New Year's Eve and Day at Saunders Island and West Point, Falkland Islandw

It is New Year’s Eve and we are at Saunders Island, Falkland Islands, getting ready for another wet landing to see some penguins. Here we are told that we can see four species- Gentoo, Magellenic, Rockhopper, and King penguins.

Gentoos at the beach

We are excited, because this represents 3 new species for us. Unlike other landings on rocky shores in Antarctica, Saunders Island has a sandy beach for easy walking. W

King penguin colony

e land and are immediately greeted by a colony of Gentoos and one of the owners of the island, a lady who calls herself Bippo. Bippo told us that she had lived on the island her entire life and that it was currently home to 5 residents.

Preening Kings

She had souvenirs for sale from the back of her Land Rover and Jane would not be denied. Moving on we came to the magnificent King penguins.

King yearling (brown fuzz)

The colony is small, and we found these stately birds brooding eggs that were laid in November. Within the group we found a yearling chick that will fledge in January or February. The chick is big, brown, and furry and nothing like the adults. After the chicks hatch, they form crèches or kindergartens where all of the chicks stay together. They form protective, dense, fur-like feathers and stay in the middle of the colony, surrounded by the adults, during the winter.

A Rockhopper eyes the situation

The following summer they fledge and become adults. The chick we saw was as large as any of the adults, but bore no resemblance whatsoever. Joining a hiking group, we scaled a rather challenging hill to see the Rockhoppers.

Grumpy, grumpy!

Along the way we encountered some Magellenic penguins which form burrows in the ground for nesting.

Jane and a whale skeleton

While the Kings are statelier, the crested Rockhoppers are the coolest.

Surf's up, dude!

They seemed inquisitive and approached humans to check them out. We watched these birds for awhile, and then started to descend back down to the beach.

Magellenic penguins in their burrows

To us it seemed strange to have such a beautiful beach, but never have conditions that would allow one to use it, let alone swim in the water.

Back aboard we had lunch while the captain repositioned the ship to nearby Westpoint Island.

Devil's Nose

At Westpoint we had a dry landing, but there was a 1.2 mile hike to the nesting areas which would likely make Capt. Larry’s knees groan a little bit. However, the keepers of the island had two Land Rovers they were going to use to shuttle those who needed a ride.

Albatross and Rockhopper with chicks

Since we were in the first group to land, we decided to use the shuttle. The nesting areas were on the side of cliffs referred to as the Devil’s Nose and are higher than the Dover Cliffs in England. We descended a little way down the cliff and found a nesting area that was cohabitated with Black-browed albatrosses and Rockhopper penguins.

Rockhopper chick

Each species had chicks that recently hatched and we enjoyed watching them interact for a while. The albatrosses are huge birds with a adult wingspans 6-7 feet, and build sturdy nests of mud and grass.

Black-browed albatrosses

The group was noisy, but all of the birds generally seemed to tolerate each other with the aggressive Rockhoppers occasionally fighting among themselves. We climbed back up the cliff as the hikers were arriving and rode back to the keeper’s house.

Tissa's spread

The island is owned by an elderly gentleman who recently entered a nursing home. The keepers are a sailing couple who have sailed around the world 7 times over 30 years in their little sailboat, and became acquainted with the owner several years ago.

Jane in the garden

They manage the sheep ranch between sailing excursions whidh are primarily at the higher southern latitudes. Tissa, the wife, had prepared an impressive spread of cookies, scones, sweetbreads, coffee, and tea for her visitors. We tendered back to our ship, and when all were aboard and we were underway, we spotted another sailboat entering the harbor. We were sure that the company would be welcomed and that there were lots of leftover goodies to share.

Our expedition leader announced that the captain had decided to immediately sail for Ushuaia to avoid the brunt of a severe storm that would be entering the waters between Argentina and the Falklands in the next 24 hours. Viewing the weather maps, we had to agree.

Happy New Year's Herb and Lorrine

This would put us back in Ushuaia a full day ahead of schedule.

George and Cynthia get happy

We were wondering what we would do with this extra time when the expedition announced that a bus tour of Tierra del Fuego’s national park would be offered.

The champagne keeps flowing

Turning our attention to New Year's Eve, we celebrated with our friends with an eight course dinner that stretched almost to midnight. Our sommelier started to freely distribute the champagne, and we were starting to feel really bubbly.

Everbody's happy

We retired to the piano bar for the final countdown and danced, drank, and laughed with everyone.

Too much fun!

At midnight, there was an international countdown with the final count called out in 10 different languages.

Lou brings in the new year!

Lou, the piano man, played Auld Ang Syne at midnight, and there was a whole lotta kissin' goin' on.

Happy New Year, Sweetie!

We made good time through the night and into the next afternoon for our day at sea. Just before dinner, however, we encountered 50 mph winds which generated 6-8 foot seas. By dinnertime the boat’s speed was cut in half, it was rocking, and Jane started to get seasick. Out came the green apples, ginger ale and cookies, and the drugs. By the time dinner was through she was a little better, but opted to head straight to bed.

Jane and our butler