Carcass Island & New Island, Falklands

This morning we visited Carcass Island in the northwestern part of the Falklands archipelago. Heading ashore in the Zodiacs, some boats encountered a small group of Commerson’s Dolphins cavorting in the bay. Our first destination was a more distant shore where the ocean washes upon a white sand beach. From there, the long walkers set out on a path circling back around the bay. Others took a more leisurely pace, watching and photographing birds along the beach and up into the tussock grasses. Soon the sunlight was filtering gently through a thinning veil of clouds. Throughout the morning we enjoyed great views of a variety of ducks and geese, some with newly hatched young. There were oystercatchers calling from along the water’s edge, and Magellanic penguins wandering across the pastoral landscape toward their nesting burrows. Amid the pleasant scenery, inquisitive striated caracaras, known locally as “Johnny Rooks,” kept a watchful eye on us. We converged at the small settlement where our host, Lorraine, treated us to cups of hot tea and a table chock full of scrumptious sweet treats. We felt warmly welcomed indeed. By late morning we were back onboard our ship steaming southward towards New Island.

Along the way we were treated to a delightful presentation by Melanie Heacox, “Always Time for a Cuppa! A Light-hearted Look at Life in the Falklands.” By mid-afternoon we reached New Island where we were greeted by the island’s inhabitants and co-owners, Tony and Kim Chater with their two young children. With the sun now out full and warm, we tossed off our life jackets before hiking along a gentle incline to the far side of the island. After crossing through open fields dotted with upland geese, we arrived at a completely different world. There, on the windward side of the island, tussock grasses and rocky ledges dropped steeply down toward the sea below. In a ravine that opened upwards like a natural amphitheater we found a bustling seabird colony full of life. Rockhopper penguins and blue-eyed shags were dotting the hillside, along with regal looking black-browed albatrosses. The steady winds that blow on this side of the island give ample lift to the great wings of the albatrosses as well as the less graceful shags swooping in to land by their prospective nest sites. This is an exciting time of the year to be in a seabird colony as all of the birds were gathering to find their mates and engage in courtship rituals to reinforce their pair bonds. Shags were wrapping their long sinuous necks around each other in a rapturous fashion, rockhopper penguins squawked while stretching their wings behind them up into the air, and the albatrosses fanned their tails, and bobbed their beaks in unison back-and-forth by their mate’s head before gently preening each other.

After a very satisfying day, we return to the ship for the Captain’s Welcome Cocktail Party and dinner, before retiring for the night after a most wonderful first day in the Falklands.