San Carlos 2

We woke on the Sunday morning to a hard frost but another sunny day. Before breakfast I took a short walk down to Blue Beach, scene of the first task force landings in the conflict. It was an amazingly calm morning.


I enjoyed a stroll on the beach and watching a group of two banded plover feeding at the water's edge.


There were also a group of crested ducks dabbling around.


Just behind Blue Beach is the walled cemetry where some of the British casualties are buried and there are plaques commemorating the many who died at sea.


After breakfast Simon and I went for a walk from Blue Beach around the headland near the settlement and watched a sea lion swimming in the bay. We then walked along the pier with it's old rails where the bales of wool would have been wheeled on trolleys down to the boat.


There were lots of shags on the end of the pier, curiously segregated.


Rock shags on the left


and imperial shags on the right.

In the afternoon, after we had packed up, we drove around to the other side of San Carlos Water to Wreck Point farm and then walked to Ajax Bay. This was known as Red Beach during the conflict. There is a small colony of gentoo penguins here and they were bathing in the sea and coming ashore.




There is a complex of derilict buildings here, the remains of a mutton refrigeration plant which was never economically viable and only used for a couple of years.

During the conflict the buildings, most of which have no windows, were used as a field hospital, known as the red and green life machine, where many seriously wounded soldiers received initial treatment before being transferred to the hospital ship Uganda. Two large bombs actually entered the building but failed to explode and the life-saving work continued around them. The buildings are now considered unsafe and you are not allowed to enter.


However you could see inside some of them where the remains of boilers and meat processing equipment can be seen.


By the time we got back to the car the sun was going down and we drove up to the telecommunications mast on the Sussex Mountains and stopped for a cup of tea whilst watching the sun set over San Carlos Water and the mountains of West Falkland. A lovely end to a super weekend.