A trip to West Falkland

The drive to New Haven, where the ferry departs from takes about 2 hours and we got there in good time for the 10am sailing. Vehicles are reversed on and strapped down and there is a comfortable lounge where you can make yourself tea and coffee which we did.

We then wandered around the upper decks and waited and waited. Enquiries revealed that we were waiting for another vehicle and horsebox which were on their way. They did eventually arrive, apparently having been delayed by problems loading the horses which had been to the races.

Although the weather had calmed down the sea was still quite rough and I was glad to have taken an anti-sickness tablet. The crossing takes about 90 minutes and we spent most of the time on deck watching various seabirds and some dolphins as we entered Port Howard harbour. On the way Simon chatted to the lady with the horses and it turned out they were from the farm where we were booked to stay.

By the time we disembarked the vehicles were completely covered in salt but the farmer kindly lets you stop and use his power hose as you drive through the settlement. We stopped for a while in Port Howard to watch the sheepdog trials and eat our picnic. We then drove to Shallow Bay which takes about 2 hours but we stopped several times to admire the views.
View across Shallow Bay looking out to Saunders Island.

I keep being surprised by how big the Islands are - we only got to see a small part of West Falkland. The hills there are much more rolling than the rocky outcrops here and there are large grassy plains. We saw very few other vehicles whilst driving.
When we arrived at Shallow Bay it turned out there had been a confusion and the cottage was double booked that night so we had to stay in the farmhouse with the family and a visiting shearer which was a bit cramped and inconvenient.

After having a cup of tea we went out for a walk around the bay, accompanied at first by one of the farm cats.
As the tide was low we were able to cross the creek and walk out to the island. We saw quite a few ducks and wading birds and most of the rocks are covered with thousands of mussels.
View of the settlement from the island

After cooking dinner we played some games of backgammon and decided not to stay up to see the new year in but I don't think any of us slept that well.