A Photographic Journal

November 25, 2010 - Falkland Islands - Stanley and Gypsy Cove

It was crowded and slow birding. When your highlight is a Turkey Vulture, the birding isn't good. But very nice weather, especially in the lee of ridges, out of the wind. Bought a small souvenir for Nancy and caught the 12:00 zodiac back to the ship.

Still, if I were in charge, I'd do a landing at some other place than Stanley. We've got a lot of British Commonwealth citizens aboard, so maybe it's a national thing.

At 1:00 PM we weighed anchor for the long run to South Georgia Island. At 1:15 PM, just a bit down the exit channel, we stopped to wait for a courier boat delivering a laptop computer - Macbook Pro, no less - which a passenger had left in the Jetty Visitor Information Center. Oops. But the courier boat was accompanied by Peale's Dolphins. Very dramatic.

Under weigh again, we left the shelter of the East Falkland Island for the 2.5 day run to South Georgia Island. It was extraordinarily mild on the stern, behind the 5th Deck Observation Lounge. Shirtsleeve weather, in fact. Mild 2.5 meter swell from the north, resulting in a fair amount of movement, but nothing too bad.

Had a long, pleasant chat with the Hotel Manager, Natasha. She has an interesting story as to how she ended up at Chena Hot Springs. After supper, grabbed some sunset photos with silhouettes of Giant Petrels. Nice email exchange with Nancy as well. A good day, if not great photography. Amazingly, since we boarded the ship, we haven't had a drop of rain and never even serious clouds.

Since this is the last evening it is likely to get very dark, I may try and stay up late for stars. No chance of photography, but might still be fun.

Update: Made it as late as 11:15 PM. Still some alpenglow on the northwest horizon, but did get to see the Southern Cross, big as life, and a brilliant Venus. The rest of the stars were strange. Whether for clouds or latitude, even Orion was invisible.

And Happy Thanksgiving!

Gypsy Cove Headland	Magellanic Penguins, Gypsy Cove	Rock Shag
Falkland Steamerduck

Birds:
Gentoo Penguin (photo)
Black-browed Albatross
Wandering Albatross
Wilson's Storm-Petrel
Gray Petrel
Cape Petrel
Southern Great Petrel
Rock Shag
Imperial Shag
Magellanic Oystercatcher
Kelp Goose
Upland Goose
Crested Duck
Flightless Steamer Duck (photo)
Two-banded Plover
Austral Thrush
Turkey Vulture