Stanley, Falkland Islands

We awoke this morning in Stanley, Falkland Islands, and had to catch the 8:15 tender to shore to be there in time for our 9:00 am tour.  It was a 20-minute tender ride, then 20-minute ride in a minibus, then 20 minutes in a 4×4 to go see the King Penguins.

Alan Johnson would have enjoyed the 4×4 drive across the very soft peat with deep drainage ditches.  The land on which we were riding was definite 4×4 material.  Our driver was excellent, and we had no problem getting to or from our destination, Bluff Cove Lagoon. 

As we were driving in the minivan, the driver pointed out the workers who are removing land mines left from the war in 1982.  In case you do not remember, Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands because of a long-term claim over the islands.  The Argentina Government did not believe Great Britain would respond because of the distance they would have to travel.  Guess they underestimated Margaret Thatcher.  The driver said they have recovered most, but not all of them, and they had pretty good maps of where the land mines are located.

There are about 1,200 King Penguins and more than 3,000 Gentoo Penguins at Bluff Cove Lagoon.  This location was our first encounter with King Penguins.  Margo had assumed they were named King Penguins because they are large, but after seeing them she believes they are so named because they look regal.  The Kings are much larger than the Gentoo, and they seem to carry themselves more royally than the funny Gentoo.

It was much colder and windier than we expected and we probably didn’t dress sufficiently to really enjoy the outdoors.  The penguins were in small clusters scattered throughout the area.  We were told we might see some Magellanic Penguins, but perhaps because we were so cold, we didn’t explore the area sufficiently to find any Magellanic Penguins.  It was interesting that King Penguins, Gentoo Penguins, and sheep all share the area peacefully.

Mark asked the Land Rover driver about the Falklands War; the driver lived here at the time and was involved first hand.  The people of Stanley do not care for Argentina in the least, and almost worship Margaret Thatcher who was British Prime Minister at the time of the war. Stanley was occupied by Argentine troops for 74 days during the Falklands War in 1982. 

The ship left Stanley about 5:00 pm for a 1,038 nautical miles journey to our next stop, Punta del Este, Uruguay. We are scheduled to have sea days for the next 2 days.  The Captain said the swells would be “moderate” so we should secure items in our cabins once again.  He also said to “give one arm to the ship” as we walk down the hallways.  That means to hold onto the rails along the hallways.  He wasn’t this direct during our two Drake Passage trips!