Forrest Brown

This morning we arrived at the Falkland Islands. The plan for the day was to go ashore on two of the smaller, mostly uninhabited islands that make up part of the 740 islands of the Falklands. Our first stop was Sea Lion Island. When the ship first arrived and dropped anchor we saw four Orca Whales off in the distance. Unfortunately for us, the surf was too high to safely land our Zodiacs on Sea Lion Island, so it was decided that we would move on to the second island were were going to visit.

Bleaker Island had a cove that provided shelter from the larger ocean waves and made taking the Zodiacs ashore fairly easy. Making it even easier was that there was a small sheep farm on the island and we were able to land the Zodiacs at the small pier for the farm.

Once on Bleaker Island we were able to wander around and explore. The first interesting thing I found was a large colonies of King Cormorains.

A Skua looking for tasty King Cormorant eggs

King Cormorant

Then I spend some time taking photos and videos of the funny little Rockhopper Penguins that make their nests on the cliffs overlooking the ocean. I got to see the food chain in action when a sea lion attacked and ate one of the Rockhoppers in the surf below the cliff I was on. Unfortunately my photos of the attack were not very good.

Rockhopper Penguins

After the Rockhoppers I was wandering around when I noticed that I was being watching from a small hole in the ground. On looking a little closer I realized it was the strange Magellanic Penguin that builds tunnels in the ground to nest in. I’ve always thought of penguins in the snow and ice, so it’s a bit strange seeing penguins digging holes in the grass like a rabbit.

Magellanic Penguin