Quizzical Bob goes Round the Horn

Topics that are specific to cruising

Topic author
Quizzical Bob
Senior First Officer
Senior First Officer
Posts: 3951
Joined: January 2013

Re: Quizzical Bob goes Round the Horn

#51

Post by Quizzical Bob »

11. Part 1 - Ushuaia - 23rd January - arr 12:00 all aboard 19:30

Newsletter here:

We have left Chile and are now at our first port in Argentina. Ushuaia ('ooss-why-uh' and not 'oosh-why-uh') is an important naval base and is regarded as the southernmost city in the world. It is actually on the island of Tierra del Fuego. It's good to be alongside for a change. Not knowing what to expect here we had booked a 'wildlife cruise along the Beagle Channel'. Once again this invovles collecting tour stickers in the Wheelhouse Bar and then waiting in the theatre. I was told by a ship's tour guide that they allow 15 minutes to get a tour ashore if alongside and 45 minues if it's a tender port.

We don't have to wait too long before we all form a crocodile and troop off the ship and along the pier. It's only a 100 yds or so but there was some muttering from behind about not being told that there was a walk involved. Also moored on the pier are some smaller cruise ships that specialise in Antarctic cruises.

The tour boat catamarans are moored on an adjacent pier and everybody rushes on to get a good seat. Some go up topside and I would have joined them but it was a bit windy with quite a bite to it. Besides, there was plenty of space inside and also out on the open deck which surrounded the cabin.

There are two tour boats for this trip and it takes about 45 minutes to get to the first point of interest which is an enormous colony of white-breasted cormorants. I spend the time enjoying the ride but wondering how I am going to pay for some coffees whenI don't have any Argentinian money. It's not possible to get it in the UK and of course had no time to get any on the walk to the tour boat.

Image

Image

Image

Image

User avatar

Ray B
Senior First Officer
Senior First Officer
Posts: 2258
Joined: January 2013

Re: Quizzical Bob goes Round the Horn

#52

Post by Ray B »

We are all on tender hooks now, will Bob get his coffees,to be continued.
Don't worry, be happy

User avatar

Jan Rosser
Senior First Officer
Senior First Officer
Posts: 2406
Joined: January 2013
Location: South Wales

Re: Quizzical Bob goes Round the Horn

#53

Post by Jan Rosser »

I'm really enjoying QB's reports and the photos really bring it to life. This is such a fascinating part of the world - looking forward to the next episode :thumbup:
Janis


Topic author
Quizzical Bob
Senior First Officer
Senior First Officer
Posts: 3951
Joined: January 2013

Re: Quizzical Bob goes Round the Horn

#54

Post by Quizzical Bob »

11. Part 2 - Ushuaia - 23rd January - arr 12:00 all aboard 19:30

There are seabirds everywhere on every isolated rock, sometimes so many that there seems to be more bird than rock. One of the rocks is covered with what the guide calls 'Kelp Gulls'. We had never heard of these but apparently they are common to the Southern hemisphere which probably explains why. From this point on it became a standing joke whenever we saw another bird. Kelp robin, kelp parrot, kelp albatross, you get the drift...

The wind is blowing quite strongly up the channel and there is quite sharp edge to it so it's a matter of popping outside for a quick look, taking some photos and then nipping back inside again. There is the odd seal about but the sea lions are more numerous. Some of them are several feet up on a rock with a sheer drop to the water and I cannot begin to imagine the struggle they had to get there.

It was a good trip. Not too long but one where you felt that you had seen a bit more than just the town centre. It's a short walk up the hill from the pier to the main street but not too much to maintain her interest so we go back to the first souvenir shop that we had passed earlier and buy the usual fridge magnets and enameled pins. I escort Mrs QB back to the ship and then go off on my customary hike of exploration. I know that there is a maritime museum at the eastern end of the town but it takes a bit of finding and it's further up the hill than the map would seem to indicate.

I find it next to the entrance to the naval base and it's not quite what I had expected. The maritime museum is a small section in one wing of what used to be a prison and consists mainly of photographs and some very good ships models, all made by the same man apparently. There is a central hall with five wings radiating away over 180 degrees from it like the spokes of half a wheel, a layout rather like a school protractor. I had promised Mrs QB that I would not be back too late so I only had limited time there. I buy another fridge magnet and pin, both with the same image of a mariner in a sou'wester at the wheel of a ship passing Cape Horn.

No matter how many shops I try I cannot find any more souvenirs to buy. I'd like some precious stones but I'm conscious of the airline weight allowances. I still had about £40 worth of Chilean Pesos with me and I had intended changing these at the first bank I found in Argentina but the bank had shut at three but at least they had a cash machine! My NatWest card works ok and now I don't feel so vulnerable.
The speciality here is king crab and for a moment I'm tempted but that seems a bit selfish and anyway, I don't have much time, not even enough time for a beer as the bars all seem to be shut.

So back to the ship and warmth. We are suppose to leave at 19:30 but the Captain comes over the PA at about 20:00 and says that we are still waiting for a small group of passengers who had all been off on the same private tour and that he can allow them another 15 minutes but after that we would have to leave. We do meet one flustered lady going up in the lifts at about 20:15 and assume that she was one of the tardigrades because we cast off and leave for Cape Horn shortly after.

A female sea lion seems pleased with herself. Or perhaps she's just playing hard to get.
Image

It's at times like this when you're glad you've brought your hat
Image

This is the lighthouse that you find on all the postcards. I can't see why. I've seen bigger fenceposts.
Image

The road outside the maritime museum. There are mountains all around us.
Image

The main street in Ushuaia. The semi-precious stone shop is interesting for those of us who are interested in geology.
Image

Oh yes, the coffees. The young gentleman at the counter was not too interested in my Chilean Pesos, however he was quite keen on American Dollars and he also had a credit card machine. I was intrigued as to how this would work whilst we were out at sea but it appeared to me to have a GSM modem link to the banks. So, two coffees and croissants later we were the envy of the boat when he brought these over to our seats. I should have asked for commission.

User avatar

Dancing Queen
Senior First Officer
Senior First Officer
Posts: 3819
Joined: January 2013
Location: Derbyshire

Re: Quizzical Bob goes Round the Horn

#55

Post by Dancing Queen »

Loving all these fantastic photographs.
Jo


Topic author
Quizzical Bob
Senior First Officer
Senior First Officer
Posts: 3951
Joined: January 2013

Re: Quizzical Bob goes Round the Horn

#56

Post by Quizzical Bob »

12. Part 1 - Cape Horn - 24th January

News paper here:

Wednesday and we reach Cape Horn. For any sailor this is a magical, mystical place, the place of legends and fables. We sail out of the eastern end of the Beagle Channel and then south to approach it from the east. We are due to get there at about 08:00 so it's another early morning alarm because I really don't want to miss this. We first catch sight of the Cape from our balcony and can start to feel the wind which is coming straight at us from the west. As I mentioned earlier, Cape Horn itself is a small island at the southern end of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago, about 9km long and 6km wide.

Image

There is a Chilean naval station on the south-east of the island and this is our first point of interest. We find some shelter here in the lee to the east of the island. The wind here gets very strong, much stronger than the sea state would seem to indicate and the ship heels over a lot. The ship does one pirouette so everybody can get a view of the station with its lighthouse. There is normally one volunteer family that stays on the island for a year. Apparently they have over 6000 applicants each year for this assignment. Through binoculars you can just make out the monument to the thousands of sailors who have lost their lives in attempting to round The horn. It is a sculpture with a cut out silhouette of an albatross.

View from the east. You can just make out the naval station on the headland
Image

The naval station
Image

I had gone up to the top deck by now to get a good view and whilst the ship is making its 360 degree turn the wind gusts enough to cause us to roll rather alarmingly to port. The Captain comes on the PA to reassure us that they are transferring ballast and that the ship is not in any danger and that there is no cause for alarm. Somehow we feel less reassured than before. Mrs QB who had remained in the cabin said that at one stage she had been climbing uphill and when she turned round she was looking out the window down at the sea.

The sea conditions here are notorious. It's 500 miles from here to Antarctica across the Drake Passage yet this is narrow enough to concentrate the prevailing westerlies between the Andes and the Antarctica peninsula. On top of this big waves can build up with nothing to stop them as they spin right round the world at these latitudes. When they meet the area of shallow water south of the Horn they get shorter and steeper.

Most ships keep well clear.

Image


Topic author
Quizzical Bob
Senior First Officer
Senior First Officer
Posts: 3951
Joined: January 2013

Re: Quizzical Bob goes Round the Horn

#57

Post by Quizzical Bob »

12. Part 2 - Cape Horn - 24th January

I was a bit concerned that we might not actually sail past the Horn but it is announced over the PA that we shall sail past it to the west and then turn round and sail back the other way so that both sides of the ship can get a good view. The timing now gets a bit complicated. Mrs QB has seen the Horn and for her that is enough. It's 08:45 and she prefers a sit-down breakfast in the MDR which they stop serving at 09:30 and she doesn't want to go on her own. She hates the bun fight in the Horizon buffet and with good reason. I would quite happily spend the next couple of hours up on the top deck to savour the memories. At this stage the starboard side is getting the views of the Cape and I am expecting to get more views from our cabin on the reverse pass. Suddenly it is announced at 09:00 that because of the strong winds the captain decided that it would be safer just to sail clockwise around the Cape Horn Island and head back out east. This means of course that the port side won't see anything.

I end up rushing backwards and forwards between upper deck and cabin trying to keep everybody happy. In the end I got to spend a few minutes staring at the Horn and we were then going to have a quick bite in the buffet because she was 'starving' but we ended up having breakfast there. It was manic with no seats to be had an those that were empty were jealously guarded. One table has a couple spare but the woman sitting there lunges forward with a 'No these seats are taken!'. They obviously weren't taken and they were still not taken forty minutes later

I must mention the albatrosses. As we had sailed further south the sightings had grown more numerous but around the Cape they were all around us everywhere no matter where you looked. I could watch them all day long. Endlessly circling and never flapping their wings they skim the waters teasing the waves, daring each one in turn to come closer and get more intimate but then at the very last moment spurning its attentions and moving on in search of another wave to tempt. It was the sort of sight that you can only get from a ship on the open oceans. Truly magnificent and I think they have now become my favourite birds of the wet and feathered variety.

Those few minutes that I spent sailing past Cape Horn were magical for me. The significance of the place, the stories that I had read, the thoughts of all those who had gone before, all these made for an emotional experience. I can now legitimately say that I have sailed around Cape Horn and according to sailing tradition I am now entitled to wear a gold ring in my left ear and to dine with one foot on the table. Some sources go further and say that I am also permitted to urinate over the windward side. One thing at a time.

Image

Image

Image

Image

Panoramic view
Image

Next stop is Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands, weather permitting.

User avatar

GillD46
Senior First Officer
Senior First Officer
Posts: 3364
Joined: January 2013
Location: Gower Peninsula, South Wales

Re: Quizzical Bob goes Round the Horn

#58

Post by GillD46 »

Amazing, and very, very tempting. Your photos make us feel we are travelling with you.
Gill


cruisin_duo
Second Officer
Second Officer
Posts: 399
Joined: August 2013

Re: Quizzical Bob goes Round the Horn

#59

Post by cruisin_duo »

Thank you for this report. Enjoying reading it and seeing your photographs.

User avatar

Gill W
Senior First Officer
Senior First Officer
Posts: 4897
Joined: January 2013
Location: Kent

Re: Quizzical Bob goes Round the Horn

#60

Post by Gill W »

Really enjoying your reports, Bob, and loving the photos
Gill

User avatar

oldbluefox
Ex Team Member
Posts: 11305
Joined: January 2013
Location: Cumbria

Re: Quizzical Bob goes Round the Horn

#61

Post by oldbluefox »

Let's say I have been 'out of circulation' for the past few weeks but have just been catching up with your exploits. Many thanks for posting. No chance I will ever get there but have found it fascinating to read your accounts and see your photos. Looking forward to the Falklands.


Topic author
Quizzical Bob
Senior First Officer
Senior First Officer
Posts: 3951
Joined: January 2013

Re: Quizzical Bob goes Round the Horn

#62

Post by Quizzical Bob »

oldbluefox wrote: 09 Mar 2018, 22:10
Let's say I have been 'out of circulation' for the past few weeks but have just been catching up with your exploits. Many thanks for posting. No chance I will ever get there but have found it fascinating to read your accounts and see your photos. Looking forward to the Falklands.
Good to hear from you again OBF. Let’s hope we can tender ashore in Stanley when we get there ;)


Topic author
Quizzical Bob
Senior First Officer
Senior First Officer
Posts: 3951
Joined: January 2013

Re: Quizzical Bob goes Round the Horn

#63

Post by Quizzical Bob »

12. Leaving Cape Horn - Wednesday 24th January

As we leave Cape Horn behind we settle into a normal sea day. There are many trivia throughout the day which keep me happy especially when it's too cold to slob around outside. Our usual daily routine is to go downstairs for the sit down breakfast and then I collect the sudoku and crossword from the library ready for the morning trivias. Lunch is usually a sit down affair too although the upstairs Prego Pizzeria is very good. Afternoons have a reasonable choice with sometimes a film or an interesting talk.

One different aspect of this cruise is that the Spanish speakers have their own specialised entertainment in the later evening in the Club Fusion at the after end of the ship. On most evenings Arnando from Mexico hosts a music trivia at 8:15 in the Explorers' Lounge midships. Arnando has a great sense of humour and makes it great fun. Mrs QB and I even won it one evening when it was on hits from the 50s and 60s and won a bottle of surprisingly drinkable sparkling wine. It lasts us a few evenings.

Today is a formal evening for what it's worth. There are three in total in these fourteen nights. I won't go into another controversy over these but let's just say that those for whom dressing up is an important part of their cruise will probably be disappointed by what takes place on a Princess cruise. Not that anybody is sloppily dressed DJs are the exception rather than the rule. To be honest this suits me down to the ground. This is our third Princess cruise and for our first through the Panama Canal I took the full works but even though I received plenty of compliments I felt overdressed. For the next two I took a smart jacket with my special shirts and some bow ties and this was more than adequate. The problem is that almost all Princess offerings are fly cruises and a full DJ with shiny black shoes takes up a lot of space and weight allowance.

Tomorrow is Port Stanley and the Falklands all being well. We had heard tales from other cruisers about how tendering ashore there was a hit or miss affair and we hadn't dared to get our hopes up too high in case we were disappointed but this was, for us, one of our eagerly anticipated highlights.

I had left booking our tours until very late, until the beginning of January in some cases. We had been away in November and December and then Christmas got in the way. We wanted to see some penguins somewhere but the Punta Arenas tour looked unattractive which only left Stanley and Puerto Madryn and if we couldn't get ashore in Stanley then we would at least have a second opportunity there. The Princess tours in Stanley were nearly all taken but I booked the last two places on the Sparrow Cove trip and made some further investigations. The tour to see the penguins at Punta Lomo penguin reserve near Puerto Madryn was a 2.5 hour drive each way which was a bit unappetising so Stanley it would have to be. When I looked into it further the Sparrow Cove trip involved a tender ride straight from the ship across the harbour and then a Landrover trip off road to the Cove and then the same in reverse. Of course we wanted to gave a look around Port Stanley and I thought that four tender rides in a day would probably be too much.

A couple of emails and phone calls to Stanley and I found a few tours that were still available. Justin East of East Falkland Tours said that he could offer us something if he could find another driver and next day he emailed to say that he had found somebody and that we could go to Bertha's Beach near Bluff Cove to see the Gentoo penguins and then do a quick trip around 'Town' and then go up to Gypsy Cove to see the Magellanic penguins from a walkway all for £100 each including a snack lunch. This was more what we wanted so I confirmed with him and then swapped the Princess tour for some more expensive ones to the Peninsula Valdez in Puerto Madryn.

And so we went to bed early full of anticipation and excitement wondering if we were going to get ashore the next morning.

Spoiler Alert!

Image


'Patter' and port guide here:

User avatar

GillD46
Senior First Officer
Senior First Officer
Posts: 3364
Joined: January 2013
Location: Gower Peninsula, South Wales

Re: Quizzical Bob goes Round the Horn

#64

Post by GillD46 »

Ah-ha! :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:
Gill

User avatar

emjay45
First Officer
First Officer
Posts: 1192
Joined: April 2013
Location: Ellan Vannin

Re: Quizzical Bob goes Round the Horn

#65

Post by emjay45 »

I've just caught up with your review. Your photos certainly add another dimension to a cruise review. My son and I did a P&O excursion to the German colonial museum in 2015. Thanks to an unnecessary stop for a shopping opportunity (IMO) and a passenger going awol, we had only a short time to look around. I would have liked much longer.


Topic author
Quizzical Bob
Senior First Officer
Senior First Officer
Posts: 3951
Joined: January 2013

Re: Quizzical Bob goes Round the Horn

#66

Post by Quizzical Bob »

13.1 - Port Stanley and the Falkland Isles - Thursday 25th January - 08:00 to 18:00 - last tender leaves shoreside at 18:00

(Don't miss the video link at the bottom)

Gentoo penguins on Bertha's Beach
Image

I couldn't sleep with all the excitement and as soon as it gets light we see the islands off to port and I'm outside for a look. They are much larger than you might imagine with some big hills. It takes a couple of hours or so to sail up to the point where we turn left and into Port William which is a large bay to the north of Stanley. Stanley Harbour itself is on the south side and is reached though a gap between two headlands called The Narrows.

On entering the sound the most striking features are the beaches on the left with their stark white sand. This is a result of erosion of the Falkland Islands quartzite sandstone which forms the highest points of the islands. I have never seen anything like them. The town of Stanley slowly comes into view in the distance with lots of red roofs. We know it's Stanley because there are no other towns on the islands. We drop anchor ok ready for an 08:00 start and all the time I am concerned that the visit might be called off at the last moment. We had arranged our own private tour and I'm told that our guide will be waiting by the jetty with all the others.

The tender trip is expected to be about 45 minutes because we have to moor out in Port William. I have to remind the young girl in charge of the tender tickets exactly what priority embarkation means and eventually she relents and lets us through. Ship to shore takes nearly an hour all told on account of the strong wind which funnels down Stanley Harbour from the west and reduces our progress to a crawl with a short chop rhythmically crashing against the bows of the tender. Had it been me I would have taken the longer route through calmer waters to the west, but I'm on holiday.

Finally we reach the dock and we can both breath a sigh of relief. We are ashore and even if we can't get back on board we have achieved one of our lifetime ambitions and visited the Falkland Islands. We soon pick out Kristy holding up our names amongst the scrum of guides and we try to take in the overwhelming sights and sounds of the place. The names in English, the big red double-decker bus, the visitors centre and looming over them all the town stretching back behind them up to the crest of the hill three or four streets later. After a quick comfort break we board our transport for the day. Like most vehicles here this is a big four by four with fat tyres as there are very few proper roads outside of 'town'.

Outside the pier later the same day. Enterprising schoolchildren are busking to earn some pennies.
Image

As we drive up the hill and out into 'Camp' Kristy tells us about herself. She is an 11th generation Falklander, born on the Islands but raised in the north east of Scotland from the age of four for sixteen years. She is a single mother with three children and like many others supplements her income by driving as a tour guide. The road to Bertha's Beach heads first towards the new Mount Pleasant Airport before turning left past the small military port at Mare Harbour and through Fitzroy Farm to the beach itself. The road starts off as tarmaced but that soon runs out and the remainder is a hard-packed surface with loose top surface. It is being upgraded piecemeal and I ask why it was so poor. Kristy tells us that the Army had been willing to fully tarmac the road but that the Townspeople didn't want anything to encourage the soldiers up at the airport to come into Town at weekends and disturb their way of life. When I ask why the airport is so far away she gives us the same reason. There is a 40mph speed limit along the road because sudden gust of wind can cause a tailspin and vehicles often end up in the roadside ditch which, we are told, is much deeper than it need have been because the consultant engineer misread the rainfall figures.

The landscape is stunningly beautiful. Outcrops of rock at the tops of the hills with rough peaty grass lower down. Suddenly we come upon some astonishing geological feature know as the 'Falkland Island Stone Runs'. On the lower edges of the slopes rectangular areas of rocks and small boulders lie regulary between pathways of grass which separate them. They look artificial for all the world except that there are far too many of them and there would be no purpose in going top all that work for no good reason. There are theories as to how they were caused but no answers

After about an hour we reach the entrance to Mount Pleasant Airport with its military facilities and 'barracks'. We can just make out one of the grey RAF transport/tanker aircraft that operate the Airbridge twice a week from Brize Norton in England. For £2200 a person you too can buy a return ticket. They used to refuel at Ascension Island but until the potholed runway there is repaired they call at Cape Verde instead. I believe there are also a couple of Typhoons based there as well and in the afternoon we can hear one showing off what it can do.

Just after the airport is a road junction (indeed!) and we turn to the left passing the Royal Navy port at Mare Harbour. There is a small coastal defence vessel in port, probably HMS Clyde. The oil storage tanks are painted in bright camouflage and stand out for miles. Reaching Fitzroy Farm we have to open and close a gate before a stretch of cross-country driving for about fifteen minutes. until we near the beach. There are still baulks of timber lying around which are left over from the cargo of the ship 'Bertha' which ran aground on the beach with her cargo of cedar wood. After another open and close gate we arrive at a car park and there we see what we had been eagerly anticipating.

Penguins!

There are wardens there and we are instructed to keep at least 6 metres from the penguins and that should they approach us we should slowly back away to maintain our separation.

First sight of the colonies.
Image

Image

This next link is a new venture for me and is quite experimental. I have pasted together a few short video sequences and some still photos and stuck them up on Youtube. I wasn't trying to make a documentary so these are just the 'raw' video clips, some from my phone and some from a compact camera. It sounds very windy but that is just a feature of the microphones. It was actually quite a mild day so far and all the heavy clothing that we had taken was not needed. Please try the link to the videos and let me know how you get on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qvq3qHoAOls&t=195s#t=0


Topic author
Quizzical Bob
Senior First Officer
Senior First Officer
Posts: 3951
Joined: January 2013

Re: Quizzical Bob goes Round the Horn

#67

Post by Quizzical Bob »

13.2 - Port Stanley and the Falkland Isles

More photos of Bertha's beach. The colonies are on higher ground some three hundred yards from the low dunes at the back of the beach. There are several separate colonies with about 800 birds in total.

Image

Image

Image

Building up courage for the long waddle back to the colony.
Image

Don't worry, they're not dead. They're just restin' :)

Image

User avatar

Dancing Queen
Senior First Officer
Senior First Officer
Posts: 3819
Joined: January 2013
Location: Derbyshire

Re: Quizzical Bob goes Round the Horn

#68

Post by Dancing Queen »

So pleased for you that you made it to Port Stanley, fabulous photos and a superb video, thank you so much for this really interesting review.

I love penguins ( not that I've ever seen them ) such fascinating creatures.
Jo

User avatar

Mervyn and Trish
Commodore
Commodore
Posts: 15262
Joined: February 2013

Re: Quizzical Bob goes Round the Horn

#69

Post by Mervyn and Trish »

Great review thank you

User avatar

Jan Rosser
Senior First Officer
Senior First Officer
Posts: 2406
Joined: January 2013
Location: South Wales

Re: Quizzical Bob goes Round the Horn

#70

Post by Jan Rosser »

Loving your review QB especially the video of the penguins - so amusing :lol:
Janis

User avatar

oldbluefox
Ex Team Member
Posts: 11305
Joined: January 2013
Location: Cumbria

Re: Quizzical Bob goes Round the Horn

#71

Post by oldbluefox »

Great report of your visit to the Falklands. Made for a jolly good read, old chap!!! :wave:


Topic author
Quizzical Bob
Senior First Officer
Senior First Officer
Posts: 3951
Joined: January 2013

Re: Quizzical Bob goes Round the Horn

#72

Post by Quizzical Bob »

Thanks for the compliments. Let's see if we can post some more :)


Topic author
Quizzical Bob
Senior First Officer
Senior First Officer
Posts: 3951
Joined: January 2013

Re: Quizzical Bob goes Round the Horn

#73

Post by Quizzical Bob »

13.3 - Port Stanley and the Falkland Isles

These Gentoo (Jen-too) penguins are adorable little creatures. We have seen other types all over the world but these have those big baggy bottoms and a comical way of walking. They are the sort of penguin that can out-dance Díck Van Dyke in a Disney cartoon. Other penguins are available there - if only we had more time. More than a million penguins nest in The Falklands every summer and there are five out of the world's seventeen species: Gentoo, King, Rockhopper, Magellanic and Macaroni. For the Gentoo the Falklands are home to the largest population on Earth.

But the rest of the island is calling us back. It took us 1h45 to get there but the trip back is a bit quicker at just over an hour. Kristy tells us about the war with the Argentines even though she wasn't born until after it happened. Her grandmother got a medal from Britain (OBE/CBE/MBE?) for continually passing information to the British fleet during the conflict. She had even found two young starving Argentine conscripts hiding in her barn and gave them shelter and food for the duration but insisted that they hand over their weapons first. Even today any veteran who returns is treated like royalty and doesn't have to pay for anything. There is always a driver willing to take them anywhere they wish to go.

She had very strong opinions about the way that the islands were controlled by the Falkland Islands Company (FIC) and how the fixed mindset of the locals was preventing any meaningful outlook for their economic future. She referred to the FIC as ‘The Mafia’. They control the shops and operate the only petrol station on the Islands. They also own a lot of rental property. I asked why the local politicians didn’t take more control and she blamed vested interests and historical voting ties. I asked why there wasn’t an all-weather deep water terminal and again, local dithering was blamed. There have been plans but nothing concrete yet (Do you see what I did there?) They have started to receive cruise ship visits over the last few years but whether anybody can tender ashore is usually only 50/50. This season they have been lucky with only three ships unable to get ashore so far. The FIC does not operate with the best interests of the locals in mind. It is an offshore-controlled business after all, from Bishop's Stortford of all places, and bizarrely also owns the Portsmouth to Gosport ferry..

Communications are poor with slow internet and a mobile phone system that is a long way behind the times. Roaming charges are as expensive as the dearest in the world and there is no roaming data service. If they are serious about getting more tourism then they need a lot more infrastructure. I’m just not sure that they are that serious. I suspect there is a form of Stockholm Syndrome at work here where the local population has been taken hostage by The FIC and now identifies with its aims and operations. I suspect that Kristy's upbringing gave her a wider outlook than most other locals.

Back in Stanley we take a small detour through the town and then continue on past the original airport to Gypsy Cove and Yorke Bay. There are shuttle buses that run here from the pier and almost every tour on the island includes this as a stop. Once again the scenery is stunning with long stretches of white sands. We are not allowed onto the actual beaches because there may still be mines from the 1982 war in the dunes and we have to watch from a gravel footpath and walkway on the hills overlooking them. Some 30,000 mines were laid by the Argentines. They were carefully mapped and marked and a large number have been cleared at considerable cost to the Foreign Office but unfortunately the peat and the sand dunes move over time and have to be considered unsafe. Under the Ottawa Convention we are committed to removing the mines and Britain and the Argentine government have been actively cooperating on future actions.

Gypsy Cove. Yorke Bay is behind the headland on the right. There is a group of Magellanic penguins on the beach and if you look carefully you might just see a solitary bird on the right trudging up the hill to its nest. This climb is quite an ordeal for the birds and even I wouldn't fancy trying it on a stomach full of fish.
Image

Image

Yorke Bay. Kristy says her grandmother used to come here in the summers to spend the day on the beach. More Magellanics huddle together.
Image

The last resting place of the Lady Elizabeth in Whale Bone Cove on the way to Gypsy Cove. She had suffered damage in 1912 off Cape Horn whilst returning from Vancouver and on trying to reach Stanley hit a rock and still managed to reach harbour but unfortunately couldn't be repaired. Many other ships suffered the same fate and ended up in the Falklands including the SS Great Britain which for many years lay in Sparrow Cove until beinge recovered and returned to Bristol in 1970.
Image

Emerald Princess at anchor in Blanco Bay, Port William
Image


Topic author
Quizzical Bob
Senior First Officer
Senior First Officer
Posts: 3951
Joined: January 2013

Re: Quizzical Bob goes Round the Horn

#74

Post by Quizzical Bob »

13.4 - Port Stanley and the Falkland Isles

Emerald Princess looking very lonely and a long way from town.
Image

After a quick walk around the headland overlooking Port William it's back to town and we say our farewells to Kristy. She had been an excellent guide and is a very intelligent young woman. She was particularly taken by the new polymer £10 notes which she had never seen before. After a bite to eat in the Waterfront Hotel we had time to sample a few of the many souvenir shops where we bought some enamelled pins and fridge magnets and then walk up to the Cathedral. By this time Mrs QB is beginning to flag and we follow our usual routine whereby she returns to the ship and I continue to wander off in exploration.

The wind has dropped and the sun comes out at times and it's about twenty degrees. Stanley is as on the same latitude south as London is north. The town is full of tourists which is not surprising when you consider that there are more people on the ship than there are in the whole of the Falkland Isles.

The cathedral.
Image

This whalebone arch is made from the jawbones of two blue whales and was erected in 1933 to commemorate the centenary of British rule.
Image

The ubiquitous Falkland Island Company presence.
Image

The small pier for the tenders.
Image


CaroleF
First Officer
First Officer
Posts: 1857
Joined: January 2013
Location: Hampshire

Re: Quizzical Bob goes Round the Horn

#75

Post by CaroleF »

Some lovely pictures Bob. We were there last month on Aurora and the day or so before there was a lot of, will we be able to anchor or not. Well we did although it was an extremely rough tender ride to the quayside. We had two Captains on board for this leg of our journey. Captain Alan Hawkins took us from Southampton when the usual Captain, David Pembridge, joined us in, I think, Rio when Captain Hawkins stepped down to be be Deputy Captain. When we got to the shore in Port Stanley in the tender both Captains were there helping people off the boat - I certainly needed a hand to get off. We had a great tour on a small bus with a woman who had gone out to the Falklands as a teacher in the 1990s. She then married someone who had been born on the island and after some time back in the UK they moved permanently back to the island. She gave us an excellent commentary and it was a fascinating tour. I thought it was an incredibly interesting island, certainly took me back in time, particularly with the London bus parked in the car park which you can see in one of Bob's pictures. When I got the tender back to the ship, and as Bob says it took over 30 minutes to get back, the sea was extremely rough by that point and the tender was bouncing up and down. They had the canvas sides of the tender pulled down but the sea still managed to get through. There weren't many of us on the boat and luckily no-one was sitting near the exits, if they had been they would have been soaked. When we got back to Aurora one of the crew had to wipe all the seats down to get rid of the water. Everyone I spoke to was so pleased that we'd been able to anchor and visit The Falklands. Those who went on the nature type trips thoroughly enjoyed themselves and pictures of penguins were being passed around. It was a great day.

Carole

Return to “Cruise Specific Discussion”