Lagoon News
EXCELLENCE REWARDED
BLUFF COVE LAGOON TOUR wins at the SEATRADE INSIDER AWARDS 2009
Presented at Seatrade Europe in Hamburg this month, Bluff Cove Lagoon Tour has won the Seatrade Insider Cruise Award for the best shore excursion: “Innovative Shorex of the Year 2009”. The award is one of six categories that reward excellence across the international cruise sector. Bluff Cove Lagoon Tour received the award in recognition of its notable contribution to the cruise industry over the past 12 months.
Last Summer at the Lagoon
We entertained a record number of guests at our private wildlife haven Bluff Cove Lagoon, which is The Premier Shore Excursion for cruise ships visiting the Falklands!
In November we hosted a film crew making a film about traditional Falklands music. They filmed our brilliant musician Jenny Cockwell playing her accordion by the beach.
Also in November we held an evening of bird-watching followed by supper in the Sea Cabbage Cafe for a land-based tourist group The Ramblers. They enjoyed a dinner of delicious local flavours whilst watching the penguins porpoising ashore, followed by an adventurous journey home as the sun set over the Lagoon.
In December we hosted the Falklands Conservation Watch Group, giving 30 children a chance to learn more about their Islands wildlife as well enjoying a BBQ and having fun swimming in the sea! We had some great wildlife excitements over the season, including visiting Southern Right whales and rare Leucistic penguins. Please see our wildlife journal under “Wildlife”. We continue to add excitements to our tour! New this season is the Bluff Cove Museum by the beach - depicting life in the Falklands and telling the story of Bluff Cove. Watch live spinning and felting with local wool; find out about the farm and camp life; the nearby 1863 “Sugar Wreck”; the 1982 war with Argentina and the fabulous Lagoon wildlife. There is a seated beach-viewing window with binoculars for guests to be able to see the smaller breeding birds scuttling in amongst the Sea Cabbage as well as to enjoy watching the penguins porpoising ashore. There is also a small Museum shop selling unique Bluff Cove gifts. Oil spills — In March 2008 penguins came ashore at the Lagoon covered in oil; a minor oil spill had occurred leading to the death of a small number of Gentoo penguins. Falklands Conservation staff tried to clean them, but to no avail. The rescuing of penguins after the more serious inshore Ocean 8 oil spill was more successful, with Falklands Conservation returning cleaned penguins back to the wild. This emphasizes how vulnerable the wildlife in the Falklands is to the actions of man. During the season our experienced Rangers prevent any disturbance to wildlife by our guests, as we are well aware that the major threat to wildlife is man. In May 2009 the Falkland Island Government hosted a meeting for the oil operators who have the permits to drill in Falkland waters. Protection of the marine environment and wildlife are paramount. Missiles — The Falkland Island Government (FIG) permits the British military to fire missiles in close proximity to the Lagoon and East Island. The range is on neighbouring Government land and is only 2 miles from the Lagoon rookeries and East Island. The military use the range to test weaponry at sea, and last year they used it for land exercises and low-flying jet fighter attacks, all very noisy and alarming to the wildlife. The missile exercises continue, twice a year in October and April, even though many letters of objection were sent in by people from both the local and international community. 1) We were successful in having a “no low flying zone” officially placed over the Lagoon and East Island area. 2) There is now stricter environmental monitoring in place. 3) The missiles are being fired to the East of the firing arc, away from the Lagoon and East Island. We have concerns though. We worry about compliance with these restrictions. Already the “no low flying zone” has been breached: in January 2009 a Tornado fighter-jet flew low over the Lagoon and scattered the Gentoos and our guests in all directions. We are concerned that the disturbance to the wildlife may increase, driven by the needs of the military and privatised armament companies to carry out weapons training and testing. We feel that the flying of target drones, the firing of missiles, and the associated military low flying and land exercises may have serious consequences for the wildlife at the Lagoon and East Island. A major worry is the possibility of an accidental fire on East Island, caused by malfunctioning missiles. We fully appreciate the need for training and like everyone in the Falklands we are hugely appreciative of the sacrifices the military made in the 1982 war with Argentina; they gave us back our freedom. We only ask that this range be moved to somewhere on the Islands less damaging to the wonderful but vulnerable wildlife at the Lagoon and on East Island. This season at the Lagoon
Our concerns for the wildlife
We would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who wrote to FIG expressing their concerns. As a result of the unprecedented numbers of letters that FIG received, a number of things happened:
Luckily the Kings, which were all incubating eggs, were determined to stand firm and not to be swept away in the tide of terrified Gentoos. The Commander of British Forces apologised publicly and as a result of this incident the “no low flying zone” was increased in size. We hope that this will never happen again .
