Wednesday February 21
This is our second time to the Falklands. Previously we have been to Saunders Island (across "the neck") and West Point Island to Roddy & Lily Napier's farm. It was interesting to see penguins, sheep and geese all together.... Seeing the Albatross was great as well. From Stanley we also went to Gypsy Cove. We have seen tons of penguins via a Quark Expedition ship that included South Georgia as well as the continent.
Here we signed up with Patrick Watts who puts together a group of about 24 people and puts 4 people in each 4X4 vehicle. pwatts@horizon.co.fk He takes people to Volunteer point. Princess charges $400 per person to do this excursion and seemed to spend less time with the penguins. Patrick charged $185 per person. It included a packed lunch of sandwiches, chips and a cookie. We also received to shiny Falkland Island pennies with penguins on them as well as a Penguin that is a USB drive full of penguin and other photos taken by the brother of our driver Toni. Nice touch!
This is the premier penguin location in the Falklands as it has around 4,000 majestic KING penguins plus many thousands of Gentoo & Magellanic penguins - all in their natural and undisturbed habitat.
We had hoped to take Gary & Trish with us on the first tender since Elite status normally allows each person to take one non elite with them. They announced at the show last night that elites had a separate meeting area. We inquired at the desk and they said no we couldn't bring anyone, but to ask the Captain circle hostess the next morning to see if it was OK. So, Gary & Trish got up super early as well to try and get on the first tended and we said we would come get them if we were able to bring them. The Circle Host said no. We let them know and we all just hoped for the best.
In the Elite meeting area we were the 5th & 6th people there. As the lounge filled up and the hostess finally arrived, she made no effort to take anyone in order. Everyone just mobbed her and of course the first 6 of us didn't get the first 6 tickets. It didn't matter since we got on the first tender anyway with a group of Princess tours people. No sign of Gary or Trish.
arrival on the island
We found our tour easily enough once on shore and they quickly checked us all in and got us assigned to drivers. We made a restroom stop and off we all went. Since they had 4 tenders before they had to wait to return to get more people all of our people made it.
We caravanned to Volunteer Point and stopped to wait for the group to catch up when needed. The journey was about 50 miles and took about 2 and a half hours to get there due to the terrain. The road started out really good and then changed to gravel and at the next rest stop it turned into peat bogs where there were only "tracks" no actual roads. Up and over hills and muddy areas we went. Whoo Hoo! We happened to share the ride with a couple we had met on the 2017 World Cruise. Plus, we have bumped into them about the ship a few times. Nice couple and it was a pleasure to share the ride with them.
The ride itself was pretty interesting with lots of Upland Geese, sheep and a few horses along the way. Rocky areas, mountainous areas and past a couple of battlefields from the 1982 Falkland War and Port Louis the first settlement in the Islands. We passed the Battle Mountains of the Falklands War of 1982, the unique ‘rivers of stone’ (large boulder formations) and several small sheep farms. The guides brother live at the site where they act as wardens for the area.
makeshift "bridge"
Finally, we arrived at Volunteer point where we spent an hour and a half or so with the Penguins. We saw a few Magellanic Penguins before coming to the Gentoos that were molting. Beyond them we found the King Penguins. I'd forgotten how noisy they could be as they trumpet at each other. There were quite a few chicks and a few with eggs. Sadly, a few broken eggs as well. It was a blustery windy day 40 plus MPH winds... Yikes!
Falkland Thrush
feeding the chick
penguin yoga?
the Gentoo's were molting
We also went down to the beach to watch them come and go from the ocean.
It was time to return to Stanley and we had our lunch on the way. We returned by the same track and were given a short tour of the town before dropping us off.
We had spent a lot of time touring the town last time in the beautiful calm warm day we had on our last visit. We also noticed that the seas had become rougher and that there was a huge long line for the tenders. The guide said we were better off going to the Pub and waiting, but the last tender was supposed to be at 5:00 so we lined up anyway.
While we were there we saw a tender try to come in and it didn't make it. It came close and then it went to the other side of the tender dock and almost hit a ship sitting there. After that it retreated back to the ship. We waited over an hour and we were told that they had suspended the tenders and asked all the crew/staff to get out of line and wait at the Pub. (so passengers could come ashore first when we were able to go) They didn't have to be asked twice to hang out at the Pub. LOL If the tenders couldn't resume we would have to stay on shore and the ship get us in the morning. (there were a couple of hundred people in line at this point) There are a lot of locals that have a standing offer to house cruise ship passengers that get stranded there.
Finally, a cheer went up as we saw the tender boat coming. The seas looked a bit calmer and it did make it in after a couple of tries. The first tender filled slowly and we were still in line. We waited quite a while and finally another cheer went up as another tender was coming. No one was allowed to ride up on top it was too windy and dangerous. (not sure who would have wanted to do that anyway in that weather) People at dinner said they saw people riding on top around 2:30 in the afternoon, so it must have gotten much worse between that time and 4:00ish when we arrived.
Back on the ship we did a quick change and hair fix and went to dinner. The show was Gary DeLena a comic & musical act. Pretty sure we have seen him before as well. We went from there to see the Adults Only show by Doug Funk the comedian from a couple of nights ago. The lady next to me in the first show lounge said she didn't like Doug Funk's regular show as he was "too dirty". I kept thinking back what was so dirty about his show and couldn't come up with much. Needless to say we didn't see her at his Adults Only show. The crowd kept asking for more and he performed until about 11:00. It had been a long day and we were ready for bed. Greg has been dealing with a cough/cold thing so he has been under the weather.
Tomorrow we have a sea day and hopes of going around Cape Horn. So far, it looks like the seas are in our favor, but we'll see.
