Today was our final day in the Falklands, and it has been an adventure. Last night remained very windy and choppy, but we were able to sleep and get up ready to go on our final day of being ashore. The morning expedition took us to West Point Island with large number of Gentoos and Rockhoppers ... I will never tire of seeing their amusing walking style on land. By now the Base Camp suit up and zodiac routine is second nature. It is hard to believe that soon we will be leaving the Falklands and heading to Ushuaia and home. We went to the spectacular Devil's Nose area, which involved a very long hike from a boggy landing through high tufted grass to a rocky descent to a large beach. The tall grasses were filled with Gentoo penguins nearby and in the distance. We finally arrived at the albatross colony, a real thrill after seeing them fly by the ship on their enormous wings (8' wingspan), and got to see many chicks ready to fledge, occasionally being fed by parents. The fledglings are quite large, about the size of a 4-5 pound chicken at the butcher. The penguins and albatross were mixed together, and we were able to get fairly close (still 2-3m away) because we were in the tall grass. Seeing the albatross adults soar over us was amazing.
After lunch, we went out for our final expedition, landing at Marie-Paul and Luc's land called Grave Cove, which they allow National Geo folks to cross. We hiked to the beach, down a rocky slope, where I almost fell, for the third time on this hike, but managed to catch myself, it would have been a nasty fall on the rocks. The hiking sticks have been hugely helpful. The Rockhoppers and Gentoos were deep into their molting stage and looked kind of miserable. There was a sea lion in the shallow water attacking penguins one after the other, Reuben called him the serial killer - as he would attack a penguin and kind of toss it away without even eating it. A bit gruesome. The stunning black and white bird called Johnny Rooks (striated caracara) were flying close overhead. Hiking back seemed a lot easier.
It was a little bittersweet at dinner with our group, knowing that this was our last expedition together. As everyone on board was invited to submit 4-6 photos, the combined slide show of about 20 minutes was spectacular, some incredible photos, places and wildlife I didn't see, it was wonderful to see this.
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