Category: Antarctica Cruises

Longish journey from Mount Pleasant to Santiago via Punta Areanas, but a quick transfer from the airport since we arrived as domestic and then Saturday evening traffic was quite light. We know our way around now, so went straight out for a walk and a bite to eat in the buzzing area across the river we ‘d been to last week.

Today, Sunday, we were up early and went for a trip to Valparaiso, the port city about 100k away to the north. Passed through agricultural land and the pleasant wine growing area of Casablanca and cam to the city. It does have a charm with statues and small parks everywhere. The statues commemorate those who helped to liberate Chile from the Spanish, including Lord Cochrane and Bernardo O’ Higgins, and also those involved in the War of the Pacific where Chile fought with Peru and Bolivia for territory in the north of the country. There are lots of old buildings, with a Queen Victoria Hotel too, and a steep hill with multi-coloured cottages clinging to the sides. The British were here in the 19th century and controlled much of the shipping and mining until the Panama Canal opened. The whole area is a World Heritage Site, but it did look decidedly seedy on a Sunday morning, not helped by the ubiquitous graffiti on every doorway, monument and wall. Very interesting, though. We continued on the the adjacent city of Vina Mar, much more up- market with more modern buildings, but still some 100 year old residences. Also lots of tree lined boulevards and park ares. In the grounds of one of the museums is not only an original Easter Island statue, but also a Rodin sculpture, The Defender. Then on to some beautiful beaches with lots of locals enjoying the sunshine and the surf.

We’re now at the airport again for our flight to Quito, where we spilt up in the morning for our different itineraries in the Galapagos…

Our driver today, Friday, was Nobby Clarke, who is something of a local legend, a larger than life character full do stories. He took us off in his big Land Cruiser with oversize wheels off to Volunteer Point. It was just over an hour on the made up road through snowy countryside and then the last 10 miles was across open country, with barely a track in site – very bumpy but great fun. Volunteer Point is where the largest colony of King Penguins on the island lives and it was super just sitting and walking amongst them with their head waiter appearance and antics and their big, fluffy brown chicks. There were also lots of gentoos and Magellenics around. I went down on to the log sandy beach to watch groups of kings wandering along the water’s edge and then this wild squall blew in with the snow flying horizontally. Much more appropriate seeing penguins in the snow, rather than on the green field behind!

Back to Stanley, with a different perspective on the war, seeing the hills of Longden, Tumbledown, Harriet, etc. from a different angle – the same the marines had, except that they did all the last but at the dead of night! Also drove past the distinctive stone runs -unique remnants of the receding ice, thousands of years age. Drinks in the Victory, where we caught up with one of the locals who had been with us on Carcass, then to Shorty’s Diner for a meal, a drink in the Globe and then back to our hotel for nightcaps with another couple who had been with us on Sea Lion. We’ve made lots of friends here!

This morning, Saturday, we have been down to the new museum where we also bumped into Peter and Ranjit, a couple we have been with lots over the week. Some souvenir shopping and we are of to the airport soon.

So, goodbye from the Falklands, it’s been brilliant!

Arrived early afternoon and picked up by Kyle from FITB. He had promised us a battlefield visit, so we diverted and picked up a friend of his, Zoran, who is also a member of the FIDF (local reservists). They took us up in 4x4s into the hills overlooking Stanley, where some of the fiercest fighting took place and showed us the direction the marines had come on their famous yomp carrying about 100lbs of equipment each. Still lots of shell holes around and bits of field guns.

Then up to the summit of Mount Longden. This is where the paras attacked at night up the rocky sides of the mountain an in fierce hand to hand fighting took out the enemy positions in a battle which lasted 10 hours. 23 Paras were killed including one VC. There are little memorials up there to the dead and it is very moving. As Zoran was explaining in vivid detail how the battle had progressed, even showing us original pictures of where foxholes were, where specific actions took place, where a sniper had pinned down soldiers for hours, etc, etc, it started to snow, which made the whole thing even more atmospheric. The Falklanders are amazingly patriotic and grateful to Margaret Thatcher and the British forces who liberated them. Very interesting talking to those who were there and their, often harrowing experiences with the Argentinians.

Super dinner at the Waterfront Hotel with out local agent, ITT. Tomorrow is Friday and our last day.

Thursday, our penultimate day in the Falklands. Our flight this morning is not until 1130, so up for the best breakfast yet, with a massive goose egg on the plate – taken from just outside the buildings from one of the thousands of upland goose nests – delicious, thank you Mr & Mrs Goose and Gander! There was a flurry of snow just before we walked out and we could see a covering on the hills on the distant mainland. Definitely cooler today. Went out for about an hour and a half, walking along the cliffs just enjoying all the bird life. There is a massive king cormorant colony and then another rockhopper one and all the time, flying around, skuas, petrels and sheathbills. Sat for ages on the edge of the penguin rookery, just watching their antics and nest building, unlike the gentoos who have already laid eggs. Some of them just don’t care where they get their nest material from, just casually ambling up to another nest and stealing a beak full of straw – quite comic and very David Attenborough. Strange to feel that we were the only people on the island apart from Elaine and Robert, who look after the house and the animals. Back to the house for a cup of tea and off to the airstrip and goodbye to our hosts.

It’s just a 10 minute flight to Bleaker and because of aircraft rotations, we had to leave at 0830, which meant a 0700 breakfast, but we still managed an early trip down to the beach. Caught another glimpse of the orca out in the bay and dodged the fast lumbering bull elephant seals as I got in their way – not that I meant to, but you walk past them and they look fast asleep and the next minute, they are up on their flippers and moving really fast! Also had another look at the seal carcass, which is now reduced to a pink skeleton being picked over by the cara caras. Sorry to leave here – there is so much wildlife and you become so absorbed with everything around you.

Arrived on Bleaker and our hostess, Elaine, was more than happy to take us out or leave us to our own devices with lots of guidance. We opted for the latter, so Elaine showed us where to go and what to see and dropped us off South of the settlement so we could walk back. We needed the exercise and enjoyed our walk back along the coast stopping for a delicious packed klunch overlooking a bay watching steamer ducks with chicks, rock shags and the graceful giant petrel. On the way, we ticked another box when we came across a colony of night herons with several nests and quite large chicks.

Back to our house for tea – we are the only guests sharing a house with 4 ensuite bedrooms, kitchen and lounge;there is another house with two further bedrooms an there are available for singles, couples, families or groups on a full service basis in high season or self catering in the winter.

We said we wanted to do more walking, so Elaine then dropped us off at the far end of the island for us to walk back the 8-10 km. the very end of the island is a nature reserve, I.e. no livestock grazing. We had to walk carefully because this is also where lots of southern giant petrels have their nesting sites – really amazing being so close and it was sometimes difficult to see them because they were so well camouflaged, even though these are massive birds. Also, lots of cliff colonies of rock and king shags and always, kelp and upland geese, kelp and dolphin gulls, South American tern, sheathbills, oyster catchers, etc. We walked across the meadows of diddle dee and tussock grass seeing plover, dottrels, finches and tussoc birds, with brown skuas always on the lookout for unattended nests, until eventually, we reached Sandy Bay, a long expanse of beautiful white sandy beach. We had come to see the gentoo penguins (and a few jackass too, coming out of their burrows) and what a beautiful picture they made in the late afternoon sunshine. Then out of the blue came a commotion in the surf and there was a pod of the spectacular black and white Commerson’s dolphin – yet another tick on the list of amazing Falklands wildlife.

Back to the house for a super dinner of roast lamb with mint and trimmings. Elaine’s husband odes the faming on the island and they kill their own beef and lamb. So tasty, I had third helpings! Gorgeous sunset. Back to Stanley in the morning…

The flight times for the Falklands Govt Air Service (FIGAS) are only announced the previous evening depending on forecast weather conditions and demand – they also only use 3 Islander aircraft with just 5 passenger seats. So our flight from Carcass to Pebble Island didn’t come in from Stanley until 13.30. So that meant we had a whole morning on the island and Rob, the owner took us out in his battered Land Rover for a gentle ride after breakfast up to Leopard Bay. There are no rats on Carcass, so there are lots of small birds, many of which are ground nesters, and Bob pointed these all out to us – Falklands thrush, Cobb’s wren, siskins, meadowlarks, Tussoc birds, plovers and more. Coming down to Leopard Bay, we say loads of Magellenic penguins coming in and out of their burrows and then at the bay was the gentoo penguin colony with the birds coming down to the beautiful sandy beach in company of an upland goose and her 6 goslings – there were a couple of snowy sheathbills there too, looking for any easy pickings.

Back to the lodge for tea and then off in the other direction to end up at the airstrip. And then another amazing highlight. We came to a beach with a haul out of elephant seals – all females and pups apart from one massive bull. There were a couple of other males lurking offshore not daring to come near the beach. So, we wandered up the beach and some of the females lifted their heads and gave us a roar. The bull seemed to just be enjoying lying around, occasionally opening his eyes, or rolling over, when all of a sudden he woke up and started lumbering, quite fast, along the beach and launched himself on top of one of th females. She roared and squirmed and after a few minutes, the bull just rolled off and seemed to doze off again, but a minute later he was off to try his luck again. This cow rejected him too, but he was determined and charged off again and this time he was successful and we watched voyeuristically as these massive animals mated. A very special moment.

Carcass Lodge is a great place to stay on a trip to the Falklands and Rob and his wife Lorraine are superb hosts.

A 20 minute flight to Pebble Island and something different again. The island is one of the main stops on the battlefield tour circuit and we learnt all about the SAS operation on the island in the early days of the 1982 conflict. The main attraction, though, was the birds and especially the penguins. There are 3 types of penguin on the island, Magellenic, rockhopper and gentoo, but we saw two more – there was a lone king penguin standing by one of the ponds – unable to swim because it was still moulting, and then, in the middle of a rockhopper colony, there was just one macaroni, with its bright yellow head feathers. Lots more upland and kelp geese, skuas, 3 kinds of shag – rock, king and imperial – petrels, turkey vultures, cara caras and the beautiful light grey dolphin gull with its bright red beak and legs. Some good company again at dinner, another super and enlightening day.

Interesting day yesterday, Saturday, and brilliant day today, Sunday!

We arrived at Mount Pleasant after quite a long flight from Santiago – 3 hours to Punta Arenas and then another couple to the islands. Staying at the Malvinas House hotel, the best on in town and clean and modern – not sure why, but much better than I expected!

We had a bit of a wander around Stanley this afternoon. It is only small and is just like a British coastal town – it is actually twinned with Whitby – except that all the roofs are brightly painted in red, green, blue or even yellow. There are 19th century buildings, some typical seaside cottages and even some Victorian villas, a cathedral and all the usual public buildings such as post office and police station. Of course, the principal war memorial is for the 1982 conflict and the other big reminder is the feeling of a garrison town with a massive military complex at the main airport, which is 30 miles outside town. So, we ended up at the Globe Inn, a typical squaddie pub with flags and war memorabilia. Not much happening at 6 pm but that would change later!

A pleasant dinner with Kyle and Samantha from the Tourist Office and then we just had to go out for last orders – this time at Deanos – and at 10.30 on a Saturday night, it was really buzzing with all the soldiers and airmen from the base mixing noisily with locals, especially the single girls and everybody just a tad worst for the weather! And then at 11.00 the bell rang and it was just like the old days – time! Everybody piled out on the pavement – there were even a a male and female bobbie hanging around just in case, but it was all really good humoured and we made firm friendships with soldiers from Leeds, Liverpool and Essex and one airman from South Wales. A great evening.

This morning the weather was bright and sunny with azure sky for our flight from the local Stanley Airport to Carcass Island. Four of us flew in the BN Islander over the hundreds of islands at no more than 3000ft, absolutely brilliant. Met by the owner of the lodge and driven over to the house in one of his 4 x 4s – that’s all everybody has here and over 90% must be Land Rover basics! The Lodge has 6 bedrooms and is all very relaxed with cups of tea and cakes on arrival.

One of the islands that wasn’t on our plan was West Point and that was disappointing because that was where there were nesting brown brow albatross. So serendipity, the boat that takes visitors over to West Point was moored in the bay and was going over there anyway, with room for 4 more. What an amazing afternoon! I had seen a nesting albatross before but nothing could have prepared me for a full colony of hundreds of birds nesting amongst the tussocks and, not only that, but sharing the space with even more rockhopper penguins. The albatross were flying overhead, sometimes missing by inches and the rockhoppers were almost underfoot -spent ages just enjoying the experience.

A couple of seals and lots more birds to see including various geese, some with goslings being watched hungrily by the striated cara caras, known locally as Johnny Rooks. Cobs wren, the redbreasted military starling, and, later on a couple of Magellenic penguins. This really is a magic spot

We are now about 20 minutes away from Santiago and just flying over the Andes. I am in a centre row seat, so can only see part of the magnificent view from the windows, but fortunately, the in flight camera shows me what is underneath.
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Simon and John leave today for their fact-finding trip to the Falklands. At Wildfoot Travel, we have been receiving more and more requests from birders and other nature and wildlife enthusiasts for itineraries that spend more time on the Islands.

We have lots of ship-based expeditions that call in on the Falklands and stay for. A couple of days or so, but that is just not enough time to fully appreciate the amazing wildlife in different parts of the Islands. We are going to see for ourselves and will then be able to offer a range of trips to suit all interests.

Today, we fly to Santiago in Chile and then tomorrow, onwards to Stanley. We ‘ll keep you posted with our progress, so watch this space!

Take a look at our wildlife trips and cruises to the Falklands here

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