Falkland Islands – David Kotz

South Georgia and the Falklands

Wrapping it all up – with the best photos!

Well, that about wraps it up folks. I’ve just finished blogging about our February-March trip to South Georgia Island and the Falkland Islands. (It’s now mid-June, and I’ve been backdating the posts to keep them in chronological sequence with the trip.) If you’ve landed on this post and want to read the whole story in order, start here.

Jack and David (at center) trying to photograph seabirds.

During the trip I snapped over 10,000 photos and videos. I kept about 2,900, and posted about 400 in the galleries associated with this blog. Four percent – not bad. But I have one final gallery for you: my 40 favorite photographs. Enjoy!

Carcass Island – Falkland Islands

Tea & cakes are a splendid way to end a hike!

[backdated to fit into the sequence of posts about our trip to the Falklands and South Georgia in March 2023.]

Our last stop in the Falkland Islands was on Carcass Island. As Wikipedia notes, its “grim-sounding name comes from the ship HMS Carcass, which surveyed the island in 1766.” Despite the grim name, we visited on a beautiful day and had a lovely hike up the steep and grassy slopes, past a small Gentoo settlement and through sheep pasture, to a rocky summit with broad views of the bay and surrounding islands.

David, and a view of the “Endurance” while on a hike over Carcass Island – Falkland Islands.

Steeple Jason Island – Falkland Islands

The world’s largest breeding colony of black-browed albatross.

The sun was still low as we pulled into a beautiful harbor between the two halves of Steeple Jason Island and shuttled ashore in Zodiacs. As we climbed into the grassland above the beach, passing a small colony of Gentoo penguins, we followed our long shadows around to the western shore of the island – home of the world’s largest breeding colony of black-browed albatross. (Indeed, over 70% of the world’s population breeds in the Falkland Islands!)

Jack hiking on Steeple Jason Island – Falkland Islands.

It was a spectacular experience – spending the morning with tens of thousands of albatross chicks, with adults occasionally swooping in from their days-long fishing expeditions to find and feed their youngsters… all while Caracara birds kept a watchful eye out for any opportunity to make a meal out of an unwary or unprotected chick. Read on! and check out the gallery of photos and videos.

Saunders Island – Falkland Islands

History, farming, wildlife, and more!

We arrived back in the Falkland Islands after two full days at sea; this time, we aimed to visit some of the smaller islands on the western side. (We had intended to make these visits on our outbound trip, but an incoming storm convinced the captain to head early to South Georgia and pick up the Falklands on the way back; good call!)

Albatross chicks at an Albatross rookery – Saunders Island, Falkland Islands.

We spent today on Saunders Island, site of the original 1765 settlement, a garrison established by the British Navy. We spent the morning visiting an active sheep farm, and the afternoon visiting a cliffside rookery for albatross and rockhopper penguins. Read on! and check out the gallery of photos and videos.

South Atlantic – at sea

Two days from the Falklands to South Georgia – and two days back again.

It is a looooong way to the island of South Georgia, even from the Falkland Islands. We spent a full day at sea sailing from Ushuaia Argentina to the Falklands, then two full days at sea sailing from the Falklands to South Georgia… and then reversed that trip on return.

Fortunately, our time at sea was not in the least bit boring! And, perhaps surprisingly, there were many things to photograph along the way. Read on!

Stanley – Falkland Islands

A brief stopover on our way to South Georgia.

As noted in the prior post, we boarded the National Geographic Endurance in Ushuaia, Argentina, and sailed down the Beagle Channel and out into the South Atlantic. After two nights and a full day of sailing, we pulled into the port of Stanley in the Falkland Islands. In this post, I share a bit of what we found.

Two nights and a full day of sailing from Ushuaia to Stanley in the Falkland Islands.

National Geographic ‘Endurance’

Aboard the newest ship in the Lindblad / National Geographic fleet.

As noted in the prior post, for our trip to the Falkland and South Georgia Islands we first flew to Buenos Aires, and then onward to Ushuaia, Argentina – the southernmost city in the world. We were fortunate to travel aboard the newest ship in the fleet operated by Lindblad Expeditions in partnership with National Geographic: the National Geographic Endurance.

First view of our ship, the “Endurance”.

This beautiful ship was purpose-built for travel in the Arctic and Antarctic – optimizing comfort, safety, and functionality, as well as energy efficiency. In this post I’ll give you a brief look at the ship, but you really must visit my photo/video gallery and Lindblad’s own website for a deeper look.