The Falklands

The Malvinas
also called 
The Falklands.

Note to self.  Don't use the "F" word when in Argentina.  Call it by its name 'Malvinas'.

4th March, Gypsy Cove, The Falklands.  51°41,5´S   57°49,4´W

The Falkland Islands are 1350 ks from South America in the South Atlantic Ocean. There are 740 islands, mainly grasslands with gentle slopes. There were never any Indigenous people, then the French first occupied it in 1764. But they left. Charles Darwin visited in the 1830's and used data for his "On the Origin of Species" book. The British made a claim in 1765 and settled in 1833. Stanley is the capital. In 1982 Argentina decided they wanted the Falklands - and that they were called Islas Malvinas. They had never had a settlement there. April 2nd to June 14th 1982 Argentine troops occupied the islands. Britain won.

Don't say in Argentina that you have been to "The Falklands"!

Today it is all about fishing, tourism and wool, mutton and beef. There are 200 bird species including 70% of the worlds black-browed albatross population and five species of penguin - King, Gentoo, Rock Hopper, Magellan and Marconi.

There are 175 native plant species. No wonder Charles Darwin loved it. The diversity and the isolation.

We pulled into Port Stanley. To a wharf! How fancy. And to fuel. It's been a long way since Ushuaia. That's a big fuel tank!  We jumped in and bussed out to Gypsy Cove, about 10ks from town.

The weather was truly perfect. Well MY perfect! 12 degrees, sun shinning, not a puff of wind. It was light jackets and thermals under. No over pants.

Our briefing included all the normal stuff like “keep to the marked areas”, “don’t go close ……..” But this one had some very strong warning.

“DO NOT GO OFF THE PATHS. The area was heavily mined and the areas have not been cleared.” We didn’t stray off the paths!

Sad. Finally I had found a country with beach’s coming close to the beauty of Australian beaches. But you can only look at them here – not go on them. Very few of the beaches are cleared of mines.

War – the gift that keeps on giving!

Big beaches with great white sand and lovely vegetation around the edges. The dunes were really well vegetated with gorse, and huge rocky outcrops. Further away were expose sand dunes.

And lots of bird life – Upland geese were beautiful and many Magellan Penguins.

A mob of Peals Dolphins came and played close in for quiet a while.

So I can tick off another kind of Dolphin.

They are a large dolphin like ours but with pale grey sides.

They were so relaxed and just out for a Friday cruise.

Gypsy Cove was pretty spectacular. The Dolphins stayed with us for an hour.

We then headed back to the ship to get into our civi clothing and headed into the big smoke of Port Stanley.

4th March, Port Stanley The Falklands. 51°41,5´S   57°49,4´W

Who would have thought? Port Stanley is awesome. Not to live in….just to visit. It has a population of 2,200 people…but to visit. 2,500 in the whole Falklands. But the town is amazing.

“More British than Britain” is the saying, and yes indeed. No influence from Europe or US. It was a bit like an episode of something like “Heartbeat” set in rural England in the 60’s.

All ‘those’ words fit… cute, quaint, charming! They fit perfectly here.

The place is tiny and full of tourist shops. The houses are also very small and all the same with stunning gardens. Many places have green houses ranging from garden shed size to most of the back yard.

Almost all of the cars were Land Rovers.

There were three small ships in today. The Silver Seas was one of them. It’s the super expensive cruise line – but not a real expedition ship - a super sail by ship. And some were just a bit snooty.

Cruisers normally all talk to each other. Helen struck up a conversation with two ladies. …well tried too, it was like pulling teeth and seemed like Helen was asking for their bank account details. They thought we were Russian spies.

We walked into the post office and there was a lady buying stamps. She was also from the other ship. She carried on about the stamp she wanted, demanding this one not that one, and then complained that her change was not shiny enough. As I was about to be served a man from that ship (cause they had their jackets on) just cut in and wanted info about buying a phone card and how much it cost per minute. He was not at all happy that the post office lady could not answer his questions. There was much rolling of eyes and huffing when he was told he had to go to the phone shop to find that out. He was not a happy man. We thought it was very funny! Again like a TV show.

I do believe I picked the correct ship to travel on!

The Christ Church Cathedral was lovely. One of the main tourist attractions, and the southernmost Anglican cathedral in the world. Its famous whalebone arch was lovely.

We went and ‘paid our respects’ to Maggie Thatcher and the war memorial, the Cathedral, strolled along the waterfront looking at birds and things.

Everyone from town was lovely and friendly. Got lots of the classic “Hey Yah's" when I said hello to people. So pommy. The gardens really were stunning and very “English Garden”.

The museum was great. Well worth a visit. Historical, animal life and war stuff.

We watched a short film on the war, filmed through the eyes of the kids that were there. Very sad. I didn’t realize so many kids were killed. They talked about hiding in their houses and peeking out the windows as the Argentinians stormed each house. Then living in the hills, and digging trenches.

Then a group of us met up at a tiny “English Pub” for drinks and lunch. The Poms all said it was “rubbish” but we loved it. The menu was Fish and Chips. I think they also did Chips and Fish…but that was it. I had a pint of some lovely English brew. We all had to drink bottled beer as the “ship hadn’t made it yet” so there was no draft. Lots of the expedition staff joined us. One person wanted a white wine and asked if this was a “Dry White”.

“Well, its wine in’t it!” was the response.

When Jonathon, the expedition left, I gave the seven hoots and yelled “Abandon Ship!” We all had to rush down the hill and around the corner to get the 3.30 bus back to the ship.

Much fun was had in Port Stanley.

Sail away out through The Narrows was lovely. Past Gypsy Cove but those dammed dolphins were not there to see us off.

And AGAIN! Quick, time for a 20 minute sleep before the 6pm recap meeting.

“Crackle, Crackle ……Whales at 11 o’clock. Sei Whales!” Three of them and many more way out.

OK, I didn't really need a sleep. It is great fun! A mob of us rushed out, all pulling on warm gear then start searching. “There,.......over there,......eight o’clock”, “There, .....there, ......way out!” Lots of laughing. Then we all laugh about who will go in first and be the one to miss out when another pops up.  I saw a new whale! Twice more that evening we saw whales. Another Sei, then a Southern Right. It waved its tail at us, and rolled over and waved a fin!

Yep. Yet another great day.

5th March, West Point Island, The Falklands.       51°20,0´S    60°34,4´W

Our last day of landing adventures today on this amazing expedition.

We sailed through the night and arrived at West Point Island in the morning.

West Point has been owned by the same family since the Brits claimed The Falklands, and has been farmed by each generation.

Many years ago the owners realized the Black Browed Albatross rookery and the Rock Hopper Penguin rookery were worth a lot more money through eco tourism then sheep farming. They opened up their place to the small cruise ships as a place to visit.

The ship parked about one k off shore and in we went in the Zodiac to a very sheltered bay on the leeward side of the island.

There was their house and set up. Wind generator and all. Totally off the grid apart from one phone line - an expensive satellite phone.

A few years ago the owners retired and had no family interested in running the business. They found a couple who were sailing the world. No fixed address. Tick has been travelling in his yacht for the past 35 years and met Kiki 27 years ago in the Bahamas. They have travelled the world ever since.

Kiki and Tick have settled down for a few years and are running the place.

They are – in perfect conditions – a few days’ sail from Port Stanley. They see about 40 expedition ships during the season. In the six months winter they see the food barge every six to eight weeks. They have a bad phone line and have very slow dial up Internet that costs a lot per minute. That’s it!

That’s isolated.

We landed, then headed off on our two and a half k walk to the rookeries. (There was a land rover shuttle for the people who couldn’t do the walk).

After the first huge hill, it was lovely. Through very bare grassland but lovely views and heaps of amazingly beautiful patches of moss and peat.

The whole island was originally covered in tussocks. But that was all long gone from grazing. The owners had been re generating the tussocks and near the rookery it was going really well. So over years it will spread back.

The tussocks were beautiful. They looked a lot like ‘Red Hot Pokers’ and were around two metres high. It grew out of a buttress lump maybe 400mm square.

We headed off through the tussocks to see the rookery’s. The Aussies had many discussions comparing this to walking through something like this in Australia. When someone told us the grass was good to use as a handle we all nearly had a heart attack. "Didn't they know that it would slash you to shreds if you grabbed it!"  And there were no snakes or spiders. Nothing to hurt you at all. But the grass was beautifully, soft and strong. I did feel terrible climbing and smashing all over this regeneration area though. Leaves snapped off and feet crushed new growth.

This kind of 'bush walking' was not for the faint hearted. The ground was very uneven and slippery, and totally hidden from view. If you stumbled it was only 500mm till you crashed into the next tussock - and stumble I did. But never actually fell down.

There was a lot of laughing, sliding, falling and making of Elephant hunting jokes. And of course looking at the awesome cliffs.

So we headed off down the paths to see the rookery’s. Our ‘path’, and I use that term incredibly loosely – it was more like a general direction -  took us down to a group of Black Browed Albatross nests with chicks so huge and cute. The nests are like cane baskets made of mud and were overflowing with great grey fluffy balls with flapping mouths waiting for food. They were almost the size of the adults – without the wings.

An adult would arrive, and they would all try to convince it that they were the true child, the one who deserved to be fed. The adults looked quiet confused as they walked past all the others on their way to their chick. Could be something to do with the fact they were Black-Browed Albatross with their cute eyebrows giving them a constantly cross expression.

The second rookery was another half kilometre further on and was quiet hilarious. They said it was only for the fit people…but fitness was nothing to do with it. It was for the sure-footed people (as there was absolutely no path) …but I went anyway. Far from sure-footed but oh well. There were Rockhopper Penguins to see. And it was so worth it. So much falling into holes and getting feet tangled in the very long tussock grass. It took 30 minutes each way.

But it took us near the Rockhopper Penguin rookery. These are the “Punks” of the penguin world. They have a great hairdo with black spikes on top, yellow eyebrows and yellow tufts above each ear. Their bright red beaks and red eyes give them a look that is loaded with attitude.

So very cool. They live really high up the cliffs and go up and down performing a two footed jump from rock to rock. Again adding to the tough guy image. No messing around stumbling like other penguins!

It was then back through the tussocks. Hard work, but such fun. And with no path at all it was just pushing through and slipping around. The few creeks and mud holes did cause a few detours. Although their feet stayed dry I don't know how the people managed in muck boots and expedition parkers. We thought we were so funny and so original with our Elephant Hunter and Gunga Din photos….but every one took a similar shot!

It was then the walk back across the grassing land – again lovely. Through the peat bogs, and across the most amazing soft green grass growing on top of spongy bogs. Many of the moss balls looked like the Troll things in the 'Frozen' movie. Again leaving footprints in this delicate vegetation made me shiver. I will admit I did grab a lift in the Land Rover back down the steep hill. I would probably still be shuffling my way down if not!

Part of the visit is the famous afternoon tea, so down to the house for a huge spread of cakes and slices and cups of tea in a Jolly British house with lovely fine bone china. And a walk around the lovely gardens.

The place was stunning with great views everywhere you looked. A whale blowing off in the distance, their yacht mooring in the bay.

It was then a bit sad to hop into a zodiac for our last zodiac trip. As we had a jetty they even put out the Red Carpet. But there was n relaxing from the expedition staff. One person went to step in without their life jacket on properly. This was spotted in their safety scan. 

When we got back it was a BBQ lunch up on deck. Lovely. Until the ship got moving and the huge winds picked up. When our tablecloth started flapping so much our plates were jumping and glasses blowing over, we packed up. As in  - packed up our table and helped the guys bring stuff in.

Our zodiacs were then deflated and rolled up – pilled up like black sausage rolls. The motors are all strapped onto a bar and petrol cans and safety gear stowed. This was the last trip of the season and after dropping us the ship will make its way up to the Arctic for that season.

By the time we got inside, the ship was listing ‘a lot’ to starboard and we had fun playing ‘try walking up the hill’.

I them went and had a shower. Which was not a clever idea when the ship was really leaning to one side. I looked down and saw the water rushing to one side of the shower. I tried scooping it into the drain with my foot but I’m afraid the flood got away from me and poured – not trickled – over the 5cm lip and into the bathroom. The bathroom was under water! Lucky there was another 5cm lip to the bedroom. Mind you, I later walked into the bathroom with bare feet and whoops – the carpet was wet!

I tried to have a rest……..but Yep. You guessed it!

“Commerson's Dolphin" at 10 o’clock!” Right outside my window! But when I saw how amazing they were I had to find clothes and run out. OMG! These guys were amazing. Really white with black heads and patches. Like a reverse Orca. And really round and sweet. Only 1.5 metres long and so pretty! They are only found in two isolated locations!

Best Dolphins ever! They played around the ship for ages.

And came back later for a quick visit.

After dark we saw heaps of Squid Boats out on the horizon. Their giant lights shinning. I tried calling out to warn the squid that it was a trick and to stay away from the light…but not sure if they heard. The huge number of boats and the size of the lights was depressing.

Another fantastic day. Falklands were surprisingly amazing!

NOW FOR 4 SEA DAYS

6th, 7th, 8th and 9th March, South Atlantic Ocean.

Sea days. Relaxing, lectures and socialising.

Music trivia. The entertainer played a song and we had to give all sorts of answers – name, who wrote it, what country were they from etc. Some very hard ones…….Who knew 'Roll out the Barrel' had a real name?

We lost by one point. Yay for us! But we did win the crowd vote when I ran outside and started running in slow motion past the windows for Chariots of Fire! Much hilarity, yelling and cheering. We have converted a few of our US friend to the Aussie way of cheering and heckling! Good job us!

I had to take groups out and show them the southern stars. Of course the Southern Cross was the 'star' attraction. And seeing Orion stand on his head! They were not aware of that. The Milky Way was bright as! So clear and thick. Like in the movies. Pretty special.

We had lots of lectures - formation of the earth, Global Warming, the Southern Ocean (Did you know that the deepest part is 8264 m in the South Sandwich Trench – almost the depth of the Mariana’s trench?), and of course future cruises............Before I came on this trip I know that I was going to do an Arctic trip at some stage. I knew I was going to do a Greenland Iceland trip. Now I am so confused as to which trip to do? They all look brilliant. But Svalbard is the one with all the Polar Bears and Walrus! And Franz Josef Land is even better. Oh boy. So many options!

We saw more whales – Fin Whales. And lots and lots of Albatross, and more dolphins today. Long Beaked Common Dolphins. A group swam by them one chased us and swam beside us for a minute. It then turned and swam right under the ship. Then it came back around and swam with us. Lovely.

We had a Polar Trivia quiz. That was fun. The McMurdock Base (USA) supplies 16,000 condoms a year for staff use!

The tally count has been phenomenal.

Baleen Whales – Humpback, Minke, Fin, Southern Right, Sie and Blue.

Toothed Whales, Orca,  Hourglass Dolphin, Peale's Dolphin, Commonson's Dolphin, Dusky Dolphin, Long Beaked Common Dolphin. 

Seals - South American Fur Seals, Crab Eater Seals, Weddell Seals, Elephant Seals and Leopard. All of them!

Penguins - Magellan, Gentoo, Chinstraps, Kings, Adele, Rock Hoppers and Macaroni. AND I saw every one of them!

Dinner was outside on the deck on the second last night. Lovely. But also very sad. We wore tee shirt. No jackets, no scarf, no hat! The weather is warm! Tomorrow will be too warm and the next day I will be sweating and bleating about the stinking heat. Amazing food. We even had a whole pig! And finally got a great sunset.

We had a final meeting to recap the trip, to presented certificates to the kayakers. And to announced the winner of the photo competition. Everyone was asked to submit their three best photos.

The staff said it was the best collection of photos that had ever seen. And there were some really serious photographers on board. A few were professionals who ran web sites, designers etc. Then everyone had to vote.

The photo voted as the best by “a huge margin” was my photo! Attack. 

Pretty exciting! 

We did lots of chatting in the afternoon – and had a few drinks.

We did a group photos and a lowering for my flag. Then I got all the Expedition Staff and the other important people - like our waiters and bar staff and the Captain to sign the flag.

We then had the Captains cocktail party with a few speeches. The staff all said that we were a fantastic group, so much fun, so friendly, and that some of us really got the crowd going. And we were!

Dinner and bed.

So that’s it! My Antarctic cruise is over. There really are not enough words.

As for Poseidon Expeditions. And the Sea Spirit.

I couldn't believe how good they were and I had nothing to fault. 

The staff were amazing. The expedition staff were all highly qualified including the few PhDs, and so experienced. They were so willing to share their knowledge and never tired of questions - even when someone asked if the seals regurgitated the fish to feed the babies. They were fantastic at helping those of us who were less capable physically, were clumsy or slow. 
The bar and wait staff were also great. Very funny and so good at their jobs. Alcohol pries were great. Under $10 for a strong cocktail.
We didn't have a lot to do with the sailors - but when we did we were literally putting our lives into their hands. Getting into and out of the zodiacs could have been hard, especially in rough seas - but it wasn't. They made it so easy. Even on the day that the zodiac was going a full metre above and below the marina.
The ship was so comfortable. Soft beds, great showers, fantastic communal spaces. Great viewing decks.  Open bridge was great.
The food was great. A good variety each meal. Vegetarians were really well catered for. I don't know how they did it, but we had fresh fruit and vegetables for the whole voyage.  The baker/deserts and the soup chef were a bit too good! Far too much nice food.
Over all - they were brilliant. I don't know why this isn't rated as a luxury ship - maybe that you paid for drinks.  But it was brilliant.

NOW CLICK ON TH E BUENOS AIRES TAB.