When we originally booked this cruise, we were scheduled to go to the Falkland Islands. Later on, we received notice from Holland America that we would not be able to go there and would go to Puerto Madryn in Argentina instead. We knew that landing at the Falklands was always iffy since it is a tender port and the weather is often quite windy which makes tendering difficult and even dangerous. There also have been some problems with Argentinian authorities with ships that have stopped at the Falklands. Even though the war between Argentina and Great Britain over the Falklands was over in 1982, Argentina has been attempting to claim them again especially because oil has been discovered off shore.
After we left Buenos Aires, the captain made the announcement that the weather looked good and that they had decided to go to the Falklands after all and that we would no longer go to Puerto Madryn.
It was raining quite a bit by the time we got into the town of Stanley.
Luckily we had our rainproof, windproof parkas.
Those are whalebones in the the monument in front of the church.
We took a tour to the other side of the island to one of the penguin areas.
Most of the penguins here were Gentoos.
There are a few King penguins in the center of this photo.
They have the orange on their heads and beaks.
It was quite an ordeal to get to this site. First we took a 16 passenger minibus from town out to the end of the gravel road. Then we took a 5 passenger Range Rover across the bogs to get to Bluff Cove where the penguins were. There was no road - we just drove over the fields and streams. It was VERY bumpy! I really thought the Range Rover would capsize a couple of times.
Back in Stanley
Falklands War Memorial
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