Falklands I - West and Carcass Islands

We ventured out on the zodiacs today and got 2 new safety briefings.

1.) Man over board: "passenger"

Every one except the two passengers closest the driver must get down on their knees in the middle of the boat so as not to obscure the driver's view. The two sitting closest have the job of keeping visual contact and pointing at the misfortunate so the driver can manouver for a pickup.

2.) Man over board: "driver"

There is a "deadman's cord attached to the outboard so the motor will stop if the driver goes over. Passengers must throw a line OVER the drivers head and tow him/her in once they grab hold.

Word has it that only one driver has ever fallen in.

Zodiacs, btw, are those pontoon boats that Jacques Cousteau developed for his explorations. They have two big pontoons divided into 8 chambers, are very stable and will still stay afloat on only 2 chambers. They hold 3 tons. The bottom is flat and when (if) the water is calm enough everyone is able to stand up to take pictures. They take 10 passengers + 1 driver and I think the ship has 6. It's interesting to see them hoisted up. We get dropped off at a gang plank and the driver takes the boat back to the winches at the rear of the ship. He or she has to hook up the crane hook and climb onto a bosun's chair and get hoisted up at the same time. Should be even more interesting to watch in a high wind!

We had FABULOUS weather today - the temp had to be up to 15C. We were able to do 2 landings on islands in the north west Falklands. Island 1 featured a hike over bare wind swept hills to a penguin rookery. It's amazing how close you can get to these creatures. Since they have no land predators they have next to no fear of humans. I almost stepped on one poor little rock hopper pengy! There were so many tussocks bordering the nesting area that it was hard to see the ground.

The hills are mostly muted sage greens dotted with patched of lime green lichens and huge swaths of flaming yellow gorse. Tiny daisies and miniature queen annes lace are starting to bloom. There was a farm house near the landing point that set up snacks and tea for us before we headed back for a shipboard lunch. They put on such an incredible selection of home made baked goods that I barely needed lunch.

Island 2 was a coastal walk. We did a beach landing - I managed to avoid getting a soaker. The water was clearest that I've ever seen and the beach was pristine.

We did a 2k+/- walk to a settlement and passed many nesting birds who barely gave us a glance. There were many ops for closeups.

Some small trumpet shaped flowers were starting to bloom and it was clear that here would be a carpet of them in a matter of days. At this settlement, more snacks - about 2 dozen different types of homemade
pasteries + tea and coffee. There was a family of turkey vultures who had a burrow in the back yard so we all sat down about 2 feet from the chicks and watched them while they watched (mostly ignored) us. A a sweet little tussock bird kept hopping up my pant leg until I finished eating.

Saw some dolphins on the return ride to the ship! Some of my shipmates are avid bird and wildlife spotters and are very serious about ticking off creatures on the ships master list. I was very aloof about all this until *I* spotted a couple of birds...

Our Stanley - the capital - briefing is in 15 minutes. I must say that I'm very impressed with the amount of information provided. For todays outing we were told all about the hiking route, and what to expect at the landings for both a high tide and low tide scenerio, what the walking surface was like, what amenities were available etc.

Our complimentary parkas are very well designed. I was able to unzip the fleece liner today and just use the shell for the wind. It's going to be great for the coming days. BTW, there is wireless on the ship BUT we only have webmail access from the bar, the presentation room and reception. I'm e-mailing my postings and since it's 15 cents/KB, no pics till later.