The climate of the islands
is cold and windy. Rainfall is common over half of the year, averaging 24
inches in Stanley, and sporadic light snowfall occurs nearly all year. Historically
the temperature stays between 12-70 degrees Fahrenheit with strong westerly
winds and cloudy skies very common. There are shrubs but no indigenous
trees and most of the islands are grass covered.
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| Typical landscape of the Falklands |
As Captain Nick
Nash slowly maneuvered the 141,000 ton, 1,083-foot-long Royal Princess into the
harbor, I felt considerable relief and great fortune that the weather decided
to cooperate. Poor weather conditions the
days prior to our arrival had forced other ships to bypass this often-evasive little
port.
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| Captain Nick Nash Photo: PD |
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| Royal Princess anchored at Stanley, Falklands |
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| Enjoying the 'brisk' air of Stanley, Falklands |
Port Stanley
requires ship tenders to transfer passengers ashore. From our anchor point battle sites are visible
from the 1982 Falkland Liberation War.
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| Pulling into the jetty at Stanley |
The town of
Stanley was a former remote whaling outpost and even today has a meager population
under 2,500. With the arrival of
the Royal Princess Stanley's population was going to double in size with the influx of 3,600 passengers plus 1,300 crew members.
I stepped off the
tender at 9:30am and immediately could feel the British influence in this quaint little town. I was eager to explore further but my
first order of business would be to purchase a bus ticket to Gypsy Cove to
view Magellanic penguin colonies. In addition to the Magellanic penguins, the Falklands are
home to over one million penguins including Gentoo, Rockhopper, Macaroni and King penguins.
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| Gentoo Penguin |
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| Rockhopper Penguin |
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| Macaroni Penguin |
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| King Penguin |
The Magellanic penguin is a medium-sized penguin growing to be somewhere between 24-30 inches tall and weighing between 6-14 pounds. Males are larger than the femals with adults sporting black backs and white abdomens. There are two black bands between the head and the breast, with the lower band shaped in an inverted horseshoe. The head is black with a broad white border that runs from behind the eye, around the black ear-coverts and chin and joins at the throat. The Magellanic penguin can live up to 25 years in the wild.
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| Magellanic Penguin |
For you bird enthusiasts, the Falklands offer Dark-faced Ground Tyrants, Upland Geese, Long-tailed Meadowlarks, Black-crowned Night Herons, Rock Cormorants, Falklands Thrush, Flightless Steamer Ducks and many other
species.
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| Dark-faced Ground Tyrants |
|
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| Upland Goose |
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| Long-tailed meadowlark |
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| Black-crowned night Heron |
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| Rock Cormorants |
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| Falkland Thrush |
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| Flightless Steamer Ducks |
Finding where to
purchase shuttle bus tickets was pretty simple.
The jetty is very small and I found the people of Stanley to be
extremely friendly, helpful and genuinely glad that we had arrived.
You can not reserve
a ticket for the shuttle ahead of time. Tickets
are first come, first served. Simply get in line, pay your $20, receive your
ticket and board the next available shuttle bus. They operate
continuously while the ship is in town and depart when the bus is full. They also have a classic Double Decker London
Bus. The ride out to Gypsy Cove took
under 30 minutes and provides some nice views of Stanley and the surrounding
area.
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| Penguin Travel classic double decker London bus |
With the Falklands being
home to five different Penguin species, almost half a million Penguin breeding
pairs are thought to live on the islands and over 80% of the entire world’s
population of black-browed albatross nest on the
islands.
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| Black-browed albatross |
Feel free to spend as much time as you like at Gypsy Cove. Simply board
the first available shuttle back to the jetty. You will find them to be numerous, run continuously, departing when full. You will find both groomed and dirt paths and
I found an hour here was quite adequate. A nice addition is the restroom trailer located at the shuttle pickup
area. Don’t forget to take along your
binoculars.
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| Bathroom trailer at drop-off and pick-up point at Gypsy Cove |
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| Groomed walkways down toward the penguin colonies |
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| Magellanic penguin colony at Gypsy Cove |
Once back at Gypsy Cove you will be dropped at the jetty next to the tender location. From here I headed down main street with
my sights set on a visit to the Dockyard Museum. Admission is FREE simply by presenting your cruise card.
You can certainly feel the British
influence as you make your way to the Dockyard Museum, passing Globe Tavern, Christ Church Cathedral, Whalebone Arch, Stanley Police Station and the Post Office. I especially liked the look and feel of the Post Office. Painted a sterile cream-color, sporting white trim, blue roof and black wrought iron accents. In front proudly stands two iconic red telephone boxes and a red mail drop, both synonymous with Britain.
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| Globe Tavern |
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| Local police |
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| Stanley Police Department |
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| Penguin News Building |
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| SS Great Britain Mizzan Mast |
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| Whalebone Arch and Christ Church Cathedral |
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| Stanley Post Office |
The walk to Dockyard Museum took under 10 minutes. The
first floor featured exhibits on the islands history while the upstairs portion was full of taxidermied
animals and remnants of ancient ships from some of the first explorers. One of my favorite displays was the Reclus Hut in the Antarctic Gallery. The hut and nearly all of it's contents are original. It was prefabricated in Stanley in 1956, then erected at Cape Reclus on the Antarctic Peninsula and used by the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey. It was subsequently offered to the Falkland Museum, dismantled, transported and reassembled in Stanley. The museum also offers a short 10-minute video about the Falkland Liberation War.
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| Museum grounds |
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| Museum grounds |
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| Museum grounds |
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| Inside Museum |
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| Inside Museum |
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| Inside Museum |
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| Inside Museum |
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| Inside Museum |
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| Reclus Hut at Cape Reclus Antartic Peninsula. Photo: PD |
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| Artist rendition of inside the Reclus Hut Photo: PD |
From the Dockyard Museum I made my way back to the jetty, turned right and walked up the hill a couple of short blocks until I came to the famous Victory Bar. This is a very small and quaint British-style pub. The name celebrates the re-taking of the island group from Argentina in the war of 1982. This was a fantastic little bar with tons of history and atmosphere. We met up with friends to enjoy some local fish and chips accompanied by local ale. It was a great end to a fantastic day of discovery on the Falklands.
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| Entrance sign to Victory Bar |
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| Inside Victory Bar |
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| Inside Victory Bar |
You can certainly feel the British
influence as you make your way to the Dockyard Museum, passing Globe Tavern, Christ Church Cathedral, Whalebone Arch, Stanley Police Station and the Post Office. I especially liked the look and feel of the Post Office. Painted a sterile cream-color, sporting white trim, blue roof and black wrought iron accents. In front proudly stands two iconic red telephone boxes and a red mail drop, both synonymous with Britain.
Thank you for the fowl pictures! I was reminded of a visit I made to Grimsey Island in the 90s. Half a world away north of Iceland, but oh the birds! Those birds were spectacular, and the odd birds, of a very different feather, who live there in isolation made quite an impression too. They live with isolation and foul weather like your Faulklanders.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sharon, for sharing. Reminded us of our trip there ten years ago. You take such great photos.
ReplyDelete