Falkland Islands Deployment

On this deployment I'm really trying to seize the opportunity to do things or see things that really, I might only ever see once in my entire life. New Island DEFINITELY was that kind of experience. So we've been out to sea for 3 days, and been to visit one of the smaller islands that make up the falklands. If you look on the map, you can see it's all the way out on the west side. We then got a chance to go ashore for just an hour and a half to have a look around. There's only about 6 0r 7 people who live here, in a couple of houses in a really beautiful cove. We saw a helicopter coming across to drop something off, so presumably that's how they cope! This island is one of the most scenic small places I've been, and just what I was looking forward to before I started the deployment. It's full of wildlife, everywhere, predominantly birds. Rabbits are running around everywhere, but I was heading over the mainland to the cliffs, where there was a HUGE albatross colony. I've never really seen any albatross before, so to suddenly see hundreds of thousands of them was quite amazing really. If there's one thing I can say about them- they're all little fatties. I was walking with Baz, and we went down into this kind of mini crater, which turned into a chasm, with a 60-70 metre drop sown into the water below. All around the edge of this crater were Albatross sitting and building their nests. We could walk right by them and they wouldn't bat an eyelid! A little bit further along, and I found this hidden ledge, about 80 metres up the cliff face, where I could just sit, and watch albatross swooping out across the atlantic, just metres in front of me, and the vast colonies dotted on the cliffs. It was absolutely spectacular, I sat there for about 20 minutes taking photos and taking it in! We walked further along the coast taking in all the incredible scenery, like this huge chasm leading down to the sea... and then I realised perched next to us was this incredibly beautiful looking predator bird of some sort... standing on 1 leg! I didn't really get it!? But it looked amazing, and it seemed SO fearless, I was stood a metre from it taking photos. It's the same with all the birds. They couldn't care less about the humans being there, they just get on with.... er.... standing around on 1 leg! Later on I saw what I can only describe as some sort of hawk or something.... can someone name them for me!? I'd love to know the names of some of these- instead of being cluelessly amazed! Something I do know the name of, is a Sea Lion- and I saw one from the top of the cliff! Wow! Except that later on, I found out some of the others explored a different route and saw several sea lions and seals. How annoying!


So what else is amazing about New Island? Well, the water is amazing. It's so clear and it was also sunny- when we got back to the ship we could see the rudders and propellor shafts underneath the ship! And later I got a photo of a dolphin which was swimming around underneath the quarterdeck... The way the land is broken up looks amazing too. I could quite easily have spent the whole day there taking photos and making Attenborough films!

Having spent a couple of days anchored there, we are now heading back round to ECMP. We're going via the Jason Islands though, so there may yet be a chance for some more photos. All my best photos from New Island are at the bottom of this post...

I entered that weight-loss competition, but unfortunatelyI'm being constantly hampered by illness at the moment. Keep getting very blocked up and unfortunately it doesn't help the sleep, so I'm always very tired! Anyway, here's the New Island photos, best of:





So we anchored just off the island, and got the MIB out to transport us to the shore, where we were greeted by these gannet birds (I think)... we've noticed they love diving quite deep to catch fish...

These are just some of the views I could see when me and Baz set off to the other side of the island, in search of Albatross... and we weren't disappointed. We stumbled across a large colony of them all nesting. We could stand just a few metres from them and they didn't care. They're all building nests out of the mud and grass that surrounds them!

The albatross above seems to be busy, while the other one seems pretty content with his nest! Walking just past the colony, the slippery rocks come to a cliff face, with an immediate 150ft drop!

All the photos around here were taken from my vantage point I found, near the top of the cliff face. That little bird looks a lot more English. I wonder if he's lost? See the picture of me below? just to the left of my head you can see where the top of the cliff is really speckley... well the photo next to it is a close up of that. A HUGE colony of Albatross nesting.

These photos show the amazing views I spent ages looking at! And an Albatross.

An albatross, and then from the top of the cliff I spotted a young Sea Lion! Obviously sunning himself a little bit. (Please tell me if I'm wrong about it being a Sea Lion!) Below is one of the amazing chasms that just seems to eat through the island, leaving an amazing picturesque view, and back near the boat landing, a hawk, of which type I have no idea! It was hanging out with it's 5-bird posse.