After an excellent 2 week trip around the Falkland Islands / Malvinas where we were spoiled by good weather, we headed west towards Punta Arenas. We sailed out of Stanley, saying goodbye until mid-February and sailed south around the islands. We hit some strong winds and waves head on, so we dropped anchor at bird island for the night – excellent shelter from the winds at hand and we got to watch albatross soaring around us. We continued early the next morning to Beaver island. We just missed seeing Dion, as he caught a flight back to Stanley, but we spent an amazing day being introduced to some parts of the island by Juliette – showing us now only the farm buildings and houses, but also old sealing structures and an amazing cliff look out – called stick out cliff (or something like that). And amidst the tussuc we ran into a few sea lions!
We then headed across the Southern Ocean in very calm seas – enjoying soaring albatross and petrels! We all took turns on shift.
Now, we are just inside the Straits of Magellan and enjoying an incredible show by the dolphins – Commerson dolphins. They just keep coming from every direction and then a huge group – a dozen or more has been at our bow for at least a hour. Commersons have a very distinct strong white band across their main body – fun to watch as they jump and dive all around us.
And now after way too much dolphin watching (can there ever be too much dolphin watching??) we’re sitting down to a good dinner and hopefully by 6am tomorrow we will be anchored in front of Punta Arenas – ready to prep for our next trip.
– Laura
