Two days of cruising through the Beagle Channel from Ushuaia, and further East brings you the Falkland Islands, which after the Argentine/ English war and occupation of 1982, are now English again. The Argentines refer to these islands as the Malvinas; and both sides strongly and openly believe that they belong to them!
Now, to be quiet honest, I wasn’t expecting too much from these Islands, for no real reasons except ignorance really. Our first landing was at Westpoint Island- a tiny island in the north west of the archipelago. Our small cruise ship of just over 100 passengers anchored and we set off in our groups on the zodiacs to shore. We had a 2.5km one way walk to the black browed albatross and rockhopper penguin colony. The little bit of rain stopped and we had pretty good weather while visiting- however the rain poured down much more on our return walk.
These albatrosses make their nests from mud and plant material and return to their nest year on year. Both males and females incubate the single egg that is laid. The chicks are grey and covered in fluffy down feathers.
Rockhopper penguins- belong to the crested penguins and lay two eggs, though only one chick usually survives. Both parents incubate the egg. You will note from the photos that these little rockhopper penguins have a hefty climb from the sea up to their nests!
After the walk and colony experience we were all invited for cakes and biscuits by the couple who look after and farm on this island. The lady baked 26 different varieties of cakes and snacks by herself for 150 people!!! This is all by herself- and she does so for the 40 cruise ships that will be hosted by her during the season!
Our second landing for the day is at Saunder’s Neck. The weather starts off with some rain and even a bit of lightning- a rarity in the Falklands. However, it clears up to magnificent blue skies and beautiful warm weather! This island contains colonies of Magallenic (burrowing) penguins, northern Gentoo penguins and a small number of King Penguins, three of whom are moulting. Penguins are coming from both sides of the neck from the ocean after feeding- and it is great to just sit around and watch them as they waddle onto the beach. The chicks are already pretty large, though some penguins are still sitting on eggs. It’s most likely that these will not hatch.
We come back in the late afternoon, and head straight out towards Stanley- capital of the Falklands and situated on the eastern Island. We do this in order to sail away from a storm coming towards us. We dock in Stanley the next morning at 4am. A bus is organised to Gypsy Cove, which I skip as it is cold, windy and raining outside- which doesn’t go well with my cold I have had since day 1 ! I decided to go out on the shuttle bus at 10am- which is fantastic as the weather clears and we have yet more blue skies for the rest of the day!
I spend nearly a couple of hours at the museum, with interesting natural, maritime, historical and general displays. The museum is well presented and describes some funny stories too. Stanley was a very important stop for the ships of yester-year that came around Cape Horn needing repairs and stocking up. This was all prior to the opening of the Panama Canal. In the afternoon a group does a walking tour and even later there is an option to do a walking bird tour. I didn’t opt into this one as I wanted to spend some more time walking the streets and seeing the old houses and streets of the town.
I am happy to find out that there are regular flights to the Falklands from the UK and once per week from Santiago de Chile.
3 replies on “Falklands/ Malvinas Islands”
Widze, ze pogoda Ci sprzyja! Oby tak dalej. Ile ten lot na Falklandy kosztuje? Telefoniczne budki prosto z Londynu ! Wogole mi sie tam podoba!
So interesting! I too am short on knowledge of the Fal;klands, but find the corrugated iron buildings reminiscent of those in the mining town of Pilgrims’ Rest in Mpumalanga, and wonder if they mined in Falklands and, if so, what did they mine? Although Pilgrims Rest has now been abandoned, it was a heritage site, but who cares in RSA? I love flowers and notice the beauties in your photos and wonder about the orange tall ones I know as RED HOT POKERS. To my knowledge they are indigenous to RSA.
I mention my birding regret to you in case the birding bug bites you also one day. My regret is that I spent 13 years in what is now Zambia with birding parents and brother and I had no interest then. Many of those birds are not to be seen anywhere but there, and I’ve missed out big time! Even though You may not be interested now, you are visiting countries we in RSA are not likely to see, except at prohibitive expense, so keep a note of their names and the habitat in which you find them and put it away for someday when the bug may bite. You will have a phenomenal life list ready made to build onto. I so enjoy your blog, Joanna.
Thanks Pam!! I am not into birding per se- not a hard core list ticking type 🙂 …like you say though that could change in the future. However this trip has definitely made me appreciate them so much more- their glory and beauty!!