New Island, The Falkland Islands
We knew that we were in for a special day when we awoke to a brilliant, sunny, calm morning for our visit to New Island, the westernmost island of the Falkland archipelago. Taking advantage of conditions, the day was packed with activities. Zodiacs arriving at North Beach on New Island were accompanied by an escort of Peale’s dolphins, and then met by a greeting party of marauding “Johnny Rooks” who attempted to break and enter every pack and make off with anything not nailed down or firmly attached. The main attraction here was a breeding colony of black-browed albatrosses, rockhopper penguins, and king (or imperial) cormorants, the three species mixed together in a cacophony of black and white, each attending to the imperatives of breeding. Here a pair of rockhoppers engage in “allopreening” behavior, their way of maintaining the pairbond while they incubate the egg and feed the hungry chick that will emerge. As we were walking ashore the divers were below the water filming dolphins and a very inquisitive Southern sea lion.
Over lunch we moved to “the settlement”. A short walk across a narrow part of New Island brought us to another bird breeding colony – a great place to simply sit and take in the scene, so that the cacophony was resolved into specific behaviors, sights and sounds. Or one could remain near the settlement for a tour about the harbor in our yellow inflatable kayaks. Or one could do it all!
And, as if that wasn’t enough, yesterday in Stanley we took delivery of our Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV), an underwater vehicle connected by cable to a Zodiac or, in this case, to the ship. Control commands go down, video pictures come up. Amazing! Underwater Specialist Denis Cornejo quickly rigged the ROV and sent it down for a test dive, operating the controls from the lounge of the Endeavour with live images appearing on the screens, making the underwater realm come alive for us.
We knew that we were in for a special day when we awoke to a brilliant, sunny, calm morning for our visit to New Island, the westernmost island of the Falkland archipelago. Taking advantage of conditions, the day was packed with activities. Zodiacs arriving at North Beach on New Island were accompanied by an escort of Peale’s dolphins, and then met by a greeting party of marauding “Johnny Rooks” who attempted to break and enter every pack and make off with anything not nailed down or firmly attached. The main attraction here was a breeding colony of black-browed albatrosses, rockhopper penguins, and king (or imperial) cormorants, the three species mixed together in a cacophony of black and white, each attending to the imperatives of breeding. Here a pair of rockhoppers engage in “allopreening” behavior, their way of maintaining the pairbond while they incubate the egg and feed the hungry chick that will emerge. As we were walking ashore the divers were below the water filming dolphins and a very inquisitive Southern sea lion.
Over lunch we moved to “the settlement”. A short walk across a narrow part of New Island brought us to another bird breeding colony – a great place to simply sit and take in the scene, so that the cacophony was resolved into specific behaviors, sights and sounds. Or one could remain near the settlement for a tour about the harbor in our yellow inflatable kayaks. Or one could do it all!
And, as if that wasn’t enough, yesterday in Stanley we took delivery of our Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV), an underwater vehicle connected by cable to a Zodiac or, in this case, to the ship. Control commands go down, video pictures come up. Amazing! Underwater Specialist Denis Cornejo quickly rigged the ROV and sent it down for a test dive, operating the controls from the lounge of the Endeavour with live images appearing on the screens, making the underwater realm come alive for us.
