19th December 6.56am - Anchored a t West Point Island in the Falkland Islands/Malvinas - 51 degrees 22.11' South / 60 degrees 40.18' West, Air Temperature 9 degrees, water temperature 8.5 degrees, wind South west force 2, Overcast and Drizzly clearing to sunshine in the afternoon and fog in the evening.

Today I died and went to heaven (for a while at least) I spent the day with the rest of the expedition team marshaling most of the 417 passengers and showing them the mixed Rockhopper and Black-browed Albatross colony on the island. This colony holds 14,500 Black-brows and a few thousand Rockhoppers. It was hard to believe how these birds, which must have been photographed a million time, from a matter of only a few feet away, behaved as if we weren't there. As the fog and rain lifted the scene was beyond description. Rockhoppers, two feet high, climbing the well worn path, 250 feet up the side of a cliff to get to the nests, Albatrosses all around and flying within a foot of my head, so low you could feel the breeze as they passed. A Striated Caracara (hawk) landing less than three feet from me in the hope of stealing my lunch and out in the mirror calm bay between 800 and 1,000 Imperial Shags in tight flocks, some numbering over 100, diving together to catch fish and then flying east to their colonies in very long V's or lines and to finish off the day on the way back to the liner in the zodiac we had a flock of about 20 Rockhopper Penguins washing and diving close to the boat. Apart from the stunning wildlife and scenery one of my main memories of the Falklands was the amount of Landrovers to be seen, they were everywhere. We are now heading south for the Antarctic Peninsula so I hope to work on some images if I get a chance and will post up as soon as possible. Thanks for all the comments much appreciated. Felix - Tell your dad he as become an honourary member of the expedition team. Following an incident today I used a saying that Paddy told me a few years back - "No point in being stupid if you don't show it" It was just what the doctor ordered and the expedition team were so taken with it they are thinking of getting tee shirts printing up with the saying on it! - today was a very long and privileged day for me today. The birds seen today are listed below. Bye for now.

Giant Petrel 40+
Black-browed Albatross – lots of them!
Cape Petrel 7
Antarctic/Thin-billed Prion – at dusk, thousands.
Great Shearwater 11
Manx Shearwater 3
Sooty Shearwater 200+
White-chinned Petrel 4
Magellanic Penguin 50+
Rockhopper Penguin – a lot of them too!
Gentoo Penguin 70+
Rock Shag 10+
Imperial Shag 800-1,000
Upland Goose 60+
Flightless Steamer Duck 10+
Crested Duck 10
Turkey Vulture 3
Variable Hawk 1
Striated Caracara 4
Falkland’s Brown Skua 5
Kelp Gull 10+
South American Tern 20+
Tussacbird 2
Dark-faced Ground Tyrant 4
Austral “Falklands” Thrush 6+
Falklands (Correndera) Pipit 1
Black-chinned Siskin 4+
Long-tailed Meadowlark 2