2014/02 Falklands trip - Carcass Island |
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We had a 35 minute flight to Port Stephens and returned Mark and Anthea to their relatives; they were planning to drive up to Port Howard in a few days and take the ferry over to New Haven. We picked up a local lady with two children on their way to Darwin. The boy was delighted to sit next to the pilot and the lady was happy to have the diversion to Carcass, delaying her return to work.
We made a bumpy landing on Carcass Island. These pilots seem to love to come in sideways and straighten up just in time to land. This field looked to have lots of bumps and angles. We were met by Rob, the owner. I asked him where the name came from and he said it was named after HMS Carcass, a survey ship that happened to have Midshipman Nelson on board. I knew some of that but wondered why the navy used that name. He didn’t know but I’ve since found that “carcass” is a term for a ship that’s a salvaged wreck but is rebuildable, so maybe that’s the story behind the name.
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Carcass Island |
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Rob took us to Carcass Cottage, part of a very small settlement, and a lush spot out of the wind. Around the cottage was a dense stand of New Zealand flax and some palms and trees from the same place, and this glowing flowerbed. There were Magellanic penguins and caracaras all around. Rob said that he has to keep the penguins from burrowing under the house; having them do their hallelujah call under the bedroom floor would not be good!
There were eight other residents but all but one, Jan, not a sailor, were off on a boat trip to West Point Island.
Lorraine showed us to our room and she and Sandie were soon discussing quilting, and Sandie was giving her pointers to quilting websites.
At lunch we met the Chilean cook, whose nickname was Cookie of course. He is also a cruise ship cook, traveling all over the world, but he comes to Carcass each summer.
This was our view of Dyke Bay, very enticing on a sunny afternoon. It’s shown as Port Pattison on the map.
We walked around the bay to the south end of the island. There are sheep and cattle on the island but they are fenced out of that end and the tussoc grass there is recovering well, enough to be a problem for hikers.
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Leopard Beach (7.17) |
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We came to an open plain flanked by two beaches. We were walking through a vast crowd of penguins, trying not to spook them. 
The Gentoos just ignored us but the Magellanics panicked and surged across the dunes, a confusing black and white crowd. Those circular markings on their heads play tricks with your eyes. We stayed off the beautiful Leopard Beach as we didn’t want to disturb the scene of thousands of birds on the sands.
We spotted a king penguin in amongst the Gentoos. It was happily preening and posing for us; the plain was covered with molted feathers from all groups
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We hiked across the plain into the wind and through the tussoc to Dyke Bay, a much more rugged beach, littered with flotsam. A pair of caracaras flew over and 
hovered inches above our heads. At first we thought we were being attacked, but then realized they were just checking us out, looking for something to steal. They are notorious for taking shiny objects. It was nice on the sand and we’d hoped to walk back along the beach but rocks and cliffs got in the way and we had to follow penguin trails up through the tussoc.
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Dyke Bay (5.27) |
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On our way back, I noticed this change in Sandie’s hiking style. Perhaps we had been spending too much time with the penguins?
Back at the cottage the boaters had returned, a mix of Brits and Falklanders. The boat owners, Mike and Jeanette, were with us for meals too. Dinner that night was excellent. Cookie feeds you a magnificent main course, followed by a choice of gigantic desserts, and then finishes you off with an irresistible cheese board. Unfortunately the cold had now reached me and coughing fits forced me to retire early.