We spent today wandering around Keppel Island. The day was blustery with a few showers but mostly sunny and the brisk breeze dried us out between showers. After a leisurely breakfast we had a wet ride ashore in the tender where we landed at the ruins of an old stone jetty. We were met my Mr. Arthur Nutter who is the caretaker of the island and who just happens to be here this week. We spent the rest of the morning exploring the old buildings and ruins and looking at the tree plantation, which contains many varieties of trees including several from Tierra del Fuego. We found a nice sheltered spot to eat our lunch and then walked around the shore of Committee Bay beach combing and admiring the rich birdlife.

It is a shame that such a historic site is falling into such a state of disrepair due the fact that the place in uninhabited, and for the most part unmaintained. Gorse has gone wild and is overtaking many of the buildings and remains of buildings. Mr Nutter has worked hard during his visits to hold back the decay of the buildings but can only do so much. Several visits have been made to the island by groups of volunteers from the �"historic buildings committee' and �"Falkland's Conservation' attempting to cut back the gorse and kill other invasive plants such as calafate and thistles. But even though this work has been well intentioned the plants grow back and cover more ground each summer.

Despite the island being infested with rats the wildlife is still very rich. A large family of Commerson's Dolphins seem to live in the bay and are constantly around the yacht. This morning I showed the Meredith and Dean how you could splash your hands in the water off the scoop at the back of the boat to call the dolphins over, much to their delight, although they were a little nervous at the dolphins coming so close to their hands. Other wildlife that we spotted today included; Upland geese, oyster catchers, night herons , kelp geese, turkey vultures, dark faced ground tyrants, finches, magellanic snipe, Antarctic terns, skuas, kelp gulls, magellanic penguins and several others. Other birdlife on the island includes; several species of penguins, variable hawks, peregrine falcons, barn owls, crested and striated caracaras, black browed albatross, as well as all the usual shore birds that are seen all around the islands.