We spent the day in the northwest region of the Falklands Archipelago. The M.S. ENDEAVOUR arrived off Carcass Island during breakfast and we spent the rest of the morning here. The island is owned by Rob and Lorraine McGill (great friends of Lindblad), and they invited us into their home at The Settlement for a traditional Farmer's Tea in the late morning. YUM! There were so many yummy things to eat.

Most of the wildlife (including Magellanic penguins, gentoo penguins, upland geese, kelp geese, flightless steamer ducks, tyrants, thrushes, striated caracaras, and numerous other birds) and much interesting flora can be found near the southeastern end of the island at Leopard Beach so this is where we started our hike. It's a beautiful Caribbean-like white sand beach, backed by impressive dunes, lapped by turquoise water. After enjoying the beach and the interesting wildlife, we hiked over to the settlement (three miles from Leopard Beach) via the "high road. This really entailed just going up the hill a little way for better views. Some folks stayed on the lower path, and some elected to return by Zodiac to the ship and/or the Settlement for tea.

We saw our seventh penguin species  - the Magellenic penguins. They live in burrows and are much more skittish than the other penguins we've encountered. We also saw several examples of the caracara (Johnny Rook) including some fine juveniles in the backyard of the McGills. The ducks were kinda creepy with their red eyes.

After our hike and our tea, we lounged around on the beach enjoying the lovely warm day. I think Tom was concerned about a possible mutiny, as the guests were very reluctant and perhaps a bit "stroppy" about leaving our naps to go back to Endeavour. Eventually we all got back on board and many of us retired to the deck to enjoy a bloody mary, the smooth seas and the warm sun.