Falkland Islands - Penguins, penguins, penguins!

Friday, February 15

Weather: 57º F, Cloudy

The world's southernmost capital, Stanley is located in the Falklands archipelago, which consists of two main islands, East and West Falkland, along with smaller islands nearby. Stanley is proud of its British heritage, evidenced everywhere from its red telephone boxes to its pubs. The Falklands were first claimed by the English in 1765; over the centuries the Crown has had to abandon, reclaim and defend these far-flung islands from invading nations—including an Argentine foray in 1982. During the early years of their colonization, the Falklands were used as a base for ships hunting sperm whales for oil, followed by those hunting seals for fur. Today in this remote British territory, fishing and tourism are what drive the economy. [Source: hollandamerica.com]

Click here for a video of our tour to Volunteer Point.

The alarm was set for 6 am and I woke up a couple of minutes before it went off. I had heard Bob coughing during the night and wondered how he would feel today. He announced that he thought his cold had settled in his chest, but the tummy troubles seem to be better. He wasn't feeling perfect, but he was a "go" for our adventure in the Falkland Islands.

Room service was delivered on time. Bob had some granola and OJ and I had ordered an omelet which was supposed to come with toast. Instead I got a plate full of butter and jelly...but no toast. I didn't want to bother someone to bring me a piece of toast so just ate the eggs. Now if they had messed up my coffee order...that would have me on the phone immediately! 😄

Shortly after 7 am we met up with a large group from our Cruise Critic roll call in the Wajang Theater. One of the members, Alex, had been instrumental in arranging multiple tours for our cruise and had make arrangements for those of us doing a penguin tour to get an early tender.

Our tour today was arranged well over a year ago with Patrick Watts to go to Volunteer Point to see a huge colony of king penguins. I had worried that our day in port was too short to make the long trip from Stanley and knew it was very important that we get on one of the very first tenders. Because of Alex's special arrangements we were on shore before all of the other independent tours and even before most of the HAL tours. Thanks Alex!! I checked my watch and it was 8:08 am when we stepped onto our tender to leave the ship.

On the tender.

Patrick Watts was waiting as we came ashore and was assigning groups of 4 to drivers. One of his drivers was unable to make it so two of the larger vehicles carried six people instead. His tours travel in two groups of six vehicles for safety reasons...mostly to have someone available to help when a vehicle gets stuck in the mud. Our driver was David and we were the last of the second group.

Patrick Watts in the center. He played quite an important role in keeping people informed during the 1982 war. Google him for the full story!

David drove out of Stanley on a paved road which turned into a gravel road, then a dirt path and eventually we were off-roading over the most rough terrain ever! I have never been so jostled and bounced around as I was on the drive. Our destination was Volunteer Point.

How strange it was to see Bob sitting in what "should be" the driver's seat! 

The beginning of our journey was on paved roads.

And then dirt roads.

Sheep grazing on the hill.

The road ended at Johnson's Harbour where bathrooms were available before continuing onto the roughest part of the journey.

Johnson Harbour at the end of the road.

The "Bake Safe" had treats that could be purchased.

Johnsons Harbour was the "end of the road." From there the Land Rover caravan drove over the rough and bumpy terrain. The 12 mile off-road part of the trip took over an hour and it was 11:08 am when we reached Volunteer Point...exactly three hours since we had boarded the tender to leave the ship.

Metal tracks were laid across some of the bigger ruts...sometimes.

There are three breeds of penguins at Volunteer Point...kings, gentoos and magellenic (the kind we saw at Magdalena Island.) The king penguins were the largest colony and seeing them was the reason we endured the rough ride. The birds looked very majestic (royal?) standing together in a group. A few still had chicks covered in gray downy fur.

The baby chicks were covered with soft down.

An egg!

There was a smaller group of gentoos and random gentoos were running around all over the area. While the kings look so stately, to me the gentoos looked like a comic-book version of a penguin! The magellenic penguins were off in small groups around their burrows.

A gentoo and geese.

A magellenic penguin by his burrow.

The parking lot was filled with Land Rovers from several different tour groups. As we walked across the field towards the penguins we had to carefully dodge the penguin poo (pretty much impossible) and avoid stepping on dead penguins. We spent some time photographing the large group of kings on the hill before walking down to the beach.

Come on in...the water's fine!

In total we had about an hour and 40 minutes to spend at Volunteer Point. Before we got back in the vehicle to return to Stanley, we used the restrooms and took a quick glance at the photos and penguin eggs on display.

The small white building contained a few exhibits and restrooms.

Egg comparison.

Lunch sacks were waiting for us when we returned to the vehicle...a sandwich (half egg salad and half tuna salad), some chips, a small candy bar, and a bottle of water. Also included in the bag was a USB memory stick in the shape of a small penguin that contained many photos of penguins and areas in the Falklands.

My penguin memory stick full of photos from the Falkland Islands!

The ride back was just as long and just as rough, but at least we got the worst part over with at the beginning. Later in the day I checked the health app on my iPhone and it registered that I had walked over 5 miles and climbed 92 flights of stairs...all just from the bouncing in the Land Rover!

I call this the "Land Rover Workout".

The last tender was scheduled to leave at 4 pm so when we got back to Stanley around 3:15, David drove us down the main street in town...Ross Street...pointing out places of interest. He then dropped us off across the street from Christchurch Cathedral with the whale bone arches in front. It wasn't very far back to the tender dock and we popped in and out of a few gift shops on the way.

Government House...built in 1911 it is the official home of the governor of the Falkland Islands.

1982 war memorial.

Our driver, David.

Whale bone arches stand in front of the Christchurch Cathedral in Stanley.

I thought this sign in a store window was interesting.
The Falkland War took place in 1982 but the feelings against Argentina remain strong today.

The line for tenders was very long. The tender operation was being interrupted by fishing boats going through the same small channel that the tenders had to pass through. The fishermen were coming in to Stanley to renew their annual licenses which were due that day. By the time we got on the ship we had just enough time to quickly change and get to dinner by 5:30 pm. Bob was excited to see that rum raisin ice cream was on the evening's dessert menu!

Hello from the tender queue! By the time the tenders started loading the line stretched waaaayyyy down the road.

Kent and Laurel getting on the tender. 

The entertainment in the main theater was Devlin...a magician. If you have read some of my posts from previous cruises you know magicians are NOT my favorite. Devlin was also not a great entertainer...his music was off and the show just didn't seem very polished.

After the show Bob picked up a couple of DVDs from guest services. So many are damaged he usually gets 2 or 3 hoping he may get lucky and have at least one that isn't damaged. He enjoys watching movies on a cruise but it is frustrating to crawl into bed to watch and then find out the DVD doesn't work.

Another sea day tomorrow. My guess is our muscles will be feeling the effect of our bumpy ride...but it was worth the pain! This post has been very photo-heavy, but I am so grateful that we were able to make it into the Falklands when I know the port is often missed.