Jan. 20 & 21 Falkland Islands

Sunrise 5:38
Sunny High 11

We spent 36 hours full steam ahead to get from Elephant Island to the Falkland Islands. There was considerable rocking of the ship overnight but by the time we arrived in Stanley, the seas were calm.

We anchored in Port William Bay and took a 10 minute tender ride into Stanley. We travelled 25 minutes south west of the town over paved and gravel roads to Bluff Cove. This farm raises sheep and belted Galloway and has a thriving tourist business with its tours to see the penguins around the lagoon. Two smaller gentoo penguin rookeries were accessible to us. They were home to around 200 chicks that had hatched in November. They were still balls of fluff but were almost adult sized. We watched as one mother came back to the rookery calling for her chick. Two chicks that were hungry ran up to her to try to get fed. She kept trying to shoo them away to get to her own chick but they were very determined. 


There were flags marking where we could wander but the penguins don’t pay any attention to them. One came within inches of me as we stood still making way for it. 

The breeding cycle is different for the king penguins. Some of them still had eggs that they keeping warm while others had very small chicks tucked under their fold between their feet. There were only around 25 king penguins at this site. 


We walked to the beach and saw the penguins coming in from their feeding in the ocean. They were exhausted from the effort and dropped on the shore, gathering strength for the walk to the rookery. 


The owners have set up a cafe, gift shop and museum on the property. All the wool products in the shop were made with wool from the farm. Hattie, one of the owners, designs all the tweed patterns and sends the wool to England to be woven. The gift shop has many lovely items, nothing made in China and most either made or designed in the Falklands. She also bakes all of the sweets in the cafe. Everyone was offered tea, coffee or hot chocolate and any two of a variety of cookies, loaves, scones and cakes. She is a very busy woman as there were probably around 600 people on that tour over the course of the day. 

We wandered around town for a bit when the tour ended. We went into a grocery store to check our prices which were very high, except for the mutton. Fishing is now the number one industry in the Falklands. Tourism is the second most important source of income, followed by sheep. 

Children outside of Stanley do not attend school until the middle grades when they move to Stanley and stay in hostels supervised by house parents. Prior to that a travelling teacher goes to their homes for a two week stretch a couple of times a year and then they use radio or telephone to connect to teachers in Stanley. 

If a student wants to go to university, they have to pass the same exams as students in Britain. At 15, the government sends them to Britain to finish their secondary education. Their tuition and accommodation are paid for and they receive a living allowance and round trip tickets home twice a year. Once they get to university, they receive the same, except only one trip home a year. Ninety percent of the graduates return to the Falklands, but only after working for 2 years in their chosen field. They do not have to make any repayment, even if they do not return. 

The government looks after all medical care. There is a hospital in Stanley that has 4 doctors. If treatment is not available on the island, they are flown to Chile or the UK. All medical expenses are covered overseas, including post operative recovery in a hotel. Doctors from the UK come to the island to perform some procedures as that is more cost effective than sending patients overseas. 

I haven’t commented about food for a while. Tonight we dined onboard at a pop up restaurant, Morimoto by Sea. The Japanese high end dining experience was superb. The Angry Lobster Pad Thai was served sizzling on a cast iron plate. Lawrie’s chocolate sphere for dessert became a molten mass of chocolate and marshmallow when the hot caramel sauce was poured over it. 

Sunset 8:54

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