Tim was calculating in his head how he could get away from work for 29 days to make that journey!
It is one to consider now that we have details. (In case you’re curious, the longest trip leaves from Reykjavik, Iceland and ends in Nome, Alaska.) The bonus to this is that the presenter is from South Africa, but now lives in Tallinn, Estonia. This is a bonus because we have a trip planned to Estonia, and appreciated having a local tell us everything we should do and see while there.
In the afternoon, we were in the Explorer Lounge (up top on deck 10) and the announcement was made that dolphins had been sighted in front of the ship. The first thought of “why are they always NOT where we are” quickly turned to “OHMYGOD – look at the dolphins!”. Several black and white dolphins were swimming on the aft side of the ship! Hard to spot at first because they’re on the small side, but so much fun to watch them swim and surface.
In the evening we went to the ship-wide Karaoke contest where crew members battled guests. Returning to our cabin a bit late, the room felt extremely warm. We opened the door a bit to let the sea air in, and Jay later stepped out onto the deck. And it was weird….. no stars in the sky, no moon, no lights on shore (not sure if there was a shore). She told Tim to check it out and he said “No, I can see water. And dolphins!!!”. Whaaaat?!
The lights on the ship illuminated about 30 feet of water out from the ship’s hull and there were a few dolphins taking a leisurely midnight swim next to us!! It was so quiet that we could hear the dolphins breathe as they surfaced!!!! What an incredibly special, spectacular, magical ending to the night! We tried to get a video, but it was too dark. Regardless, we’ll have that image in our minds for a long time. (side note – the dolphins we’ve been seeing are Commerson’s dolphins. They are a unique, small black and white dolphin.)
Tomorrow is our last day in Falkland Islands, which means the end of our amazing Antarctic adventure is near as well.