Antarctica to Zimbabwe – Day 39 – Silver Wind, Falkland Islands

Antarctica to Zimbabwe – Day 38 – Silver Wind can be found here.

Up at around 5:40 am so we’re ready for our 7 am zodiac landing. There’s only one answer to a relentless pace like this – room service. Ours arrives promptly at 6 am, as requested.

The in-transit guests have all been placed in Zodiac Group One, so we need to be prepared to move quickly. We’re fully kitted out by 7 am as requested. (And not at 7:30 am as was shown on the schedule posted outside the Show Lounge – but the Chronicle had the correct answer, and we know to trust the Chronicle.)

Jamie is trying to minimize announcements, so we wonder if he will just call the first group without prior warning – thankfully we are given perhaps 10 minutes notice that they are sending out the shore party and waiting for the green light.

Some of our fellow group members head down to the mudroom a few minutes early, which is a brilliant idea – it allows us to tug rainpants down over the mud (Bog) boots before we’re waiting in line.

We meet our zodiac driver and… it’s Marieke! I suspect she’s enjoying having some time in the field without the burden of being expedition leader.

She does a quick recap of everything we should do in the event of an emergency on the zodiac – her or a a fellow passenger going overboard, how to operate the radio and the location of emergency supplies – then we’re on our way.

Slightly splashy this morning due to the wind, but we are soon nosing onto the beach and executing a well-practiced wet landing. Experience hath its privileges.

Jamie welcomes us to New Island, and gives us a 90 minute deadline for our return.

Then we’re on our way:

We wonder whether we would find this repeat stop boring, but it’s nothing of the sort. Yes, the first-outing jitters are long gone and we have nothing on our ‘list’ that needs to be checked off. But it’s more than that.

It feels like we’re different people than the ones who landed here, just two weeks ago. We weren’t Antarctic explorers then. We had not yet seen humpback whales spyhopping, or admired the shimmering blue of Antarctic icebergs, or communed with a hundred thousand King penguins.

Now we have. And this repeat visit offers us a fleeting mirror into the past – a glimpse of exactly how much these experiences have changed us.

It’s about a kilometer to the nesting area. The ground is a bit spongy, but not too boggy – at first. The tussac grass gets a bit narrow and muddy closer to the nesting areas, and there’s quite the stench of pong closer to the cliffside. Minor inconveniences for such tremendous views.

Again, we find imperial shags, rockhopper penguins, and black browed albatrosses in abundance.

There’s no question that my ‘masterclass’ in photography has been paying dividends. I feel much more confident with adjusting my camera’s aperture, shutter speed and exposure, and with using different focus modes for different tasks. Huge thanks to the Wind’s photographer, Bogdan, for all of his help!

We’re back on the ship nice and early, and… I think we headed to Panorama for a bit? I genuinely don’t remember. The shipside activities are starting to blur together.

But 11 am arrived, and it was time to attend our briefing for Stanley. No real surprises compared to last leg’s briefing – we will be anchoring in the outer harbour and have a longish zodiac ride in. We are the first group to land for Gypsy Cove, which makes for another early morning but offers more time in town.

Jamie strongly recommends getting lunch in Stanley. His top recommendations for fish and chips are the Victory Bar and the Waterfront Kitchen Cafe. We previously spotted the Waterfront during our previous visit but it was jammed, so hopefully we get the chance to stop there tomorrow.

I do remember that Martin did a mini-briefing on marine birds, because I have a photo of it!

(And it was an excellent lecture – like all of Martin’s lectures.)

Then off to lunch:

All this talk of fish and chips has made me hungry for seafood. My wife and I both start with the shrimp fritters:

And then we have the fisherman’s basket:

Very tasty.

Off to trivia where we decisively take first place. My son correctly recalls that Ares is the god of war (and also that Athena is god of military strategy), while both kids remember the collective nouns for walrus are pod, herd and huddle. Coincidentally, this question came up during lunch a few hours earlier.

We soon arrive at West Point Island for the second time, and set out for our longer hike. It’s a bit over 6 km in total, though the initial climb – and the later muddy sections – are the most challenging aspects. There are Land Rovers available for those who need them, but spaces are limited.

Jamie tells us we have two hours and change to explore the island, but to be mindful of the unexpected guest at the pier:

A molting Magellanic penguin, which looks truly miserable.

The expedition staff waste no time in fencing him off with flags so no one gets too close, and then we are on our way once more:

The walk itself was easy, but the path down to the nesting area was difficult to traverse. The tussac grass was over our heads, and the narrow pathways devolved into well-churned mud.

But it was all so worth it:

We even managed to spot some very distant sea lions – and some steamer ducks!

Similar trends in wildlife to those seen in New Island – more rockhoppers, fewer albatrosses, and a range of other bird and animal life. Far from the wildlife desert we feared we might encounter.

Then back to the farmhouse for a fantastic spread of tea and cakes:

Then, a very special moment – Kristin, the expedition guide trainer, comes by and shows my daughter and I the way to the home’s secret garden:

This is the last season that the farmhouse’s caretakers Kiki and Thies will be hosting cruise ship passengers, and so we felt truly honoured to be amoung the last Silversea guests to attend.

Back to the ship, and then off to dinner: