20 March Rough Start To An Uphill Hike On New Island, Falklands

We woke up this morning not to an alarm, but to the roughest seas to date. I forgot and didn’t write anything about yesterday’s bridge tour where we learned about how the ship is stabilized in rough seas. They use a system of stabilizer wings, water ballast shifted from side-to-side, bow-to-aft, and a pod drive that is an azimuth propulsion system also known as an Azipod®. It uses propellers mounted on pods that can pivot through 360°, giving the vessel great maneuverability. No doubt all systems combined were working hard to make the ride as smooth as possible.

Once we rounded the island things smoothed out considerably, but we were still delayed in boarding Zodiacs for our hike. Yes, back to parkas, boots and waterproof pants.

The island has several houses that people rent to live in when the hustle and bustle of Port Stanley or wherever else they are from becomes too much. It has large colonies of appropriately named Rockhopper penguins as well as black-brown albatrosses.

There is a shipwreck as you approach the landing area. There is also a small “museum” of whaling artifacts left behind from when this was one of several whaling bases in the Falklands.

The hike took us to the Rockhoppers on cliffs at the opposite side of the island. Amazing how they get to such heights above the water, given that they aren’t that fast. By the time they reach the top, it would seem to be time to go back and start feeding again. Rockhoppers are among the smaller penguins. Of the eight Antarctic penguin species we’ve seen seven, missing out only on the Emperor penguin.

Dolphins Upon Return to the Ship

Dinner tonight in the World Café. An excellent mixed lobster/scallop grill and porcini skirt steak.