After breakfast in our room, we went to the Michelangelo Dining Room to get tickets to board one of the six morning tender boats.
After a half hour tender boat ride across the Stanley Harbor, we docked at the Capital of the Falkland Islands, Stanley....population close to 3000....4000 for all the 200 Falkland Islands. They say that there are more penguins in Stanley than people and I am sure that if everyone from our ship went ashore...the population doubled for the day!
During the 16th century, French, Spanish, and Portuguese explored the area with a French sailor charting the islands in 1529. The British came here at the end of the 18th century then abandoned the area until it became the Royal Navy Station for Britain during World War I and II. The main occupations on the islands are farming, fishing, and now oil....after being found during the past few years.
Most notable in their history was the War of Falkland Island in 1982 with Argentina. The result of the war was that the British maintained control over the islands causing Argentina to change their dictatorship type government to a democracy. Recently, there has been more dispute over the islands with Argentina due to the discovery of oil. Falklanders are proud of their British heritage.
Kids in out lying areas attend school by radio. A teacher will visit them for two weeks each year. Interesting that the Falkland children finish high school here, but attend college in Great Britain. 95% of the those students return back to the Falklands to live.
Larry and I walked the whole length of the harbor in about half an hour. We passed numerous spots of interest:
Jubille Villas...typical English Cottages built in 1860
Christ Church Cathedral....a mass of brick and stone with wonderful stain glass windows built in 1892, the most southern cathedral in the world.
The Whale Bone Arch...made from two Jaws Bones of two Blue Whales...largest animal on earth.
Red British Telephone Booths
Liberation Memorial....1982 Falkland War Memorial
World War I Memorial
The Jhelum...a 18th century ship from Liverpool that was damaged while going around Cape Horn was pulled into the Stanley harbor to rest.
There are very few trees on the Falklands. People have tried to plant them but the soil (very peat like) is not able to anchor the trees well enough against the wind. These are the only trees that we saw on the whole island...they were a shield next to the Government House where a gardener took care of them until they were fully established.
While I looked around a couple of the shops, Larry found a local gentleman who took us on a trip out of town to see....The PENGUINS! YEAH! We boarded his 4 Wheel Drive Mitsubishi...most Falklanders all have 4 wheel drive automobiles because most roads are not paved.
We headed about 30 minutes out of town. He took a left turn onto a rough gravel road going about 5 minutes and then took another left after opening a fence gate up and over the marshy bog we went. We were thrown up, down, here, there...about another 15 minute jostle until we reached the place called Sand Beach.
Oh how I wanted to go down on the beach to get a little closer view...but we could not. There was a fence up and signs saying keep out...LAND MINES....Yes, LAND MINES left over from the Falkland War of 1982. The government is slowly dismembering them but it is quite a process. Who would want that job? Anyway we enjoyed watching these unique little critters for awhile before heading back along the rocky coast in the bog field toward town. How awesome was that!
We went into the West Store Cafe for a little lunch and some HOT tea....
Did I mention how brisk it was? The wind was a blowin' and we had several short rain showers that kept us a little damp and cold...but it didn't ruin our day. We felt lucky that the sun did shine off and on and it warmed us up from time to time....The Falklands average about 250 days of rain or snow...with little accumulation.
What breath taking scenery!
Dinner was a Barvarian Bierfest Buffet.
What an EXCELLENT day!
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