30th of January – 2nd of February – Homebound

The crossing from the Falklands to Ushuaia only took a full day late on the first evening we arrived back in port in heavy winds after a not as gentle as usual crossing. During the crossing we were given information on when we were to leave the ship the following morning – unfortunately I had been given the early flight out so I had to leave early, before most people were up meaning I didn’t get the chance to say goodbye to a fraction of those I wanted to say goodbye to.

Looking back while sailing through the Beagle Channel.

I arrived back in BA and checked into my hotel and rested. I had planned on grabbing (another) steak dinner when here, but realized that the amounts of good food from the past 3 weeks started to make itself known and I felt completely full despite only having a small breakfast on the ship. I was flying out in the late afternoon so the following morning I had a short back in the national park I also visited when I had arrived from home, I hadn’t brought my camera equipment as I just wanted to walk and relax and I hadn’t expected to see anything that would grab my attention. Colour me surprised when leaving the park, I spotted a humming bird buzzing around a tree. Something a long lens would have been perfect for. Oh, well.

Grabbed a cab to the airport, checked in, boarded in a timely manner and once again I received the royal treatment on the flight home. I probably got even more sleep than on the last flight, and gently woken up by a crew member shaking my shoulder informing me it was time for breakfast. Spent my layover in the first class terminal again, and nearing the time of expected departure one of the attendants came over with a grave look on her face. I was expecting to be told that the flight had been cancelled, but instead she was so very sorry to inform me that my flight had been delayed 10 minutes. How horrible!  As I was the only one from the terminal getting on that flight the driver drove me to the gate in a Porsche Carrera, very comfortable I must say. Took the elevator up from the tarmac as before, got pushed past the entire queue and put in my seat. 

It’s going to be tough getting back to monkey class after this!

And that was a very successful trip over and done with. The sightings were amazing – especially the wildlife! The orca sightings are going to stick with me, and the fact that despite the vulnerable status we saw so many of the various albatrosses! We were told not to get our hopes up, especially with the wandering as it is rare (which was also why it was so frustrating visiting the toilet on the first sighting!), but the numbers we saw were astonishing, even several of the guides were very surprised by the numbers that were logged. 

Big thanks to Dr. Alex Cowan (expedition leader), Neil Rabjohn (assistant expedition leader/naturalist), Kevin Morgan (naturalist), Ignacio Canepa (naturalist), Osi Sharaf (naturalist), Scott Macphail (naturalist/historian), Lyn Mair (ornithologist), Rex Nelson (zodiac technician), Gerard Baker (historian/BBC documentary maker), Pablo Cantua (musician), Daniel Urriza (kayak assistant), Sarah Keenan (kayak master), Matt Burnaby (camping master), Paul Glendell (photograoher) and José Aguilar (ship’s doctor). Big thanks to captain Gilles Cader and hotel manager Gabor Ferencz. And finally big thanks to Randale, Jerome, Louie, Albert, Jay, Joel and the rest of the crew that made the trip as memorable as it ended up being, You guys are amazing!

So much awesomeness in one photo. 

Back row: Osi Sharaf (naturalist), Lyn Mair (ornithologist), Paul Glendell (photograoher), Pablo Cantua (musician), Sarah Keenan (kayak master), Matt Burnaby (camping master), Neil Rabjohn (assistant expedition leader/naturalist), Kevin Morgan (naturalist), Scott Macphail (naturalist/historian)

Front row: José Aguilar (ship’s doctor), Gerard Baker (historian/BBC Documentary maker), Rex Nelson (zodiac technician), Ignacio Canepa (naturalist), Alex Cowan (expedition leader), Daniel Urriza (kayak assistant)

Thanks to Bec, Naomi, Ceres, Andrea, Chris, Alex, Steve, David, Michaela and everyone else who I should have mentioned but haven’t for being such a great group of people making the trip as terrific as it was. I hope I get to see you all again some time.

Full album can be found here.

28th – 29th – The Falklands

Arriving at Port Stanley in the morning the conditions were not promising. A larger cruise ship had already arrived but was anchored outside the narrow entry to the calmer port waters due to the swell, but as we were on a smaller ship we managed to squeeze through despite the conditions, but had to anchor away from the port. We managed to get everyone into zodiacs an on land where we got into busses and drove to Gypsy Cove where we had a few hours’ walk around through Mount Tumbledown and back to town. It was raining and very windy so it was hard to fully relax with camera in hand, but the walk resulted in multiple magellanic penguins and a flurry of other birds that we hadn’t seen yet. Geese, ducks, songbirds and shorebirds were at an abundance and quite a change from the usual sightings we had had so far. Most people chose to get the bus back to town but having a rare moment off the ship I decided to walk back, despite the weather it was nice seeing it all up close rather than from behind windows. 

Walking around Mount Tumbledown.

Long-tailed meadowlark.

Magellanic penguin wondering if it's worth going out in the rain for food.

Pied oystercatcher.

On the way the bus returned and stopped when reaching me. I was getting ready to argue with him that I preferred walking rather than driving, but upon opening the door he asked “Hey – are you Danish?”  and on confirming that he switched to Danish. Apparently he had been working on freighters between England and the Falklands for 10 tours and realized in the end he had more friends on the Falklands than in England or Denmark, so he ended up settling there and had lived there for 30-something years by now. 

Guessing I was Danish came from overhearing some of those taking the bus talking about “that weird Dane who decided to walk instead of driving”. 

Coming back to port that had seized zodiac operations as they were getting ready to move the ship to port so instead we were a couple of people how went into town to grab lunch at a pub. Stanley is as British as it gets. It feels like being back in a British town somewhere on the British mainland, it was only the turkey vulture sitting on a TV antenna in the middle of town that reminded you of where you were. The rough seas also meant that the town was much less crowded than it could have been as the larger cruise ship hadn’t been able to unload any of their passengers – which honestly was a bit of a relief.

Turkey vulture.

The town was pretty quickly seen so in the afternoon, having stopped raining, I decided to go for a run. Mostly to be able to say that I had run on the Falklands, when would the chance of doing that again ever occur?

The following morning the weather was amazing when we arrived on the beach of Saunders Island where we after a short walk came across rockhopper penguins with chicks and black-browed albatrosses on nests with chicks. Completely fearless of humans they went along with their own business while we got to enjoy the encounters up close. 

Striated caracara.

Rockhopper penguins.

Black-browed albatross chick.

The afternoon was spent at West Point Island where the weather improved even more when we had a nice walk to Devil’s Nose. Here we had a view of Cliff Mountain and more black-browed with nests. Our position relative to the wind meant that when the albatrosses landed, we could get close to front views of them gliding down, lowering their feet and adjusting the wings depending on the wind – basically a living version of an airplane.

Devil's nose. The rocky part is where the albatrosses are nesting.

The hosts on the island invited us all for treats and cookies and tea & coffee on returning to the zodiacs, and I did the utmost to end up on one of the last zodiacs, knowing that when returning to the ship we would be heading towards the mainland again.

There was no wind that day, this is just how the trees grow. One can only wonder why.

26th – 27th – Go west!

Two days were spent on crossing the sea, and while the conditions weren’t quite as calm as we had experienced in previous crossings it was still very manageable. We had clear visibility for most of the crossing which gave optimal conditions for bird watching and looking out for whales and various other mammals. 

If you weren’t into spending all your time outside in the at times chilly weather there were regular presentations and talks of various parts of the wildlife and flora we would have a chance of seeing on the tour. Much of it was quite interesting, some of it not quite so but worked as an excuse to take a break from standing outside and getting warm again. 

Two black-browed albatrosses.

Royal, wandering and black-browed albatrosses and a couple of white-chinned petrels.

Blue-eyed shag.

With a bit of cropping you see what the albatross is looking at.

Royal and wandering albatross.

Being on such a tour it’s always important to have a camera nearby – wildlife does not respect your breaks or times off; they show up whenever they want. So in the middle of dinner I thought I saw something so I grabbed the camera and rushed out. I normal reaction when seeing someone during a meal rush out with a camera is that a few others grab theirs and run with hoping they’ll find out what was spotted. Nobody followed me to my surprise, but that meant I seemed to be the sole spotter of a pod of southern right whale dolphins. They were far away but the photos I got were confirmed by the guides afterwards. I felt pretty happy about the result, especially because they disappeared shortly after I had made it outside with my camera.

Southern right whale dolphins.

Otherwise being outside resulted in numerous sights of wandering, royal and black-browed albatrosses which were such magnificent birds. The wingspans are absolutely amazing when seeing them up close!

Return to the deep south

Coming back from my most recent trip to the Arctic I was already looking forward to returning to the ship. As the number of tours and destinations are limited when going on the ship I am finding it more and more difficult to justify going on more trips with it as I have by now almost been at all its destinations.

Almost. Almost.

There are a select few tours that bring you past the Falkland Islands and South Georgia so I can't write off the expedition tours yet. Obviously! And timing your departure right during the year you'll get to see the penguins with all the new chicks.

So I didn't really have a choice.

10th - 11th of January, 2020

Arriving in Buenos Aires, Argentina where I stay one night before flying south to Ushuaia. Needless to say, steak is on the menu.

12th - 15th of January

Board the ship and leave Ushuaia, going east towards the Falklands. We'll be spending a few days at the Falklands, (hopefully) seeing an abundance of penguins and black-browed albatrosses.

16th - 21st of January

Continuing east we again spend a few days on the sea before arriving at South Georgia where we will, depending on weather, spend four days exploring. The highlight of the trip will be the large colony of king penguins, but also historical sites will be visited (whaling stations, Shackleton's grave etc.).

22nd - 23rd of January

We point the ship south, leave South Georgia and head towards Antarctica.

24th - 28th of January

At the Antarctica peninsula we will be spending as much time as possible off the ship and the in zodiacs or on land, exploring, enjoying the beautiful views and the large numbers of penguins that will be running/waddling around minding their own business and largely ignoring us.

29th - 31st of January

Heading back north, leaving Antarctica behind and returning to Ushuaia where I will be flying out on disembarkation day to Buenos Aires. I haven't sorted out tickets to and from Argentina yet but I am not expecting to spend more than maybe an extra night there before leaving. Have to get another steak, but have to get back to work, too, unfortunately.

Compared to the previous tours I've done on the ship we will be spending quite a lot of time just crossing water, but that is unavoidable when you want to visit remote islands so I expect it to be worth it. If nothing else I am crossing my fingers that the extra time spent out in the open means more chances of seeing whales and other ocean mammals which I haven't had much chance of yet. (Orcas.I am talking about orcas).