Christmas in the Falklands



We spent Christmas Day on the Falkland Islands, a very remote islands of British sovereignty. Total population of the islands is about 3,000 and about 1,800 of those folks live in Port Stanley, the government seat.

Port Stanley was developed by the British as a repair port for ships coming around Cape Horn and through Drake Passage, some of the vessels were so battered that they needed to be repaired in the Falklands before going onward for home. Some of the vessels beyond repair, still sit in and around Port Stanley in various states of decay and some were simply used as a footing for wharfs that are used today. The town and people are very British and when asked about the 1982 Falkland war between Argentina and Britain, they have no idea why Argentina sent forces and are very emphatic about being part of Britain since the 1800's.

Loreen and I went on our separate tours in Port Stanley, me to carry on my love affair with Penguins and Loreen to do a town tour.



Gentoo coming home from feeding


I went out to a rookery of Gentoo Penguins were we seen a few hundred and amongst them one small colony of King Penguins. The Gentoo's were very active, sitting on eggs, tending to their chicks and wandering back and forth to the ocean for groceries.

Polar Penguin Swim!

Not so the Kings, although they were more colorful and larger, they tended to stand around in the sun most of the time, just being regal, I guess.

Regal Kings with the yellow necks

The road to the rookery was about ten kilometers from the highway over peat bog, which we crossed in four wheel drive Land Rovers and there was about twenty of these beasts working, making a round trip with a new flock of tourists every hour on the hour. I heard that there were around 200 Land Rovers working on various tourist gigs Christmas Day.

Port Stanley has about sixty cruise ships a year and tourism is the number one economic driver, with fishing and petroleum exploration second and third. There is one deep sea platform drilling an exploratory well south of the Falklands and a semi-submersible is on the way now to drill in deeper waters to the North of the islands. Both exploration wells are being drilled by local companies, although I suspect some major is likely to be bankrolling the cost of drilling.

So while my day was exciting and informative, Loreen learned more about the islands way of life. With imported cucumbers around $7 for a normal size, most everyone has a veggie garden, with acidic peat soils - a little lime and lots of horse manure is added and a garden you can grow. The town was full of horses as the thoroughbred races were being held on Boxing Day, she even got to see a reindeer that some enterprising fellow had brought to the island for a pet.

Stanley the Falklands Reindeer!

There are lots of cattle and sheep on the islands, so for the most part they are pretty self sufficient for basic foods. Every thing else comes from the UK or from Chile. It seems that Argentina holds a bit of a grudge and refuses to deal with the Falklands, sounds like the US and Cuba.

Then off tonight to the Antarctic, across the east side of the dreaded Drakes Passage. The seas from Montevideo to the Falklands were bad enough with winds of thirty to forty mph out of the west kicking up high waves and buffeting the ship. Well tomorrow will tell the tale.