2014/02 Falklands trip - West Point Island |
|||||
Monday February 10th
Everyone else was flying out, but we had a perfect morning for the boat trip, a clear sky and a slight breeze. The sun lit up these pinnacles around Needles Point. 
We walked to the dock and Mike and Jeanette motored over in their fishing boat to collect us. Dolphins followed us out into the bay but then we came out into the wind and the spray forced us to retreat to the wheelhouse with Mike. Jeanette was out in the spray.
 |
Voyage on the Condor (6.41) |
 |
|---|
 |
West Point Island |
|---|
Mike had been a shearer and then a farmer. For a while they’d operated their boat out of West Point Island where they’d also been caretakers for the island. They’d given that up as sometimes a hundred people from a cruise ship would show up for tea! Now they live on their boat in the summer and operate out of Carcass.
It took about 45 minutes to cover the eight miles to West Point Island. They gave us tea and biscuits at the cottage, a neat place with a beautiful garden, and then drove us over the hills in yet another ancient Landrover.
We entered an area fenced to keep the livestock out and stopped above the cliffs of the Devil’s Nose. Mike led us down through the tussoc, showed us where to go, and then left us to it for the day. We said we’d walk back.
|
West Point Island (16.31) |
 |
|---|
The nesting areas are on a steep slope above the cliffs, rocky patches surrounded by tussoc.
The birds share a nesting space without regard for species and generally ignore the neighbours. They were careful not to foul their own nests but squirting over the nest and chick next door was common.
Getting around in the tussoc was difficult with hidden drop-offs, but the access to the birds was amazingly good. We could sit on a rock within touching distance. They ignored
us; we might as well have been trees. The birds were the familiar, small rockhoppers and thousands of black-browed albatrosses, gigantic birds with eight foot wingspans.
The albatrosses would come swooping into land, sometimes a dozen at a time, all on different trajectories, with no air traffic control. There was no point in ducking; we just had to trust that they knew what they were doing. 
The pictures show their “black brows”. The chicks are large, as expected, but are grey with black beaks and no brows.
We had lunch a couple of feet from the rookery. Both kinds of chicks were nearly full grown trying out their wings; even the little rockhoppers were exercising their 
muscles. It was noisy and smelly but a great experience.
These giant petrels would periodically glide over the nests on the lookout for anyone sick or careless. The Falklanders call them “stinkers” because of their fondness for sewage.
|
Rockhopper spa (8.56) |
 |
|---|
We made our way down to the main rockhopper colony. There was a stream running through the colony and some rockhoppers were washing themselves in the pools and standing under a waterfall for a drink or a shower.
We tried to climb over to where the penguins were coming up from the sea but they’re much better climbers than us.
We settled for climbing up to a toothy rock on the opposite cliff and found a blissful spot out of the wind for afternoon tea. We had a leisurely walk back over the hills to the settlement and the boat.
The major attraction of West Point is the albatross colony, but there are many other birds around the coasts. These are a few that we captured: a turkey vulture, a rock cormorant, a “blackish” oystercatcher (now I understand the name: grey underwear), a very pretty night heron, and a young cormorant.
On the way back, the boat visited a Gentoo colony and there were many penguins in the water, surfing along like little dolphins.
|
Return on the Condor (10.43) |
 |
|---|
Some Peale’s dolphins did join us for the trip back. Jeanette was encouraging them by rapping on the boat’s hull. One did six flips in a row, clearly an Olympic contender. I 
was taking pictures with a very wet waterproof camera held at full stretch from the rail so I’ve just glued a few of those together here.
We saw Dennis and Jean (from Pebble) in the distance as we came back; they’d just arrived and were doing our walk of yesterday. Another newcomer was Tony, an RAF meteorologist, 
who used to be the weather man for BBC Wales. He forecast overnight rain with a perfect day to follow, and he was right; they had a calmer boat trip than ours.
The goose doll was made by one of the Chilean kitchen ladies.