Cape Dolphin is situated on the north-west peninsular of East Falkland. It takes about 2 hours to drive from Stanley on gravel roads to reach the farm and about a further hour of off-road driving to reach the Cape itself. In summer the track is mainly hard but it can be treacherous in Winter.
A week before we went, over a hundred pilot whales beached themselves on Elephant Beach. This is close to Cape Dolphin so we detoured to see the aftermath. It is not uncommon for whales to beach in the Falklands and Elephant Beach, with its shallow, sloping shoreline has the evidence to show many previous similar catastrophes. By the time we arrived the turkey vultures and seagulls had been hard at work and the scene was not pretty! The beach was littered with dead pilot whales ranging from adults to the very young.
We then drove out to Cape Dolphin to see the Sea Lion colony on the northern beach. As can be seen from the photographs there were many pups, which seem to be looked after in creches. The adults basked in the afternoon sun and moved little unless their territory was threatened. Like many sea mammals they are quarrelsome in nature and the members of the colony seem to constantly growl and snort at each other. Sea Lions make good photographic subjects since the stance they adopt for basking gives the appearance that they are posing.
