Weddell Island

2 January 2024

Weddell Island

We made the first landfall on Weddell Island, the third biggest Island of the Falklands. The drive in the dinghy was already a treat; a pod of Commerson’s dolphins escorted us towards shore and back.   After arriving on the jetty we were very warmly welcomed by one of the owners of Weddell. We received tips on where to walk to get the best chances of seeing wildlife and on how to climb up to the highest peak Mount Weddell. Most of us chose the walk along the coastline and through the grazing areas of the 5000 sheep of the island.

The walk took us from the settlement (at least 2 inhabitants at all times) past the first little bay with a lot of geese and some discontinued jeeps rusting away. After that we saw very little signs of human interaction with nature anymore. The next bay had gentoo penguins hunting in the water in little groups and making spectacular beaching manoeuvres to start waddling in long lines towards a little valley on land. We followed the line of gentoo penguins and soon enough we saw the first penguin colony! What an amazing sight with hundred penguins chattering and interacting with each other.

All the ambitious hikers that continued down the coastline all the way to Mark Point (the cape at the end of the bay we are anchored) saw the colony of Magellanic Penguins, who breed in dug out caves in the ground. We even scored some nice pictures of the little chicklets sticking out their curios heads. And the biggest surprise for one small group of hikers was the big rock that started moving and turned out to be a huge sealion bull being ready to protect his female and babies. In conclusion: we saw a lot of wildlife and had a lot of wind and got some wet feet on the way back to the ship, but this stop was definitely worthwhile! A lot of happy faces arrived back on the ship 🙂

Jenny