The Falklands

Downtown Port Stanley

We visited Great Britain yesterday.  We woke to blue skies, warm temperatures, and calm seas as we anchored off Port Stanley, located on East Falkland, one of the two main Falkland Islands.  A visitor is immediately struck by how much Port Stanley looks like a seaside English village.  The town has 4 pubs, 11 guesthouses, 3 restaurants, 1 fish & chip shop, and at least two red telephone booths.  Government house was built in 1845 and the Christ Church Cathedral represents the Anglican church.  There are very few roads but lots of Landrover 4x4xs.  People follow tracks of their own making when traveling about to and from their farms. 

Christ Church Anglican Cathedral

1887 Guesthouse

Ross Road River Front - Mainstreet

Speaking with locals and ship’s crew, apparently, we visited the Falklands in the best weather possible, better than some of them had ever seen.  Sun in the Falklands is a rarity.

Our goals for the Falklands visit were two-fold.  I was eager to find some locals to hear how they liked living on the Islands, and their perspective on the invasion in 1982 by Argentina, and the subsequent liberation by Margret Thatcher’s British Forces.  Deborah was there to see the Penguins.

The Falkland’s or Malvinas were first discovered by the Dutch in the 1500s but have been settled periodically by the French, British, Spanish, and Argentineans throughout history.  In 1982 the contentious issue of ownership came to a head when Argentina invaded the islands.  Seventy-four days later the British Liberation navel force retook possession of the islands.

Argentina and Great Britain are still at odds today. Argentina still includes the Islands on their territorial maps.  There are no direct flights to the Islands from Argentina and Argentina reluctantly allows only two flights to cross Argentine air space from Chile each week.  The people of the Falklands voted 99.8% to remain a British protectorate in a recent plebiscite.  There are 1500 UK troops permanently stationed on the Islands.

Unemployment on the Falklands is near zero.  Tourism, sheep-wool farming, and fishing keep the 3000 locals thriving.  Young people can access free flights and university tuition at UK schools upon graduation.  Many return to make their homes on the Islands.

Since observing Penguins was the first priority we signed up for one of the ship’s official tours to see the Rock Hopper Penguins on Lisa Murrell’s farm.  We had a smooth tender ride into the inner harbour and our shuttle bus met us at the dock.  We were driven out of town a few miles (remember we are in the UK) to Lisa’s farm.  We were reloaded into 4X4’s for the half hour journey to see the penguins.  There was no road.  Four vehicles set out across the peat bogs and sheep pastures for a bone-jarring 40-minute ride to the ocean edge and the Rock Hopper Penguins.  There are various penguin varieties on the Island but these little Hoppers must be the cutest.  They may be slick acrobats in the water but these little guys waddle along until met with an obstacle whereupon they two-foot jump to clear the obstacle.

Caravan Across the Sheep Pastures

70 Miles of Fences on Lisa's "Small" Farm

The Rockhopper!

This Pair Was Taking Care of Two Eggs

Deborah's Goal Accomplished!

The Penguins’ mate for life and we were fortunate to see many of the mating pairs’ eggs that they take turns tending.  Each partner makes the slow journey to the see twice a day to feed on krill before climbing the cliffs to rejoin their partner.

On the journey out to the cliffs, Bruce was our 4X4 driver.  Bruce has spent all his 78 years on the Island.  When he described locations on the island he referred to so-and-so’s farm or house.  I asked him why he chose to live there (diplomatically of course but essentially, why would you choose to live on this treeless, windswept, cold, island in the middle of nowhere).  Bruce looked at me as if to say “what a stupid question” but kindly replied, “because its home”.  I asked him about his memories of the invasion.  He said that it caught everyone by surprise.  They went to bed one night and the next morning there was an Argentinean flag flying over the town.  After the shock wore off he said he felt personally humiliated.  He was confined to his farm and the townies to the recreation hall.  He didn’t suppress the fact he is still bitter.  I asked him about local casualties and he said he had a friend that was killed.  A British shell killed her.  BBC Radio had instructed folks to shelter in dugouts until the invasion bombardment had stopped.  She left the dugout when the shelling stopped but there was a single late coming shell that exploded over her roof and killed her with shrapnel. There were over 250 British soldiers and nearly 650 Argentineans killed in the conflict.

The Telegram Received by the Town's Leaders from the UK in typical British fashion:  "We have apparently reliable evidence that an Argentine task force could be assembling off Stanley at dawn tomorrow.  You will wish to make your dispositions accordingly."

On the return trip, I had a chance to quiz Lisa, owner of the farm.  Lisa is sixth generation Falklander.  Her paternal lineage extends back to the 1840s when her ancestor came here when Britain was trying to populate the island.  Her other ancestor was a cabin boy who was washed ashore in a shipwreck.  Lisa calls herself a pioneer of small farming.  Her sheep spread only numbers 10,000 acres.  Her parents bought the small farm when the government subdivided all the 100,000-acre farms in 1980.  Poor wool prices and the advent of tourism led her to the penguin tourism business she enjoys today.  The penguins had always been there but were taken for granted. 

Lisa - Sixth Generation on the Falklands - Her 8 grandchildren will represent the 8th.

Lisa remembers the war as a 14-year-old girl.  She just remembers being shocked and being isolated on the farm.  She remembers being joyful when they heard about the liberation task force leaving Britain.  Her farm is still littered by some of the 30,000 land mines left by the Argentines.  Today contract workers from Zimbabwe still come every summer season to find and deactivate the mines.  Some areas are strictly off-limits to humans but the sheep and penguins are able to walk freely through the minefields.

The Falklands feel very British.  There is Falkland Pound currency pegged at the UK pound. We dropped into the local pub and bought a pint.  Beer costs about $11 Canadian a bottle so it is a very expensive place on the Keys Economic Indicator Scale.

Bought a Pint at the Globe Tavern

At the end of the day, we tendered back to the ship just before a cold fog bank rolled in from the sea and obscured our vision of the retreating Island as we set forth to Montevideo, Uruguay.  (At the exact time both Bruce & Lisa predicted).

Rounding Cape Horn

The Crouched Lion at the Horn

If we were sailors 120 years ago we would be now waiting in line to be fitted with a gold "loop" earring piercing of our left ears. We have successfully Rounded the Horn.

Our ship did not need to travel south in the roughest seas in the world in order to get to Port Stanley on the Falklands Islands.  Our captain took us there because it “is a thing mariners do”.  In the days of commercial sailing, it was a tradition to get a gold loop earring to mark Rounding the Horn.  Left ear – west to east, Right ear – east to west.  We have decided to give the piercings a miss and take the Cape Horn Certificates proclaiming that we successfully navigated Cape Horn at a latitude 55 degrees, 58 minutes South and a longitude of 67 degrees 12 minutes West on the 27^th of November, 2018.

For many on board, Rounding the Horn was the sole reason for taking the cruise with the hope it was in the roughest conditions possible.  They were not disappointed.

Cape Horn is widely considered to be the most southerly point of South America.  For centuries it was the major route for sailing ships carrying trade goods around the world until the opening of the Panama Canal in 1914.  The Cape was considered the halfway point between England and Australia. 

The waters around the cape are hazardous, owing to strong winds, large waves, strong mixed currents and the ever-present possibility of icebergs.  There have been around 1000 known shipwrecks in these waters over the last 400 years with the loss of life numbering over 15000.

We set our alarm clocks for 6:30 am.  The Captain let us know the night before that he anticipated reaching the Horn around 7 am.  He said the weather would be rough much to the glee of several passengers.

True to his word, the captain came on the PA system just before seven and announced we were Rounding the Horn.  The winds were out of the southeast, directly from Antarctica and were gusting just above 110 km/hr.  That converts to 11 on the Beaufort scale, which translates to borderline “Violent Storm” to “Hurricane”.  He warned passengers to remain seated in their cabins while we changed our heading to port.  He anticipated that we were likely to severely list to the port side when the ship was hit broadside by the wind.  We didn’t experience a severe list in our cabin but you could feel the ship list and shudder as he made the turn.

Deborah braved the elements to get a few pictures before we made our hasty escape toward the Falkland Islands.  The weather soon changed to fair skies and calmer seas as we traversed 687 km to the Falklands (or Islas Malvinas if you are an Argentinean sympathizer).

We ended the day with one of the tour's three Gala Formal Evenings.  Everyone dresses in their best tour suits and enjoys a special meal in the dining room.  After dinner, we watched the "Legends of Rock" show on the main stage and later listened to music in one of the many bars on board.

Glacier Alley & Ushuaia

We were up at 6AM to enjoy our passage through the Beagle Channel and its Glacier Alley, while on route to the “End of the World” city, Ushuaia.  (Pronounced U-shwi-a.)

We prepared for the show.  We had breakfast delivered to our cabin, arranged the chairs & table on our deck, dressed in our warmest clothes, and wrapped ourselves in the ship’s blankets, as we cruised the narrow channel at about 10 knots.  All five of the alley’s glaciers were observable from our port side.  Deborah tried her best to get pictures but the poor light hampered her efforts to get the greatest shots.

Did I mention it was fricken cold?  Six degrees Celsius but that wind …

The glaciers are all named after the home countries of the explorers that originally sailed these waters, Holland, Italy, France, Germany and Spain.  Interestingly, none were named after Britain despite the fact Britain’s Robert Fitzroy first discovered the channel and its name stems from Fitzroy’s ship, the HMS Beagle.  In no particular order:

Each glacier descends to tidewater and all link back to the Darwin Ice Field that covers 2500 sq km of the Tierra del Fuego region.  We didn’t see any “calving” at the water’s edge but there were several bergie bits seen floating in the channel.  The ice field takes its name from Charles Darwin who was on the second ever trip through these waters.

After the glacier show was over we continued cruising the length of the 240 km channel towards Ushuaia.

We arrived in Ushuaia only to be told that we were unable to dock due to the continuing high winds.  The captain made a decision to anchor and we transferred to shore on the tenders, loading in the lee of the ship in lesser, but still turbulent waters.

Ushuaia advertises itself as the last city at the “End of the World”.  In fact it is the most southern city in South America and therefore the “end of the world” but there are small outposts on the island chain to the south before jumping off to Antarctica.  It is the most southerly settlement in South America that can be reached by continuous road.  You can dine in “End of the World” restaurants or even use an “End of the World” toilet.

Tender Dock

Mountain Peak Visible From City Centre

Ushuaia is the capital of Argentina’s Tierra del Fuego province.  It has about 100,000 hardy folks living here.  The city has its own glacier that reaches down from the 1000-meter peaks of the Andes Mountains.  The glacier provides drinking water for the city and skiing recreation for its inhabitants.

The Selk’nam indigenous peoples inhabited the area for around 10,000 years before the Anglican Church missionaries arrived in the 18^th century.  European diseases wiped out the locals and it was home to a small smattering of missionaries after that.  Lacking a significant Argentinean population and with not so friendly neighbour Chile nearby, the Argentine government took steps to populate the area.  The government established a penal colony for its most dangerous, second-time offenders.  The prison became the null the city until it was closed in 1947 due to the cruel and unusual punishments the convicts were subjected to.  It is now a centre of tourism, off shore oil support, commercial port and other light industry.

The Argentinean Navy has a presence in Ushuaia.  It is from this port that the Argentinean flagship, battleship Belgrano sailed from in the 1982 Argentine-United Kingdom War.  The Belgrano reached open sea and was then promptly sunk by the British.  Many Argentinean souls were lost.

We signed up for a bus excursion city tour and visit nearby Ensanada Bay (on the Beagle) in Tierra del Fuego national park and a journey on a replica narrow gauge railroad to the “End of the World”.  The railroad was a 10 km trip, complete with an audio history of the prison and convict prison life.  Essentially, the prisoners built the railway into the forest to chop wood to heat their prison and fire the boilers to produce electricity for the town.  There were no successful escapes from the prison.  Escapees either returned in a few days begging for food & shelter or were found frozen to death nearby.

I have a better understanding of why the Argentines have become so successful in world rugby.  In the short drive west from the city, I counted four rugby clubs, two of which had indoor training facilities but all four had playing fields that reminded me of gravel pits.  You would have to be a very hard woman or man to play rugby in these conditions.

A side note, “shout out” to Holland America’s customer service representatives.  We had returned to the ship when I noticed I had lost my wallet.  Not thinking anything could be done, I reported it to Customer Service and explained the excursion I went on (there were many as most of the 1500 passengers had left the ship).  Two hours later Holland America Security had found my wallet and returned it to the ship.  In hindsight, we were lucky to have spent the extra money on the ship’s tour and not taken one of the many private tours.  I don’t think a private tour company would have made the effort to find my wallet.

Punta Arenas

We woke up this morning in Punta Arenas.  For the first time on the cruise, we were greeted with sun and blue sky.  Unfortunately, the wind was howling at 60 km/h, with gusts up to 100.  The Captain sailed back and forth in the bay waiting for the port to open.  Normally ships are not allowed to dock unless the wind is 20 km/h or less.  After an hours delay, two tugboats came to our rescue.  With one at the stern and another at the bow, they managed to push us sideways to the dock against the strong winds coming from shore.  It took multiple lines to keep us in place.

These Little Guys Helped A Lot

Multiple Lines to the Dock and Mooring Balls - Both Ends

 The entire region we are visiting is known as Tierra del Fuego.  It is literally the “toe” of South America and is comprised of lands held by both Chile and Argentina.

Punta Arenas is the largest southern-most city in Chile.  It was established as a penal colony in 1848.  In the 1880s and ’90s, it grew with the discovery of gold and the proliferation of sheep farming.  Most of the immigrants were European, with Croatia and Russia providing the bulk of immigrants.  The government supports the city due to its strategic location in defending the sovereignty of the region from nearby Argentina.  It is also the jumping off point for many Antarctic Expeditions.

We were scheduled to tour the nearby Penguin Island to full fill Deborah’s bucket list desire to walk amongst the penguins.  Our original tour was slated to depart from the boat at 6:20 am but the late docking killed that.  We were rescheduled at 9:15, disembarked and boarded the bus to take us to the ferry pier to Penguin Island.  After waiting for a half hour on the pier we received the news the tour was canceled due to overly strong winds.

ViewPoint - At Least It Wasn't Raining

Dejected, we decided to make the best of it and embarked on a walking tour of the town.  The bus dropped us off at the city’s viewpoint lookout for pictures and after that, we wandered the town.  The city’s main square was alive with tourists and locals alike. 

Magellan - First Explorer to Find the Inside Strait.

Chilean Flag

Good Old Ferdinand Magellan

Found Penguins

Local Children in Their Sunday Best

Touching the Toe - It's a Thing

First stop was the Regional Museum located in a former aristocrat’s mansion.  The upstairs is left as if the owners were just out for lunch, albeit in the 1920s.  The basement also had many artifacts of the exploration of Patagonia.  Unfortunately, all the descriptors were in Spanish.

We walked five blocks to the Maggiorino Museum, just off the main square.  This was an excellent museum to visit to learn and see the artifacts depicting the flora, fauna, mineralogy, paleontology, missions, and history of the region.  Each display had a full English description.

Found More Penguins

The Condor - 8 to 9 Foot Wingspan

We ended our day with a taxi ride back to the boat and at dinner, we enjoyed views as we entered the Strait of Magellan.  We are well over 50 degrees south latitude now and we enjoyed daylight views until after 10 pm.

Tomorrow we leave Chile via Glacier Alley before entering the Beagle Channel and on to Ushuaia, Argentina.