Tue, Oct 24 – Stanley, Falkland Islands is the world's southernmost capital.  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 its economy is based on tourism and fishing.

We had a pre arranged tour, again thanks to Kim, for a trip to Volunteer Point which would take us about 1.25 hours to get to the Penguins which are on private land.  We were so looking forward to this trip because that is where the King Penguins (the daddy of them all) hang out.  By the time we were around the Horn we knew we would not be going to Volunteer Point in that the roads were still quite muddy and the owner of the property had said no.  So we were given alternate plans and everyone in the tour group agreed that we still wanted to see Penguins, even if it wasn't the King.

As we were nearing the Falklands we were getting word that it looked like we wouldn't make it into the Island at all.  As I said earlier, because we have to tender in, and the island is out in the middle of nowhere, those winds just howl through the island and make for a very difficult time for the tenders to get us to shore.  This is why we were so grateful that we had been successful in seeing the Magellan Penguins on our stop in Punta Arenas.  Kim had forewarned us all the night before that this stop probably wouldn't happen, and the Captain was tripping over his  announcement about the weather trying very hard not to be discouraging; but the night before the odds were really against us.    We have had nothing but cold and overcast weather and rain during the nights for the past several nights.  I would bet that even Jimmy the Greek would have bet on the side of us not making it into the Falklands.

However, the next morning we woke up and the sun was shining into our cabin, the seas were calm and the Falklands was a go!!!  Yeah team.  We got to shore and met up with the group and Patrick (the owner of the company - can't remember his last name) who divided us up and we got a 4x4 jeep with Don and Jacquie - yeah!  They are a wonderful couple from BC and we will get to spend most of the day with them.  This turns out to be a very good thing, because our driver - John - is not much of a talker.   Jacquie kept up a constant stream of questions, which he had a very hard time answering them.  If it had't been for Jacquie and Russ asking questions, we never would have gain any information about the Island.

The first stop we made was to Bertha Beach; this is the home for the Gentoo Penguins.  They were so cute.  It was interesting to see them and compare them to the Magellan.  The Magellan Penguins make their nests into the rocks - kind of like a mini cave, where the Gentoo make their nests on top of the land, picking up their rocks and placing them just so.  The female gets to go around and exam the nests and if she doesn't like yours, she moves on to the next guy, so you better have a super neat nests, otherwise you want be having any female company.  The other thing we had been previously told is that during the gestation period the female will not eat, this may take up to 63 days in most cases.  Once she has laid the egg, papa takes over while she goes out for several weeks to feed.  She usually returns right before the egg hatches and then papa gets his turn to feed.   We got to see this happen - Mama had just laid the egg and she bolted out of the nest and Papa puffed up and sat down on the egg - it was precious.  We also learned that Penguins do not take a mate for life.  They will mate with their partner for the season, but that is it.  If he makes a good enough nest the next year, she might come back, or not!  

We also got to see a lot of baby lambs and a few calves.  This really through me for a loop, and then I remembered, it is Spring time in South America - not Fall, so there would be a lot of babies running around.

The next and last stop was Gypsy Cove, which we saw very few Magellan penguins.  We were grateful for the docents on the trail at Gypsy Cove and for the previous information from the Punta Arenas trip.   One of the docents told Russ and me that there had been some teenagers chasing some of the penguins, so they all ran away.  We were told to make sure we stayed on the pathway because there may still be some unexploded mines in the grass and hillside left over from the War.  Okay!  We did get to see some dolphins floating around down in the cove, and lots of sea birds.

I think our guide finally got tired of our questions because he handed Jacquie the guide book and said that he thought she might like to look through it - he obviously hadn't so had no idea about some of the questions we were asking.  

He dropped us off back in front of the visitor center and we all headed up to the local pub.  Russ and Jacquie had a local beer and we warmed up and enjoyed each others company for a bit more.  Then we headed out In different ways - we walked around and explored the town and checked out the stores.  

I'm thinking you have to be a very hard soul to live in the Falklands.  Russ and I thought it might be similar to being a lighthouse keeper.  If it weren't for tourism, I'm not sure why this place is even here.  It's population is just around 3,000 and there are over 1 million penguins.

Getting back to the ship was rough; we had some rough waters, and the wind was really blowing; a couple of times waves busted up against the tender doors and splashed the people sitting next to them - luckily I wasn't that close; then the tender started leaking right around the electrical unit, right in front of me; and once we got back to the ship they were only able secure one side, so getting off was wet, slippery and very unstable.

We later learned that a seal had tried to come aboard.  He got up most of the outside steps and security was startled to see him, so I guess they chased him off - we never did get the whole story.  It was a great day since we were able to get into the Falklands and we did get to see some different penguins.