New Island is to the North off West Island and to get there Fram had to sail around the eastern side of East Island from Stanley. Then cross to West Island.
Overnight the sea was kind to us and we had very little pitching or rolling. There still were the odd bangs though as Fram hit a wave as she sailed around East Island.
Our expedition voyage on Hurtigruten’s MS Fram would take us from Ushuaia to Antarctica, to South Georgia, around the Falklands and then onto Montevideo.
On the morning of March 9th we were at New Island for a landing to look at Rockhoppers, albatrosses nesting and cormorants.
Landing on New Island
After breakfast we waited for out Boat Group to be called. At last evening’s briefing we were told it would be OK to wear our own boots but because of the sea state we were advised to wear our Muck boots instead. The first landing today was to be a wet landing.
This morning there were no restrictions on the number of the number of passengers who could go ashore. So this landing was ‘simply’ a matter of ferrying all the passengers to the landing site. Our Polar Circle boat ran straight up onto the slipway at the jetty.
Once out of the boat we dumped our life jackets and started to walk along the track past the buildings. We walked along the track next to a high wall topped with bushes.
The track lead us to the top of the bay where we looked down on a beached boat.
The boat was beached close to the shore and along it the birds were eating kelp.
At the side of the beach was a stone building that housed a small museum.
Crossing over to the cliffs
As we walked up away from the bay we had the wind blowing against our backs.
The caracara birds glided into land at the side of the track with no concerns about all the passengers trekking along. About halfway to the rocks we had the option of climbing the hills to get a better view. Again we decided to stay with heading for the penguins and albatross across the island.
The cliffs on New Island
Reaching the rocks we were greeted with a natural amphitheatre filled with Rock Hopper penguins, cormorants and albatross nests.
I walked around to the left to get closer to the albatross and to try and get a better view of the sea below the cliffs.
Along the top of the cliffs the cormorants were mixed up with the albatrosses.
This is what the Rock Hoppers had to climb to get to the top where we all were watching. If you look closely you can see them both in the sea and along the cliff bottom.
Here are just some of the Rockhoppers at the cliff top …
… and here they are on the hillsides away from the cliff tops.
We were all very busy taking lots and lots of pictures!
