Island hopping

4 January 2024

Island Hopping

After our day on Weddell Island and another night at anchor, we set sail for the next place to explore. With the winds still blowing strong we set a few sails and made our way to Saunders Island. After a night of strong winds, gusts, rain and hail showers we reached an unnamed bay at the northeast tip of Saunders.

The dinghy ride was slightly wet as we had to go against the wind and land on the beach. Once on land we quickly chose for two destinations, either an exploration to find the old settlement, this is said to be the first place that the British settled here on the Falklands. The second destination was an area called the “Rookery”. There is a colony of rockhopper penguins there. The rockhoppers is the 3rd type of penguins for us to see! These rather funny looking and very noisy birds have feathers on their heads pointing upwards, which just looks like a very messy hair day 😉

We spend two days at Saunders Island giving us plenty of time to explore and find the largest penguin of the Falklands. The King penguin. Strangely enough there was only one standing within a group of Gentoo penguins!?

The last island on our list is Carcass Island. The name sounds rather harsh, but this island might just be the prettiest we have seen so far. With great effort the tussac grass (typical type of grass for the islands) has been restored. This creates a haven for small birds to breed and live. Furthermore, there is no rodents, cats or other predators, so there is an abundance of birdlife both small and large!