Port Stanley, Falkland Islands

We made it! This is a commonly missed stop on these cruises as the weather is often too bad to anchor or even to get there. Both Amsterdam and Veendam missed it recently so we are feeling very lucky. This was my last chance for penguins so we had booked an excursion. I had wanted either one that went to King penguins or Rockhopper penguins but both were full so we were on one to Bluff Cove for Gentoo penguins. Now the excursion involved the tender, a small bus and then 4x4 Land Rovers and warned that is was not for those with back or neck problems, but I couldn’t miss my last opportunity for penguins up close and personal so I did it. It was a rough ride, but I survived it and am not a whole lot worse for it today! There were several thousand Gentoo penguins on a nice stretch of beach on a private farm AND 5 King Penguins!!! So I got my King penguin pictures after all. They are bigger than the Gentoo and have the distinct yellow around their upper chest - really beautiful - and then to make it even better one had a new chick hatched just the day before. They were a long way off but with my zoom I shot a ton of pictures. I hope you can see the adult feeding the chick between her feet.

I thought the Falklands were very interesting. They are very flat; the highest hills are only about 2,000 feet. There are no trees except in the town where people have planted them. It has a very different kind of beauty similar to how I picture areas on Scotland. Port Stanley looks very British or Irish and of course, the people speak a very British English. When we got back on the ship we found that we had been there at an interesting time for another reason. Apparently the President of Argentina had signed a new proclamation that morning claiming all the area including the Falklands and stating that any ships sailing in that area must have some sort of a special Argentinean permit. We don’t have this permit so we shall see what happens when we arrive there in a couple days.

Later in the evening we had dinner in the Pinnacle with the Ice Pilot, Captain Pat Toomey and had a great meal as well as getting to hear some more of his stories. He was a great addition to this cruise as he took the time to do pre and post Antarctic lectures. He has been at sea for his whole adult life and his wife often accompanies him.

Now we have two sea days before Buenos Aires. I’m sitting in the showroom writing this as they are giving Tango lessons. There are at least 40 couples (probably more) taking the lesson. The instructor is a really cute young man who is a member of the Pampas Devils who will be dancing on the ship for a couple nights. It’s times like this I wish my bones were in better shape as I used to love to Tango even though I needed someone that was a really good dancer to lead.