2014/02 Falklands trip - Pebble Island |
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Wednesday February 5th
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In the morning there was no wind at all. “Bad news”, said F, as fog could be a problem. Sure enough, the first flight was delayed by fog at Sealion Island. Our flight was delayed until after lunch but it would now be direct.
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Pebble Island arrival |
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By flight time it was raining hard. They drove us to Darwin’s airfield and we were reminded of the origins of the word: a grassy field where airplanes land.
Before the roads were built, FIGAS flew floatplanes but now they have twin prop Britten Norman Islanders. The plane was early, landed quickly, and circled back to pick us up. It was an eight seater with four passengers already on, and we were quickly hustled into the back seat with our luggage behind us, and we were off on a noisy and humid flight.
We crossed Falkland Sound and West Falkland Island with no sign of any habitation. The flight took about twenty five minutes and it rained all the way. This was our view of 
the settlement; the lodge is the largest building. We landed in a waterlogged field and it was like coming down in a float plane, only bumpier. The ground crew ladies commented that it looked spectacular, a great sheet of spray hiding the plane.
Four of us were picked up by Jacqui and Cat and whisked off through the settlement to the lodge’s sun room, where we left boots and wet gear. We were quickly installed in a large room with a view across the garden and fields towards the north coast. The Duke of Kent had this room on a recent visit; hope he 
found it as comfortable as we did.
Tea and cakes hit the spot. Jacqui said she had no information about us, as the lady who took F ’s booking had left; we seemed to be a day late but it wasn’t a problem. The other couple were Dennis and Jean from Hamilton, Ontario; the other three guests were out on a tour, a very wet one. We were offered two tours for the next day, the west end for war history or the east end for wildlife, and we chose the latter. F had actually signed us up for the other as she knew it included the Pebble Beach with its agates, but Sandie missed out on that.
Despite its remoteness, Pebble Island has a number of war history sites. Early in the war the Argentinians had located some reconnaissance aircraft at the Darwin airfield, but
they subsequently moved them to Pebble Island. The Brits needed to put them out of action before landing their forces at San Carlos, so they sent in Special Air Service commandos, who managed to disable all the planes and get out with only one wounded, a text book example. The island also has the memorial to the crew of HMS Coventry, which was sunk nearby.
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Pebble Island (1.35) |
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The sun came out and we went for a walk to the beach. It was very windy as we made our way across soggy moorland and through the dunes to Elephant 
Bay. We had a beautiful sandy beach
all to ourselves; Sandie was off looking for rocks and shells, me for penguins and seals. She found these very odd orange thingamies. Next day, Cat would identify them from her book as dog-eared tunicates.
I found dozens of oystercatchers first and then these soaring Magellanic gulls, and then this upland goose. I walked to the cliffs and followed a penguin trail up onto the cliff top. I found a few dozen Magellanic penguins scattered in burrows along my walk. There was panic at first but then they got used to me. I was watching them 
splashing around in the shallows, but realized I was running out of time for dinner.
The wind blasted me quickly back along the beach but Sandie had already left. As I came through the dunes I could see a line of black squalls coming towards me. The first blast lifted me off my feet and then the rain hit like a spray of needles. I was plodding along very slowly with my head down and it took 
me a long time to force the gates open against the wind.
The walk took me thirty minutes for about a half mile. I was rescued by Brad in his truck, sent to go find me, but by then I was only a hundred yards from the lodge and the sun had come out! I changed clothes and just made it for dinner. The other three were back: Charlie from the Orkneys and Gary and wife from Gibraltar. We had an excellent three course meal. Charlie was a bad influence on the rest and they made a lot of noise and a big dent in the honesty bar. They probably thought we were teetotal; no, just tired out!