Imagine shaking up a snow globe and being on the inside, but instead of snow flakes, its albatrosses – hundreds, thousands of them, all above your head, high, low, swooping in. It might be easy to become lost and dizzy in the world of the albatross.
We have been lucky enough to land on Grand Jason – an island at the far north western corner of the Falklands / Malvinas. Its hard to get to given its remote location, difficult landings, and exposure to bad weather. Someone’s been looking upon us favorable, as we got clear blue skies and almost no wind. AMAZING. From our landing we walked across the southern end of the island to an amphitheater of nesting brown-browed Albatross – one of the largest concentrations in the world (the largest is on the island just to the north – Steeple Jason, which we visited yesterday). Steeple Jason may have more, but the natural features on this island and their concentration in this amphitheater made it incredibly impressive. We were able to get close to the base of the colony, where rockhopper penguins intermingled, so we were also witness to rockhoppers jumping out, clambering over the rocks. But all over the amphitheater were the round chimney mounds that are albatross nests. nearly all of them were sitting on a large egg. They are spaced a few feet apart, so their density along the rocks and up the side of the amphitheater hills side was staggering.
At one point the wind increased by a few knots and the albatross took advantage of those extra few knows to increase their numbers and soar – like shaking the snow globe a few extra times!
What a day. I have the feeling everyone onboard knows this was a very special day.
