Day 16 - 22/Jan/24 - Port Stanley, Falkland Islands

 What a difference a month makes in the weather.  After missing Port Stanley on our previous cruise on the Zaandam due to the Port being closed because of high winds, we were hopeful that we could make this port stop to be able to go see the King penguins.  Overnight the seas calmed from the 15 foot seas that we experienced to very flat seas as we approached the Falkland Islands.  I woke up before 6am and noted the fairly calm seas and thought to myself that a stop here today might just happen.  We entered the bay for our anchorage and the tenders were deployed although not put into the water.  That's a great sign.

I went up to the LIDO for a quick bowl of Congi for breakfast and returned to the cabin to do my final packing for the day which included layers of clothing and making sure I had the $400 in crisp $100 bills for the tour operator.  Tendering was supposed to start at 8:00am, but it started just before 7:30am and we were on the first tender carrying passengers.  It's about a 20 minute tender ride to shore and once on shore we spotted our tour guide with Patrick Watt tours, Shaun Jaffray, who I had emailed that morning to announce our pending arrival.  We checked in with him and were assigned with another couple from Illinois, Bill & Annette to a Land Rover driven by a young man, Adam, whose regular job was as a construction worker.  It turned out that this 2006 model was owned by Shaun and it was one of 8 that this tour company used for the tour today.  They run the vehicles together as a safety measure in case something comes up.  Nothing did for us.

We drove about 45 minutes north of Stanley on the main paved road and a hard packed gravel road to a farm complex at the edge of the property called Volunteer Point that includes the rookery .  We took a short bio break before getting back in the Land Rover and the group of vehicles then traversed a peat bog for 1.5 hours to reach the viewing area.  It's a possibly very rough ride, but I thought despite the ups and downs and dropping down into holes and ruts, it was actually a pretty soft ride.  What also struck me about the drive to the farm and across the farm was how desolate the land was.  There were miles and miles of craggy boulders left from glacial action and miles and miles of windswept grass plains suitable only for sheep raising and we did see a few sheep here and there.

Arriving at the viewing area, we had to disembark the Land Rover and walk through a cleaning solution for our shoes (which we also had to do at the port).  Tip:  don't wear sandals!  We then re-entered the vehicle and parked.  We were then free to walk either to the beach, the King penguin area, or the Gentoo penguin area or do all three.  We chose the latter and in that order.  At the beach there were only a pair of penguins and we could get about 10 feet from them.  We left them and walked up the beach to the King Penguin rookery.  Along the way King penguins walked around us, and we walked around them.  They're really cute to watch walking.  At the rookery, there is a circle of painted white rocks marking the border of the rookery.  We couldn't pass that border, but we were within a few feet of the nearest penguins.  Inside the circle there were thousands of brooding penguins as well as brown fluffy chicks from the previous year's  hatch.  The current hatch was going on but we didn't see any in the King penguin rookery.  It was totally surprising to see the size of the fluffy chicks who were larger than their parents.  We observed parents feeding the chicks (the parents regurgitate food into the eager mouth of the chick).  The King penguins are very pretty with orange coloring in their facial area.  Outside of the brooding area there were many more King penguins on a nearby hillside.

We left the King penguin area and walked over to the Gentoo rookery which was about 1/8 of a mile away.  The two species don't really mix and I was surprised that the two colonies were so close.  The same rules applied here.  The rookery was enclosed by rings of white painted rocks.   Gentoo penguins are a bit smaller than Kings and they are just black and white.  Their hatch was a bit farther along and we saw a number of little chicks.  One mother had a pair of chicks that we watched for quite a while.  But the most interesting thing we watched was the thievery performed by one Gentoo penguin.  It would go over to an adjoining empty nest and pluck up nesting material and bring it back to its nest which was occupied by a nesting mother.  It did this repeatedly and it was just like we had seen in penguin videos about penguins stealing rocks from adjoining nests.  Eventually the occupier of the pillaged nest came back and squawked and flapped its wings, But the damage was done.  

We had about 1.5 hours at the viewing site, and we finished up by returning to the vehicle, paying Shaun for the tour, and receiving a sack lunch containing a sandwich, chips, water, and dessert.  It also contained a penguin shaped USB with professional penguin pictures which we won't be able to view until we get home as I didn't bring a USB reader for my iPhone.  We then retraced our path back to the port (including another foot washing).  We were back at the port by 3pm which gave us 1.5 hours to walk around the town where we did some shopping.  Angela bought a cool T-shirt with the motto, "Be yourself unless you are a penguin.  In which case be a penguin."  On an adjoining dock was a seal and her pup with a nearby turkey vulture.  We took one of the last tenders back to the ship and it was totally full.  It had been a bit windy today, and it was windy riding in the tender, but it didn't rock very much along side the ship.  The next day Captain Kevin did report they had 50 knot winds but they were coming from a favorable direction.  

Some of the cast of Step One Dance Company were ill, so Buddy Fitzpatrick presented a third show.  We liked it so much we stayed for the 9pm show before checking out the Orange Party in the Rolling Stone Lounge.  It was way too loud for our taste, but I did take the opportunity to ask Colin, the Hotel General Manager, why there were no instructions for the 5 star Mariners on what to do for tendering.  At first he didn't seem to understand the question and called the front desk manager over.  After repeated explanations, I think they finally understood it.  I even indicated that on EVERY other HAL ship we have sailed on, there is a letter that explains what the process is to either get tender tickets or where to proceed to.  Colin said that there were only 25 5 star Mariners on board, but in my mind, that's no reason so not just say something or communicate in some fashion.  On our way back to the room we came across Adam, the Billboard Onboard pianist, and we had a wonderful conversation for about 20 minutes.  He had taken the $20 shuttle to Gypsy Point and enjoyed the penguins there.  

RECOMMENDATIONS for Stanley:  If it's your first visit to Stanley, I urge you to first go see the penguins.  There are multiple ways to do that.  There's HAL tours (they sell out well in advance and are expensive); there's private excursions (we used  Shaun@adventurefalklands.com), but VIATOR or an internet search will also yield results; procure a tour at the dock (I saw multiple vendors soliciting business); or take the $20RT shuttle bus to Gypsy Cove (the nearest viewing area - but it does require some walking to get down to the penguin area).  Then with any remaining time, walk around the little town.  Dress in layers and expect wind.  The first time we visited we just walked the town for the day and it was fine, but after seeing the penguins, it would be our clear first choice. 

Last, if you have any mobility or back issues, Volunteer Point is not likely to be a good choice.  It's a potentially rough ride and the surface at the rookeries is pretty soft.  We did see a scooter there, but it was getting bogged down pretty easily in the sandy terrain.  Walking with a cane should be okay if you can walk at least 1/8 mile.  There is nothing to lean on or grasp and there are holes and depressions throughout the area.  For Gypsy Cove, there is a long walk on a sandy beach and up and down an incline.  Again no mobility devices are useable there.  

As always, if you have any questions, send me an email at tkbowman at gmail dot com.