We had been at anchor all night, so were ready for the Zodiac ride to the shore of New Island quite early. The weather was very sunny and quite warm. We were split into two groups but, as there were only 60 of us, we were quickly all ashore.
The Zodiacs being prepared for the trip ashore
The beached wreck of a minesweeper from WorldWar II
We landed on a small sandy beach next to the wreck of a beached minesweeper. There were several caracaras on the beach, reminders of our last visit to the Falklands.
Two of our fellow passengers, Philip and Jean.
We were teamed with Uli, who picked up some of the giant kelp lying on the beach to explain how it grows and supports itself.
Uli and a frond of giant kelp
We left the beach for the walk across the fields and up a slight hill to the rockhopper penguin colony and the albatross nesting site, located at the top of the cliffs overlooking the Atlantic.
Hiking across the fields
It was a walk of about twenty minutes to reach the top of the cliffs where the penguins and albatross were nesting.
The top of the cliffs
The penguins and albatross live side by side. It was an amazing site. Every so often, an albatross would fly in and land at its nest, returning to feed its young.
Rockhopper Penguins
Black Browed Albatross chick on its mud nest
A Caracara flying off with some carrion
Albatross chick being fed
Albatross and Rockhoppers
Albatross chick with Rockhoppers in the foreground
Albatross chick being fed
Caracara
Cormorant
We spent at least an hour at the colony/nesting site before walking back to where the Zodiacs were waiting to take us back to the ship.
Silver Explorer in the bay off New Island
As we walked back, we saw several groups of Falkland Island upland geese. The male is white and the female a mottled brown.
Falkland Island male Upland Goose
Before boarding we looked at the museum and gift shop that had been opened specially for us.
The New Island Museum
The museum showed the history, fauna and wildlife of the area and was run by a local girl, Georgina, who lived in Stanley, having been born in Buenos Aires, and a young man from the UK, who was returning home after spending several months in the Falklands.
We returned to Silver Explorer and shortly afterwards started the journey to Saunders Island.
Enjoying the sunshine as we sailed from New Island
The ship weighed anchor and we set off for Saunders Island. We had lunch in glorious sunshine on the aft deck with Cliff. He was the passenger who had been reunited with his 'lost' bag just before we left Ushuaia. We soon sailed into a dense fog bank and that was the last we saw of the sunshine.
Into the fog
The fog cleared a bit, but it was still misty at 3.30pm, when we arrived at Saunders Island. It was really quite gloomy. Saunders Island is run as a sheep farm and we were greeted by the farmer, David. His wife was selling knitted woollen gloves, hats and socks from the back of their Landrover.
Arriving at Saunders Island
A group of Caracaras by the farmer's Landrover
Saunders Island has four types of penguins: Rockhoppers, Gentoo, King and Magellanic.
The Gentoo penguin colony
Amidst the Gentoos a small group of King penguins
King penguin and its large chick
We walked through the various colonies to the start of the climb along the hill above the beach. At the base of the hill was this skeleton of a whale that the farmer had dragged up the beach.
Whale skeleton dragged up on the beach by the farmer
Start of the long walk to the albatross colony
Glorious view of the long sandy beach on Saunders Island
At the end of the walk, we came to the albatross colony. There were lots of chicks sitting on their mud nests and flapping their wings. Every so often, a parent flew in to feed a chick.
The albatross colony - a young chick flapping its wings
Pleased to arrive at the albatross colony
We spent about twenty minutes there before the walk back to the beach and the Zodiacs.
Returning to the Zodiacs - the way barred by a caracara!
We decided to buy some postcards from the farmer's wife and I bought a woollen hat knitted by one of the locals. We were doing our 'little bit' to support the islands.
We took the Zodiacs to the ship and were pleased to be back on board. It had been a long and very interesting day.
In the evening, we had dinner with Ken, Michaela, David and Chris. David was from Northern Ireland and is a retired hotelier, now living in Spain.
Overnight, we head for Stanley, arriving early tomorrow morning. It will be good to see the town again and spend longer there than on our last visit in 2008.
Distance Travelled: 53 NM
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