Ushuaia -> Falkland Islands, 2/23-2/26.

Tons of black-browed albatross glided behind the ship as we left Ushuaia and headed to the Falkland Islands. (SHIP! Don't say "boat.") We landed about 8am at Steeple Jason, a rare landing spot for these excursions. The crew was ecstatic; the day was sunny and calm. We were greeted at shore by the first of many Gentoo penguins I would see.

hello, penguin

Spent some time with them, then walked about a mile through tall tusset grass to the largest black-browed albatross site in the world (about 150K breeding pair).

hanging out in the tussac grass with the birds

the colony covered most of the beach on this side of the island

action shot!

After a while some of us walked up the hill to the ridge for a stunning and lovely view of the beach and hillside.

the other side of Steeple Jason

topside view

I was here

We enjoyed the view for a while, then headed to the ship for lunch. On the walk back we encountered more Gentoo penguins and stopped for a while to get some pictures.

the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO) requires keeping 5m from wildlife. It was OK if they approach you though - they don't know the rules.

Back on the ship, Peale's dolphins swam alongside us for a few minutes during lunch. The expedition staff were really good about alerting us to whales and dolphins while we were at sea, and I started carrying my camera everywhere just in case.

Peale's dolphins ship-chasing

We spent the afternoon at Saunders Island, and on the way to shore the Zodiacs encountered a handful of Commerson's dolphins racing alongside. Brandon, our ship's excursion leader, was like a kid at Christmas - he later said this was one of his favorite moments of the trip, and he was able to capture an underwater video that was included on our excursion DVD... I will someday figure out how to access the files and post it.

Brandon watching the dolphins play

On the beach were hundreds of Gentoos (very busy, always moving, very entertaining) and Magellenics (quite stoic in comparison).

Magellenics have the ring of white around their eyes

Half mile up the beach were the ridiculous Rockhoppers, and up the hill from the Rockhoppers was a colony of beautiful blue-eyed shags.

and I'll hug him, and kiss him and call him George

fuzzy baby blue-eyed shags

curious? angry? I never could tell

The moon was almost full that night and I braved the cold to try to get a shot. Between my inexperience with night shoots and the rocking ship, it didn't work so well.

The next morning we landed at Stanley (capital of the Falkland Islands). Everyone turned right toward the museum so I headed left to the cemetery, which was very peaceful in the drizzle.

Stanley Cemetery, Falkland Islands

Next, a quick stop in Christ Church Cathedral to see the stained glass.

Miss Mary loved her bike, and I loved that they included this in the stained glass

We paid a little extra money to go up to Gypsy Cove. It was very, very cold and I almost regretted going until we saw a rarely spotted baby black-crowned night heron. There were also more Magellenics, kelp gulls, upland geese, rock cormorants and some local plantlife...

lush

baby black-crowned night heron

parts of the beach were sectioned off due to asbestos concerns - we would see this in South Georgia too...

That night we set sail for South Georgia. The water was very rough and the ship pitched quite a bit...

... but that didn't stop the chef from crafting a rather amusing dessert in honor of all the flightless birds we'd encountered in the Falklands:

All in all, an excellent start to this adventure.