New Year's Eve and Day at Saunders Island and West Point, Falkland Islandw

It is New Year’s Eve and we are at Saunders Island, Falkland Islands, getting ready for another wet landing to see some penguins. Here we are told that we can see four species- Gentoo, Magellenic, Rockhopper, and King penguins.

Gentoos at the beach

We are excited, because this represents 3 new species for us. Unlike other landings on rocky shores in Antarctica, Saunders Island has a sandy beach for easy walking. W

King penguin colony

e land and are immediately greeted by a colony of Gentoos and one of the owners of the island, a lady who calls herself Bippo. Bippo told us that she had lived on the island her entire life and that it was currently home to 5 residents.

Preening Kings

She had souvenirs for sale from the back of her Land Rover and Jane would not be denied. Moving on we came to the magnificent King penguins.

King yearling (brown fuzz)

The colony is small, and we found these stately birds brooding eggs that were laid in November. Within the group we found a yearling chick that will fledge in January or February. The chick is big, brown, and furry and nothing like the adults. After the chicks hatch, they form crèches or kindergartens where all of the chicks stay together. They form protective, dense, fur-like feathers and stay in the middle of the colony, surrounded by the adults, during the winter.

A Rockhopper eyes the situation

The following summer they fledge and become adults. The chick we saw was as large as any of the adults, but bore no resemblance whatsoever. Joining a hiking group, we scaled a rather challenging hill to see the Rockhoppers.

Grumpy, grumpy!

Along the way we encountered some Magellenic penguins which form burrows in the ground for nesting.

Jane and a whale skeleton

While the Kings are statelier, the crested Rockhoppers are the coolest.

Surf's up, dude!

They seemed inquisitive and approached humans to check them out. We watched these birds for awhile, and then started to descend back down to the beach.

Magellenic penguins in their burrows

To us it seemed strange to have such a beautiful beach, but never have conditions that would allow one to use it, let alone swim in the water.

Back aboard we had lunch while the captain repositioned the ship to nearby Westpoint Island.

Devil's Nose

At Westpoint we had a dry landing, but there was a 1.2 mile hike to the nesting areas which would likely make Capt. Larry’s knees groan a little bit. However, the keepers of the island had two Land Rovers they were going to use to shuttle those who needed a ride.

Albatross and Rockhopper with chicks

Since we were in the first group to land, we decided to use the shuttle. The nesting areas were on the side of cliffs referred to as the Devil’s Nose and are higher than the Dover Cliffs in England. We descended a little way down the cliff and found a nesting area that was cohabitated with Black-browed albatrosses and Rockhopper penguins.

Rockhopper chick

Each species had chicks that recently hatched and we enjoyed watching them interact for a while. The albatrosses are huge birds with a adult wingspans 6-7 feet, and build sturdy nests of mud and grass.

Black-browed albatrosses

The group was noisy, but all of the birds generally seemed to tolerate each other with the aggressive Rockhoppers occasionally fighting among themselves. We climbed back up the cliff as the hikers were arriving and rode back to the keeper’s house.

Tissa's spread

The island is owned by an elderly gentleman who recently entered a nursing home. The keepers are a sailing couple who have sailed around the world 7 times over 30 years in their little sailboat, and became acquainted with the owner several years ago.

Jane in the garden

They manage the sheep ranch between sailing excursions whidh are primarily at the higher southern latitudes. Tissa, the wife, had prepared an impressive spread of cookies, scones, sweetbreads, coffee, and tea for her visitors. We tendered back to our ship, and when all were aboard and we were underway, we spotted another sailboat entering the harbor. We were sure that the company would be welcomed and that there were lots of leftover goodies to share.

Our expedition leader announced that the captain had decided to immediately sail for Ushuaia to avoid the brunt of a severe storm that would be entering the waters between Argentina and the Falklands in the next 24 hours. Viewing the weather maps, we had to agree.

Happy New Year's Herb and Lorrine

This would put us back in Ushuaia a full day ahead of schedule.

George and Cynthia get happy

We were wondering what we would do with this extra time when the expedition announced that a bus tour of Tierra del Fuego’s national park would be offered.

The champagne keeps flowing

Turning our attention to New Year's Eve, we celebrated with our friends with an eight course dinner that stretched almost to midnight. Our sommelier started to freely distribute the champagne, and we were starting to feel really bubbly.

Everbody's happy

We retired to the piano bar for the final countdown and danced, drank, and laughed with everyone.

Too much fun!

At midnight, there was an international countdown with the final count called out in 10 different languages.

Lou brings in the new year!

Lou, the piano man, played Auld Ang Syne at midnight, and there was a whole lotta kissin' goin' on.

Happy New Year, Sweetie!

We made good time through the night and into the next afternoon for our day at sea. Just before dinner, however, we encountered 50 mph winds which generated 6-8 foot seas. By dinnertime the boat’s speed was cut in half, it was rocking, and Jane started to get seasick. Out came the green apples, ginger ale and cookies, and the drugs. By the time dinner was through she was a little better, but opted to head straight to bed.

Jane and our butler

Touring Stanlely and Remembering the 1982 Falkland Islands War

Arriving at Stanley early the next morning, we anchored in the bay and waited for clearance from local authorities before going ashore.

We hit Port Stanley

Tendering to the dock, we were greeted at the visitor’s center, given a map of the city, and provided with information regarding places to shop, eat, and drink a pint.

The Anglican cathedral

Our first mission was to go to the post office to send some Antarctica post cards with the Falkland Island stamp and cancellation on it, but on our way Jane got us sidetracked into some gift shops.

Cathedral sanctuary

After we had made some purchases, we headed on our way, only to stop and see a number of landmarks. Our first stop was the beautiful Christ’s Anglican Church Cathedral which was established in 1892. We were awed by the church’s beauty and history. The cathedral plays an important role in Stanley’s prominence.

The church's organ

We learned that even though Stanley only as 2,114 residents (2006 census data- current estimates are around 3,200) it is classified as a city because it has this cathedral, and it is the southernmost cathedral in the world. Ushuaia calls itself the southernmost city, and is much larger than Stanley, based purely on population tallies.

Blue whale jawbone memorial

In any event, there will always be competition between Argentina and the Falkland Islands, because of protracted disputes between the two countries over ownership of the islands. In fact, this dispute escalated in 1982 with Argentinean occupation of the Falklands and a subsequent invasion by Great Britain to retake the islands and expel the Argentineans. But more on that later. Starting with the cathedral, and throughout the city, we found many memorials commemorating the actions and sacrifices the residents and British military personnel made during this and other conflicts. There were many commemorative plaques inside the cathedral, but outside was a large memorial that was made from two blue whale jawbones.

As we made our way toward the post office, we were delighted to find a very large number of flowering plants and shrubs, the numerous varieties of which were totally unexpected.

Blooming flowers in summer

The residents of Stanley must take immense pride in their gardens and greenhouses, because we saw so many that were very neat and finely kept.

Marine memorial

We passed a marine memorial, a shipwreck in the harbor, the governor’s house, and the police station before we finally reached the post office. Outside the post office we saw an artifact from another era, a payphone booth.

Is this the party to whom I'm speaking?

These are updated versions, however, as one can make a call with a credit card. We later learned that all calls used to be routed through Argentina via a cable link to the mainland, but since the 1982 war, calls are now made using satellites which deprive Argentina of tax revenue they used to collect.

At the post office

However, with fewer than 4,000 residents scattered over the 70 islands that make up the Falklands, it is doubtful that the tax revenue was ever very substantial, but it does further serve to sever all ties between two countries.

Everyone picks up their mail

Inside the post office we realized that there must not be any mail delivery and residents have to pick up their mail from their mailboxes. We asked the clerk if they took a credit card for postage and were told no which contradicts what we were told by the ship’s purser. However, they would gladly take U.S. dollars. We had 16 post cards and the total came $18 to mail them back to the states. Postal cancellations from the Falklands are highly sought after by philatelists around the world, because they are so rare, and we were glad that we could get our cards mailed. We also asked the clerk if she could give us a postage cancellation stamp for our national parks stamp book, and she was glad to oblige.

We were told by the expedition leader that if we showed our stateroom keycard at the museum we could get in free.

Pharmacy in the museum

We left the post office and walked a short distance to the museum which had a number of exhibits describing Stanley’s historic past. And of course, there was a major display about the Falklands war with Argentina. One display we found revealing was about the results of a referendum where Falklanders voted their choice of governance. Election results showed 92.4% of the population voted and 98.2% cast their lot to remain British.

Old dental office

With these results, these citizens started down the path toward self-determination while remaining aligned with Great Britain. To see that these results are carried out a contingent of about 1500 British soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen are now continuously maintained in the islands. As we were leaving the museum there was a conspicuously large donation box that contained a large amount of U.S. dollars, and which our fellow passengers leaving with us were feverishly feeding. We made our contribution, but after walking down the block a ways and finishing the conversion to British pounds, we decided that it probably would have been less expensive to have just paid the admission price.

Walking back to Stanley’s central district we met some friends and decided to have some lunch. Capt. Larry wanted some authentic British style fish and chips, so we found a café that had that dish and accepted USD.

Yearning for a pint of bitters

We enjoyed our fish and chips and a bottled beer, but later learned back on the ship from passengers from Great Britain who had also eaten there, that the dish wasn’t really very good, although they couldn’t really convincingly tell us why.

Inside the pub,  but no pint!

The ship’s expedition team had arranged for a guided tour of Stanley and a visit to some of the 1982 conflict’s battle sites. We had about one-half hour to kill before the tour started, so we dashed into a nearby pub, hoping to have a pint of stout, bitters or whatever. The pub was classically British, but they had only bottled and no draft beer.

Weird surface rock formations

We were told that it costs too much to ship beer kegs back and forth, so bottles only- and then only Heineken, Stella Artois, and Budweiser Light!

British helicopter engine

After finishing our drinks, we boarded our bus and started our tour. The tour of Stanley was short and confined to the same street we had been on for our trip to the museum. Outside of Stanley we observed some really strange rock formations that resembled streams or tributaries that were separated by grassy patches, and were told that these formations are deep, non-volcanic, non-glacial deposits, and have geologists stumped as to how they were formed.

The spoils of war

They were everywhere and presented a difficult terrain for fighting troops to traverse. The battle site tour shortly became pretty boring, and with lunch, a couple of drinks, and a droning guide, it wasn’t too long before we and many others on the bus were bobble heading ourselves asleep. Our take on war is that it was short and the British troops prevailed convincingly. We tendered back to the ship and learned that we were way ahead of schedule and would likely be returning to Ushuaia a day early. All of these decisions are based on the weather forecasts, and it looked like we were going to be in an area with 50-60 kt. winds and 20+ ft. seas, if we lingered. Since we learned that we would be having two landings tomorrow, we had dinner and went to bed early.

Another Calm Drake Passage Crossing and Wedding Bells Brings Us to Port Stanley, Falkland Islands

Antarctica has the potential to become a politically hot topic, because of the way it is administered. Originally 8 countries laid claim to sections of the continent, some of which overlapped. These claims were never recognized by the U.S. and Russia which forced the United Nations to develop a separate solution.

Another smooth Drake crossing

The Antarctic Treaty of 1959, signed by some 60 countries, provided a peaceful resolution as to how the land was to be administered. The agreement stipulated that the continent was to be used for peaceful scientific research. The original claims were suspended and various countries could maintain a presence by establishing research stations. The stations from any one country can be in any of the originally claimed sectors, and the U.S., with its Scott-Amundsen base at the South Pole, has a station in every sector. Some of the research stations are minimally used, but abandonment of a station diminishes the opportunity to place a claim should the treaty be ended at some future point. All of the countries involved do things like issue postage, maintain historical and citizen burial sites, post placards marking historic incidents that involve their citizenry, and so on.

The captain starts the wedding

Like the Arctic, Antarctica has rich resources that countries may want to exploit someday, so the final chapter on the future of this land is waiting to be written.

As we sailed toward the Falklands, we were being treated to another exceptionally smooth crossing. At noon on our first day at sea, an announcement was made that we would be in Stanley the next morning. Normally a crossing takes a good two days, but we were told that with a stiff tailwind and unexpectedly calm seas, we were going to set a record for the fastest crossing in the line’s history. We spent the morning attending a lecture on bird migrations, had dinner outside at the ship’s aft deck grill, and napped and worked on the blog in the afternoon.

Patti & Lou exchange vows

As we were starting to get ready for dinner, there was a knock on our cabin door. Jane answered, closed the door, and announced that the wedding was going to be at 1930 in the ship's bridge.

Jane is all happy

We, along with another small group of passengers, were invited to attend the wedding of Lou and Patti who hailed from Austin, TX. Actually, Lou and Patti were married about a month before the cruise, but they wanted a more formal ceremony that what they received from the justice of the peace in Austin. We reported to the bridge at the appointed time and joined the rest of the wedding party. The ceremony started simply with a reading by one of the officers about the meaning of marriage, before it was turned over to the captain for the exchange of the vows.

The captain and the newlyweds

When it was all over, champagne was served. We were asked to sit at Lou and Patti's table that evening for dinner. We had a delicious meal which the chef topped off with a wedding cake for the table. Jane swears that the cake was only baked while we were eating, with the galley not knowing that a wedding had been performed earlier.

Real funny!

After dinner, we had drinks with friends and the wedding party in the piano bar before turning in. We made a joke about being disturbed by our butler when we were being intimate which lead to our friends from Phoenix, George and Cynthia, to post a note outside our door requesting more frequent servicing of our room! The humor escaped us. We were really forming some very close friendships and it amazed us how we were associated with such a small group that were all happy and having just as much fun as we were.

Early the next morning we approached Port Stanley, way ahead of schedule due to the calm conditions. An announcement was made that the crossing did indeed set a new record as the fastest in the cruise line's history. It also caused us to wonder how we were going to spend the extra time.

We found a large rock outside the harbor with a beacon to warn of its position.The rock is famous for causing shipwrecks.

Avoiding the big rock

Port Stanley

Inside the harbor we were greeted with an amazing burst of color from the multi-colored roofs and houses in Stanley. It was a very captivating sight, and after visiting Antarctica with it's predominately black, white and blue colors, we enjoyed the influence of civilization again.

Ship names laid in rock

Stanley cemetery

On the opposite side of the harbor, we saw a number of rock messages that spelled out the names of ships, we believe all of British heritage, that had visited the port over the years. Along the waterfront we located the Stanley cemetery, which we figured was prominently displayed to demonstrate British graves to the Argentineans who still lay claim to the islands. With the ship anchored, we got ready to tender ashore.

The Anglican cathedral

Colorful Stanley