Home»Antarctica 2006: Views from the End of the Earth»Falklands

We arrived in wind and fog. The Falklands are geologically old and weather-beaten, offering little shelter in stormy weather. Adaptability is the key, and so landing plans for West Point Island were cancelled twice due to rough seas and wind, as was our lone attempt to visit the massive black brow albatross colony on Steeple Jason. Few travelers to the end of the earth ever make that landing. And fog made the prospect of keeping track of 100 photographers in tall tussock on the north end of New Island unwise. Instead, we had a full day at "Tony's end" of New Island, half days at Carcass and Saunders, and a final morning of "civilization" in the town of Stanley. With the Vavilov fully fueled by the tanker Baltic Pride outside Stanley harbor we sailed southeast toward the Antarctic Convergence and South Georgia. Perhaps a side affect of the Scop patch, song parodies started to stick in my head and spin incessantly: "Zodiac Driver" to the tune of "Paperback Writer", a Ray Charles adaptation "South Georgia On My Mind" … reality began to unravel. Blazing sunsets, then a surreal chilling mist, the jagged “teeth” of Shag Rocks and our first wandering albatross welcomed us to the Southern Ocean …