Chapter Ten - Viva Malvinas - Feb 2008

After a frantic season it was with some degree of relief we, that is Steve B, Brian & I said farewell to Rothera, job done etc, etc, like most flight arrangements centered around Rothera however our departure didn't quite go according to plan.

After handing over the commissioning file at 9.00pm on the Friday night we were due to fly out around 5.00am on the Saturday morning, plenty of time to relax then, crack out the gin, splash out the vodka, were a pig shower cap & fall of the pool table, eat pickles, as it goes there really wasn't much point in going to bed so after copious amounts of cheese on toast we sat waiting for pilots to take us home, well to FI at least.

OOP's, weather crapped out old chap, massive head winds, blah, blah, blah, so, with not a lot else pressing I spent the idea day with my feet up, drinking coffee, reading & watching the world, well, icebergs, float by, whilst this was all very nice it did mean that we didn't catch that afternoons Lan Chile flight out of MPA to Punta Arenas, no problem, we'll get Monday's MOD flight to Brize Norton, on the down side I don't get a couple more days in Chile, on the upside however 23hr flight instead of 35hr flight, result.

Sunday morning bright & breezy, weatherman says OK, quick, go for it, bye, five or so hrs later we land at Stanley & unbuckle, no you can't land here today, you have to go to MPA, but we have, we're here, the propeller have stopped going round, fifteen minutes later we landed at MPA, forty minutes later we got off the minibus back at Stanley, Dohhh.

Check in at the Goose, quick wash then head off for a spot of lunch with Brain & Steve B as well as Steve's better half Jude who's currently working for FI fisheries protection agency, over lunch, having been told that MOD flight had failed to leave the UK as it was broken, oh well, extra day or so in FI. Steve & Jude were off diving for a couple of days so they kindly said I could use his 110 so come tea time I met them down at FIPASS, grabbed the Landie & left them loading up supplies on the yacht.

Not wishing sit around doing naff all after tea Ben, Cyril & Andy joined me in a drive over to Pembrokeshire Lighthouse, once your passed Stanley Airport its all off road through the sand dunes for the last mile or so, good fun, but careful as you go since its not my lump.

Turkey Vultures abound in the Falklands & Cape Pembroke is no exception, ugly buggers seem to watch you all the time just as if there waiting for something.

The lighthouse itself was manned until the conflict in 82' since then its been replaced by an automatic light system, it was originally built in 1840 & sits at the most easterly point of the Falklands, about seven miles east of the capital city of Stanley. In 1854, the 60-foot cast iron lighthouse, pre fabricated in the UK, replaced the original timber structure was prefabricated in London, unfortunately we forgot to get the key from Stanley so we had to make do with throwing rocks in puddles.

The following morning the weather was surprisingly good, we're talking hot & sunny, early doors we had it confirmed that we wouldn't be flying until at least tomorrow, so as per my last North bound visit to FI the previous year, Andy joined me in a spot of fishing over on the Murrell, after fifteen minutes drive & a brisk walk we skirted around a couple of minefields & had a pleasant couple of hours spinning. Admittedly Andy got the best fish of the session, a Brown trout of 6lbs or so, however I landed three to his two including one of the islands few native fish, Aplochiton Zebra, or the the Zebra trout as its locally known. This is a protected species, one of only three freshwater fish native to the Falklands, & you can't go out to deliberately target them but if you do hook into one of the blighters it must be released as soon as possible.