Fabulous Falkland Islands!

Unexpected. Yes, that’s the word for it. Totally unexpected.

Yesterday, we were in Stanley (formerly known as Port Stanley), Falkland Islands. Situated over a hundred miles off the SE coast of Argentina, most people know it only for the 1982 Falklands War, in which 12,000 Argentine soldiers and 8,000 British troops fought fierce battles over control of this series of islands. Argentina claimed them, and had thought of them as their own (though in reality they started the war mainly as a way to rally the country behind their military dictator), Great Britain had controlled them for over 100 years. The British won, but at a definite cost in lives.

Okay, so that’s what you already know about the Falklands. So why do cruise ships (try to) visit her? One word: Penguins! These islands are home to large colonies of four different species of penguins, the Kings, Gentoos, Rockhopper and Magellenics, and visited by others such as the Macaroni. The colonies are accessible in a variety of ways, from bus, water and rough overland journeys, but the key is they’re accessible without necessitating a more extreme type of expedition cruise landing on Antarctica itself.

Reason I say that cruise ships try to reach these islands is because at this latitude, weather is highly unpredictable. Ships over about 300 passengers have to tender passengers ashore, and winds on this island can be fierce, preventing sometimes even entry of the ship into the outer harbor, and often completely preventing tendering into shore. The two days before we arrived, both Celebrity Infinity and Norwegian Dream were turned back by weather. Fortunately, third day’s the charm and we had a day I hadn’t even dared hope for. I was crossing my fingers simply to be able to get ashore. Instead, we had clear, warm (almost 60 degrees) and gorgeous after a bit of fog in the morning. A Visitors’ Bureau type of day. Simply amazing! (You’ll hear that phrase out of me a few times this blog, never fear).

If you want simple penguins, for the Magellans and Gentoos, you can take the “Penguin” bus for about $12 round trip from the town a short distance to a colony. Easy, you get LOTS of penguins, and you can spend as much time as you want, catching a later bus back. To see the other varieties, you will have to go a bit farther afield. Want a marine montage? That’s available too with a boat ride where you will see penguins and may see whales, dolphins, lots of birds, sea lions, etc. Into war history? There are several excellent tours of that here, too.

The island is ruggedly beautiful. Once you get outside the landscaped yards in town, there is nary a tree or bush to be found. Anywhere. None. There is one trial nursery for trees, but no natural greenery reaching above about 12” above ground. Sounds barren, doesn’t it? Nope! The landscape is filled with rolling hills and low mountains. The topography is carved by glaciers, and rivers of stones have been left behind. This is a raw landscape, softened by plants such as their famed Diddle-Dee berry bushes (with beautiful, bright red berries), flowers, grasses and the like growing out of the peat bog. I’m sure in spring the hillsides are a riot of color. But everything is tempered by the wind. The ground and climate are good for growing, and most of the residents have kitchen gardens with vegetables. The islands grow most of their own food, but also get fresh fruit and such from Chile (nothing from Argentina, for obvious reasons – the bad feelings run deeply among the residents).

The population is about 3,000, with 1,500 of those living in Stanley itself. Currency is the Falklands Pound, which is tied to the British Pound in value. Euros are also accepted, but dollars have a horrible exchange rate here. Sheep farming is widespread, and you’ll find sheep everywhere on the island. There is a dairy, brand new high school, and well-educated residents with the government paying to send its graduates to college in England. Most of the income of the islands is derived from fishing leases they grant and tightly control. They have rich waters, but not a fishing heritage, so they wisely opted to have others make use of that resource while they retained control and oversight.

The other main reason you’ve rarely heard of the Falkland Islands is that only about 60,000 visitors arrive every year, mostly from cruise ships. And they provide a large source of income to the residents. When you consider only about 20,000 people visit Antarctica a year, you realize that this is almost as remote and fresh as a destination. Not many people will have a Falklands stamp in their passport. And it’s well worth it.

But you’re probably tired of all that now and wondering when I’ll get to the pictures, right? Okay! Let’s talk about where I went and what I saw.

Out of the many penguin excursion options, my research led me to decide that I wanted to go to Volunteer Point to see the King Penguins. These penguins are second in size only to the Emperor Penguins (of March of the Penguin fame), and of very similar coloring and habits, other than the fact the Kings nest on top of the ground instead of on top of the ice. But in most other ways, including the parents switching off rearing duties while the other goes to feed, incubating their eggs on their feet, keeping their hatchlings on their feet, and even their youngsters being a different color than the adults, they’re a dead ringer for the Emperors (and my guess is they’re very closely related).

I was extremely tempted by the Rockhopper Penguins, as they’re the smallest of the crested penguins (think the ones with the yellow ear feathers like you saw on the Robin Williams character in Happy Feet) and darned cute, but unfortunately it was one or the other. So I went with the Kings.

After researching online, I found Patrick Watts, a highly recommended private vendor and set up the tour. It is about a 2.5 hour drive each way, with about 2 hours at the penguin colony. The ride is mostly over extremely rough terrain. The Princess tour to the same destination has the disclaimer that it is not suitable for pregnant women or those with back or neck injuries, and I’d echo that strongly. You’re driving in 4x4 vehicles in a convoy over peat bog, and bog is not an understatement. Vehicles routinely sink into bog areas and have to be pulled out. You’re bouncing around as you follow the “track” (that term is loose, believe me, as they have to find new routes as the old ones get too torn up to be stable). But every bump and bounce is well worth it.

As we traveled out to the Point, Patrick provided running commentary about the history, the flora and fauna and other tidbits of the islands. I spoke with others in our group and they were thrilled with their driver guides as well. That, and anticipation, made the drive out pass quickly. But finally we were there and had our first penguin sighting – a Magellan out walking by his burrow.

Magellenic penguins dig burrows (holes) in the ground in which to nest, like this one: (You’ll have tons of Magellenic pictures when we reach Punta Arenas, so this is the only one for today)

When you arrive, there are two Wardens who live on the site and who monitor your access to the penguins to ensure you don’t harass or intrude into their rookeries. The King and Gentoo rookeries, where the parents are incubating their eggs on their feet, are surrounded by white stones beyond which you can’t pass. But of course the non-incubating parents are free to come and go and get quite close to you. If you move slowly, and don’t frighten them, they can come right up to you. And the white stones are fairly close to the incubating parents and their young as well.

The Gentoo and King rookeries are separated by a bit of space, but easily walkable about 5 minutes apart. The Gentoos have a white “headband” over their head and look like this:

The Gentoo chicks started hatching about a month ago, so some of them are at a larger, adorable state this time of year, though many parents still were incubating eggs. As you can see, there is a strong, loving bond between parent and child:

But of course, the Kings are the main attraction here. This is an idea of the size of just the rookery itself. There are approximately 1,500 King Penguins who call Volunteer Point home (the brown one in front is a chick from last season who has not yet molted into his adult feathers):

King Penguins Egg Sitting:

Here’s a very newly hatched (probably less than 48 hours old) chick still protected on its parents feet (I have to admit, when newly hatched, they look a bit like a pterodactyl – gray and wrinkly!):

And a closeup of just the chick so you can see it better:

Another one who is more shy and who didn’t want to show his face, no matter how long I waited:

The setting is absolutely beautiful, with the waves crashing on the beach and the Kings deciding if they want to head out to the water and brave the dangers there:

The various penguin species intermingle comfortably. They even mingle with the sheep! If, unlike me you can drag yourself away from the Kings, it’s easy to get some fabulous shots of the Magellenics right up next to sheep – even harassing them a bit:

That’s all the time I have to post pictures today. After the cruise when I get caught up, I’ll post here in the blog my photo site so you can see all the pics.

After another 2+ hour long trip back (made bearable again by the excitement and amazement of what you saw and how close you were – it was an amazing interaction), you have a bit of time around Stanley if you wish before heading back to the ship. Since I’d taken almost 400 shots, and worn myself out in the sun, it was straight back to the ship for me so I could see what I’d gotten and to relax a bit before dinner.

Today’s a day at sea, foggy and coolish as we head into the Antarctic Treaty zone. We’re just traversing that now, and have additional restrictions placed on the ship: No smoking outside, the pools are shut down, and outside activities (games, etc.) severely restricted. All to make sure there’s no accidental contamination of the waters and environment. Tomorrow, we reach Elephant Island and the Antarctic Peninsula! I hope to report tomorrow, but it will all depend on what we’re seeing – of course getting the images and experiencing it comes first, but will report back again as soon as I can!

This was one of the most amazing days I can imagine. It ranks up there with diving with sea lion pups as my most incredible critter interactions. This is simply something you must do at some point in your lifetime.