Stanley to Pebble Island, Falklands

2 - 3 March 2006

Hopping round the rocks with the rockhoppers

Back at the lodge, we took our aperitifs in the cosy sitting room with the other guests. All of them were from the UK, but most were living in Stanley. Two of the women worked for the Governor. Dinner was also very sociable as all 8 or 10 of us sat around the large dining table. Thanks to the rare good weather, we enjoyed a beautiful sunset.
The next day, Alan drove us to the west end of Pebble Island while Jacqui’s son Aidan accompanied us on his motorbike and closed the gates after us. This is where we saw rockhopper penguins with just one macaroni penguin in their midst. All these penguins have tufts of hair sticking out of their heads, but the macaroni are named for their bright yellow hair. The rockhoppers have the ability to do just that: after a swim in the sea, they literally hop up onto the rocks. We also saw more of the gentoo and magellanic penguins.
Alan took us to the beach from which the island gets its name to look for transparent pebbles. Between us, we found about ten of them and kept some as souvenirs. We also visited war memorials for HMS Coventry, Argentinean LEAR jet crash and Pebble Island SAS operation (disabling of 11 Argentinean aircraft on Pebble Island 14/15 May 1982).
It was another warm, sunny day – the best day of the summer, according to Alan. As we drove around, we saw only a few sheep but many upland geese. Alan explained that sheep farming in the Falklands doesn’t pay any more so they have vastly reduced their stocks of them. Upland geese like the same food as sheep, namely green grass, and with reduced competition for their feed, they are now thriving and becoming a menace to farmers. Alan said they shoot a good number of them each year and eat a few of them. One would have thought they could make a new business out of the culling by exporting the meat.