Port Stanley, Falkland Islands

            Saturday, 6 Jan 2023 – We were scheduled to anchor off the coast of Port Stanley at 8:00 AM, but according to the ship’s log, we arrived in port well before 7:00 AM.  We were scheduled to visit Port Stanley during our cruise aboard Oceania Insignia in March 2020, but we were not be able to stop there due to high waves.  (Tenders cannot operate safely in rough water.)

The Falkland Islands comprise an archipelago of East Falkland, West Falkland and 776 smaller islands.  These remote, windswept islands with a human population of about 3,000, support half a million sheep, and as many as a million penguins during the summer nesting season, making it on one of the world’s great penguin capitals.  Five of the 27 species of are represented – Rockhoppers, Magellenic, King, Gentoo, and Macaroni. 

As a British overseas territory, the Falklands have internal self-governance, and the United Kingdom takes responsibility for their defense and foreign affairs.  The Falkland Islands' capital is Stanley on East Falkland.  At various times, the islands have had French, British, Spanish, and Argentine settlements.  Britain reasserted its rule in 1833, but Argentina maintains its claim to the islands.  In April 1982, Argentine military forces invaded the islands.  British administration was restored two months later at the end of the Falklands War.  Almost all Falklanders favor the archipelago remaining a UK overseas territory.  Major economic activities include fishing, tourism, and sheep farming.

For today, we had scheduled an excursion, Bluff Cove Lagoon Penguin Safari, and were scheduled to meet on the pier at 1:15 PM.  We went to our usual breakfast in the Terrace Café; then, returned to our cabin to wait for our excursion departure time.

At noon, we boarded a ship’s tender and arrived at the pier at about 12:30 PM.  On the tender, we conversed with a couple sitting next to us from St. Louis.  We didn’t’ get their names, but she is the same age as Jesse, 74!  They were scheduled for a walking tour of Port Stanley, not the Penguin Safari.  On the pier, when we heard an Oceania representative calling out bus numbers for boarding, Jesse asked him for our bus number.  He said they were running behind and would be assigning bus numbers for our tour at about 1:30 PM.  So, Sally found a seat under a shelter, while Jesse wandered around the pier.  He looked through two gift shops, but didn’t find anything to purchase.

Finally, we were assigned to bus number 36; however, it was about 2:00 PM by the time we boarded the bus.  During our 30-minute ride to the Bluff Cove Lagoon through Stanley and past battlefields from the 1982 Falkland Conflict, the driver/tour guide pointed out significant sights and narrated some of the history of the Falkland Islands, mostly concerning the 1982 conflict.  He was quite a military historian and gave us lots of details.

After reaching Bluff Cove farm, we continued on to the Bluff Cove Lagoon via a newly constructed road.  Previously, the cove was only reachable via 4x4 off-road vehicles.  Upon our arrival, we were given a two-minute briefing by a park ranger; basically, we were told to stay behind the white flags and to give penguins the right of way.  There were about four different penguin colonies at the location, all appearing to be of different species.  Although we had been told that Magellanic penguins sometime swim over to visit from another island, there were none present today.  We spotted a wide range of seabirds intermingling with the penguins, and witnessed many less tolerant penguins fend off their overly friendly neighbors.  Jesse asked one of the park rangers about the weather in the Falkland Islands.  The climate is very mild and dry, with very little snow, but it could snow during any season of the year.  Temperatures don’t fall very far below freezing and the average snowfall is about two inches, although the record is six feet.

After visiting with the penguins for quite a while, we made our way to a cozy beach-side café where we were served complimentary hot chocolate and home-baked treats.  Bluff Cove Museum was also on site, where we saw and touched unrefined sheep wool and a primitive spinning wheel, as well as a gift shop and restrooms.  Jesse purchased postcards from the giftshop.  During our return trip to the pier, our driver/tour guide continued narrating the history of the islands.

We arrived back at the pier at about 5:00 PM, where ship passengers were waiting in a long line to board tenders back to the ship.  Jesse held our place in line, while Sally sat on a bench under a shelter.  She stayed there as long as she could before rejoining Jesse in line.  Luckily, from that point forward, there were benches available for Sally to sit on.  While waiting our turn to board, we talked a lot to a family from a few miles north of Seattle, parents, with two grown (or teenage) sons.  The mother looked very young, and we had wondered earlier whether she was the boy’s sister or their mother.  During our tender ride back to the ship, we sat next to Jody & Mike from Phoenix.

We were back in our cabin by 6:30 PM, much too tired for dancing.  After resting, we went to dinner at the Terrace Café.  We sat at a table adjacent to Ed & Alicia, who had missed us dancing in the Horizons.  They had gone ashore earlier and taken back-to-back excursions, but were back onboard by 1:30 PM; then had taken an afternoon nap.  At about 9:00 PM, Jesse went up to the Beauty Salon/Spa and made Sally a reservation for a Swedish massage with Mary, and himself a reservation for a pedicure with Stephanie.  We retired early and both slept very, very well!