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TheFalkland Sound (Spanish:Estrecho de San Carlos) is a seastrait in theFalkland Islands. Running southwest-northeast, it separatesWest andEast Falkland.
The sound was named byJohn Strong in 1690 forViscount Falkland, the name only later being applied to thearchipelago and its two largest islands. The Spanish name "Estrecho de San Carlos" refers to the shipSan Carlos which visited in 1768; confusingly theEnglish name "San Carlos Water" is a much smaller inlet on East Falkland - and gives its name toSan Carlos,Port San Carlos and theSan Carlos River.
Captain John Strong of theWelfare made the first recorded landing on either of the main islands (West and East Falkland) on 29 January 1690, atBold Cove (nearPort Howard) just off Falkland Sound.
The sound cuts between the two main islands in a northeast-southwest alignment, though minor islands within the body of water includeNarrows Island,Great Island, theTyssen Islands and theSwan Islands.Eddystone Rock is at the northern end of the Sound; theArch Islands are at the southern end.
Settlements on it includeAjax Bay,New Haven,Port San Carlos,San Carlos onEast Falkland andPort Howard andFox Bay onWest Falkland. A car ferry goes between Port Howard and New Haven.
Inlets and bays on the Sound include: Fox Bay, Port Howard (West Falkland);Grantham Sound, San Carlos Water, Ruggles Bay (East Falkland). On West Falkland, theHornby Hills run parallel to the sound.
About 400 million years ago the land that became the Falkland Islands and Antarctica'sEllsworth Mountains, which had been part ofGondwana, broke from what is now Africa and drifted westwards relative to Africa.[1] During themid-Jurassic period[2] (about 170 million years ago) the land fragment that was to become East Falkland and the land fragment that was to become West Falkland rotated about 120° relative to each other. As a result, the fold lines inWest Falkland run almost south-west to north-east, parallel to the Sound. Those in the northern part ofEast Falkland run east-west, forming the eastern part of northern entrance to the Sound and bordering on the northern banks ofSan Carlos Water. The boundary between these two land fragments, the Falkland Sound Fault, lies close to and parallel with the western shore of the Sound.Lafonia (the southern half of East Falkland), which is a much newer formation, has no folds.
It is believed that at times during thePleistocene era, the seabed was some 46 metres (151 ft) lower than the present time–sufficient for the sound to be bridged.[3]
On 21st January 2025, Esther Bertram of Stanley and Nuala Knight of Fox Bay swam across Falkland Sound, beginning from Fanning Head, East Falkland. The swimmers reached Jersey Point on West Falkland after 2 hours 37 minutes.