The Falkland Islands consists of two large islands and 700 smaller islands. Together they are as large as the state of Connecticut.
The population of the islands is 2913 people, and 1989 of them live in the capital of Stanley.
We made three trips ashore in the Falklands. The first two trips were to small islands and the last trip was to Stanley. Our first visit
was to New Island where we landed on a beach beside this wreck and a few buildings belonging to the family that live there. The
Falklands look rather bare. The only trees are a few small trees planted beside houses. Likewise, the colorful yellow flowers were
also non native plants that are usually planted near farm houses.
After landing in the Zodiacs we met the farmer/owner of the island and then took a hike across the island to see the Albatross, Rock
Hopper Penguins, and the Cormorants that live by the sea on the other side of the island.
Albatross sitting on
their two nests.
One of the most interesting things
about the birds on New Island was
the fact that the Rock Hoppers,
Cormorants, and Albatross lived and
had their nests next to each other. In
the photo above there is a Rock
Hopper in the front, an Albatross with
egg, and also a Cormorant with egg.
Likewise, in the picture below, you can see a mixture of the Albatross, Cormorants, and Rock Hoppers.
Rock Hopper on nest.
Albatross can live 70 years or more. To take flight,
they must have heavy winds, something which is
common to this area. They have a huge wingspan as
can be seen in the picture to the left. The Albatross
are endangered today as they are frequently caught
by long line fishermen, many of them fishing illegally
in these southern waters.
Below, returning to the Professor Multanovskiy