Falkland Islands Quest

Our flight from Saunders Island to Carcass Island was another delightful sightseeing experience. It is amazing how much land area there is in the Falklands! Looking at a map of South America or the South Atlantic the Falklands show up only as a small dot, but in reality the islands cover vast areas of mostly uninhabited land.

We were met at the grass landing strip, which is about five miles from the settlement, by our host Rob McGill and then set out in his Land Rover for his home, which would be ours as well for the next three days.

The landscape on Carcass Island is more grassy with rolling hills and some higher rocky outcroppings and less diddledee deserts than on Saunders Island.

It was nearly lunch time when we got to the home and after a brief rest we were treated to one of the nicest meals of the trip - but then all the meals at Carcass were some of the best. Rob employes three kitchen staff from Chile. They are under the direction of the wonderful 'Chef Hot Stuff', or so his chef's hat proclaimed. His attention to detail amazed us and a good illustration of this occurred that night after dinner when he came into the dining room to ask us what we would like for breakfast When some of us asked for oatmeal his response was: 'Do you want it cooked with milk or water?' The next night when I was a little bolder I asked for pancakes and he asked if I wanted them American or Chilean. I had no idea what he meant, but learned that American style are thicker than Chilean which are more like crepes.

That afternoon after lunch Helen and I walked across the beach to Dyke Bay retracing the steps I had taken when there in November, 1998. We saw the dapper little grass wrens and some gentoo penguins doddling on the beach on their way from the water to their nesting site. It is interesting to watch them both coming from and going to the sea as they stand around as if in deep contemplation of whether or not to continue on their way.

There is a large area of fenced in tussac grass in this area. It has to be fenced in to keep the sheep from eating it and efforts are being made to re-introduce it. Originally the Falklands had huge areas of tussac grass but sheep farming all but destroyed it. Those hungry sheep! Walking through the clumps of it is quite a challenge in places because it is higher than you head and can be matted together and very difficult to get through.