Blog #5a - The Falkland Islands 1 of 4 - a mini series
April 2024
There’s only one place to start really and that’s with a……WOW!
It’s not a word that leaves my lips too often, but on this occasion, I’m not even sure it’s adequate enough!
This will be 1 of 4 in a mini-series on my trip & experiences on East Falkland Island, unfortunately due to poor weather conditions for flying, a trip to one of the surrounding islands, Saunders, had to be cancelled…. that’s island life for you!!
My opportunity to visit the Falkland Islands in February this year came about by my Daughter (Libby) & her boyfriend (Zak) going to stay on East Falkland Island (the older ones amongst us will probably remember from the 1982 conflict….it’s where Port Stanley is), Zak’s father is a Falkland Islander and the family have a property there (in Port Stanley) that Libby & Zak are using whilst they experience island life for 9 months. I had the option to stay at the property for 2 weeks, so I grabbed the chance and I’m so pleased I did.
Let’s be honest, the logistics involved in getting to the Falklands in the first place are not easy, I took the commercial airline option to travel, probably not something I’d do again, it’s a long arduous 3 flight journey from the UK and, as I found out, things can go wrong…..one cancelled leg meant an extra days travelling! However, arduous, or not, it’s so damn worth it! And the option to stopover in Santiago, Chile, was something nice to do, I hadn’t been to South America before, so that’s another country/continent ticked off.
After arriving on the Sunday afternoon (due to the delay), I wasted no time in heading out for sunrise the next day, staying local to Stanley, I headed to Yorke Bay, Penguins being the anticipated subject of choice but I couldn’t resist some early morning light for some sand dunes and beach grasses (marram or tussac)…..the white sands and aqua seas are just stunning and in abundance on the island. The three little islands off in the distance hold some significance for Libby, hence the image…..but I like the composition too!
Sand dunes, distant islands and a morning sunrise sky…..at Yorke Bay, East Falkland Island, February 2024
ISO400 17mm f8 1/6 Sec - 3 bracket exposure blend
And if that white sand, beautiful grasses, sea & sky aren’t enough for you, how about this one….
Many of the beaches on the island are reminiscent of this one at Yorke Bay
ISO500 16mm f6.3 1/8 Sec
and in the main, these beaches are deserted, apart from our little ‘family Spheniscidae’ friends (it flows off the tongue doesn’t it!!).
Talking of which, I had a particular image I really wanted to get of the penguins, it was inspired by Matthew Cattell’s Puffin image from Skomer (see Matt’s images from the link below), an intimate close up, from down low with a group of other penguins playing the support cast, I got close on this day but think I bettered this effort later in the trip. I, at all times, took the welfare of the penguins (and other animal as I encountered them) as my priority, on the whole, I maintained a good distance between any animal and myself, however, penguins, especially Gentoo’s, I found, are inquisitive (or nosey) and once you plonk yourself down in a spot, they soon come to investigate you…hence the close nature of the images I was able to achieve.
An inquisitive Gentoo Penguin came over to scope me out whilst at Yorke Bay
ISO500 21mm f5 1/200 Sec
https://www.matthewcattellphotography.com/albums/P1CQj/skomer
I didn’t have long at Yorke Bay for that sunrise, but I would return on several occasions, it was one of my favourite places and being so close to Stanley (15 minutes in the car), it was just too nice not to keep visiting.
That afternoon, I visited ‘Bluff Cove Lagoon’ (see link below), around 25 mins drive from Stanley, there are King Penguins in small number there, great to see, not too great to photograph when I visited, so I didn’t…I knew I had a trip planned to another King Penguin colony, so the images could wait for another day. However, the Gentoo’s are in large numbers, and you could sit and watch their antics for hours…… I managed a couple of shots here, just record portraits but they’re both posing nicely!
A Gentoo staring straight down the barrel.
ISO100 340mm f5.6 1/1000 Sec
Gentoo’s are in large numbers at Bluff Cove, a place well worth visiting.
ISO100 400mm f5.6 1/1000 Sec
https://www.falklandpenguins.com/
This is not a sponsored link…..I got to meet Kevin & Hattie, the owners, and it’s such a nice place, I’ve put it here for anyone that may be interested.
Another couple of areas close to Stanley, both within 15 minutes’ drive, are Cape Pembroke & Surf Bay, both stunning in their own right but very different. Cape Pembroke has a beautiful old Lighthouse that, set amongst the tall Tussac Grass, (which, by the way, hides enormous Sea Lions very well indeed……so much so, I was 6 feet away from one locating my tripod to photograph the aforementioned Lighthouse, before it growled at me and sent me scampering….until you see these things in the wild, you really don’t appreciate how big they are) is extremely photogenic, with the constant Falklands wind blowing, the grasses moving and the amazing skies, really making this a must visit location for any landscape photographer visiting the East Island.
The Lighthouse at Cape Pembroke, fantastically photogenic….but watch out for those Sea Lions!
ISO200 30mm f8 1/30 Sec
Tussac Grass, big skies & a wonderful Lighthouse……what more do you need!
ISO200 18mm f8 1/25 Sec
I visited Cape Pembroke on another occasion, I’ll share some other images from there, I’m penning the trip in chronological order, so you’ll have to wait a few days for that one!
Surf Bay is a short ride from CP, past Stanley Airport….it’s surreal thinking I’d only ever really heard of that place during the 1982 conflict and now, here I was, driving past it, with a flight planned to depart from there in the not too distant future (as you’ll have read already, that didn’t happen). It’s easy to see why it’s called Surf Bay, can you hazard a guess why…….a beautiful sandy beach with some decent waves crashing in, when I arrived for that first visit, it was getting dark after the CP visit….I grabbed a few ICM shots capturing some movement of the waves and a very dark and moody sky….if you follow me on my socials or here on my website via my blogs, you’ll know I’m a sucker for some ICM, but this was a particularly nice place to do so.
An Intentional Camera Movement (ICM) image from Surf Bay….what a beautiful location.
ISO100 16mm f11 2 Seconds
Surf Bay again, the light was fading fast but I couldn’t resist another image…..ICM.
ISO100 16mm f11 2 Seconds
I think I’ll leave it there for part one, I’m only two days in and there’s plenty still to come in part 2 & beyond, including Elephant Seals, 1982 conflict memories, more Penguins, and some birdlife too!
Thanks for reading…..& cheers for now.
Lawrence
