Faulkland Islands, Capitol City, Stanley, Population 2,900

Our stop in the Capitol City of Stanley started with a tour of the very big city of 2,900 people.
We signed up for the Penguin Tour, taking us about 45 minutes from downtown to a white sand beachCove which had 2 colonies of penguins. Gengoo & about 6 King Penguins.
We all looked like Penguins because we put on most of our heavy clothes that we had packed.
This was the first time we wore the big jackets and lots of layers. The statistic for Stanley weather informed us that there are 1,781 HOURS of sunshine per YEAR. We had at least 30 minutes of those hours.
A small bus took us about 25 minutes into the island and then the group was divided into parties of 4 and then we transferred to a 4-wheel jeep that crossed the rutted peat bogs; bouncing and winding our way out to the beach cove. The 4 mile drive took another 20 minutes.
Quite an experience. This tour had been written up last year as one of the 5 best adventure tours to experience. Yes, this was an adventure.

The penguin nesting area had a rookery of (maybe) 200 penguins. The wind was blowing and the mother penguins were keeping their babies warm. We took lots of photos, but we have no way to post those photos on the blog. Way out in no-where, was a small Cove Cafe to serve English Tea, (with real china ware) and home made cookies and cakes. A real treat.
On the return trip our tour guide stopped to show us the "shoe tree" This photo is also in the Lands End Catalog.

Our guide was part of a 6-generation family who owns a farm about an hour from town. She had an interesting story to tell us about her participation in the Faulkland Island war sometime in the 1980's. She transported British troups to the battlefield mountain area in the dark of night without head-lights. I asked her if she was going to write a book about her family helping with the war, but she very casually said, "no", but my son did write a school paper on "mom's war stories". Good down'home folks.

Back to the ship --- After we went to bed the Captain announced we were turning back toward the Faulkland Islands to remove a passenger who had become ill in the middle of the night. A helicopter took the passenger off about 2:00 a.m. We turned back out to sea to return on our itinerary. I think we will make up the lost time before arriving in Montevideo.

Tonite the Captain is hosting a formal cocktail party which we won't miss -- It's 5:00 somewhere!

Later
See'ya
The Six BMK Travelers