Day 17. Falklands~Malvinas. 2.2.25

"The Falklands~Malvinas comprises two large islands (East and West Falkland), with over 700 islands scattered off the coast. All but seven of these are uninhabited, with windswept coastlines, white sand beaches and crystal-clear water. These beautifully barren islands are true wildlife havens, sheltering an impressive diversity of bird life, including the largest black-browed albatross colony on earth. The cold, nutrient-rich waters surrounding the islands make this a prime location for spotting marine life. 

There are many beautiful areas to explore across the Falklands~Malvinas, each offering a unique perspective on this magnificent archipelago. Your experienced expedition team, who have made countless journeys to this area, will use their expertise to design your voyage from day to day, choosing the best options based on the prevailing winds, weather and wildlife opportunities. 

We generally make landings or Zodiac excursions twice a day. Even though we are north of the Antarctic Convergence it can be quite chilly here, so you will want to layer up before joining Zodiac cruises into rocky coves or along sea cliffs, keeping watch for seals, sea lions, dolphins and penguins. Zodiacs will also shuttle you from the ship to land, where you may visit albatross colonies, penguin rookeries and perhaps even have a traditional English ‘tea and scones’ at a local cottage.   

Conditions permitting, we plan to land in historic Stanley, the capital of the Falklands~Malvinas. This charming town has a distinctly British character, with terraced town houses, pioneer cottages and even an iconic red telephone box! Colourful buildings house cosy cafes, English pubs, souvenir shops, a post office and the fascinating Historic Dockyard Museum, with displays on the maritime history of the Falkland Islands, natural history and links to Antarctica."

Day 4 of our Antarctica Tour.

**Photos will be uploaded randomly through out our days on the ship due to limited internet **

A very light breakfast for me as I'm still just a little queasy. Our group will be the first lot to go ashore this morning. The weather is 11° and winds gusting up to 42 knots.

Coming through the Narrows to anchor up.

View out of our bedroom window.

We rugged up in our water proof gear and headed off in a Zodiac to Stanley. We took a bus around to Gypsy Cove to go for a walk looking for wildlife.

Magellanic Penguins at play. It was so amazing watching them swimming and playing around on the beach. The water is very clear.

Mum & bub.

We walked down to the beach as we heard there was a King Penguin there.

The wind was sand blasting us.

Sky was getting darker ⛈ 

A solo King Penguin.  Apparently there are 5 or 6 that live on the island. 

Steamer ducks.

Looking back at our ship.

The weather turned very wet and I saw lightning so we decided to go back to the ship early. The upside of that was the internet was a lot better and I managed to get a couple of videos up before the other passengers arrived. 

Due to the weather the daily plan has changed.

View from the ship of Stanley. 

Citizen Science Center. 

Lecture theatre.

Due to bad weather conditions we moved to a cove near the island to shelter for the night and all day tomorrow. The waves are predicted to be 6+ meters. Hopefully we will get to do some extra excursions to the island but away from Stanley. 

We had some great company for dinner tonight. 1 couple from the  Mornington Peninsula and the other couple was from just south of Sydney. Mark had a seafood soup and we both had Salmon for dinner. So far the meals have been very delicious. 

Someone comes and tidies our room twice a day. When we came back from dinner our bed had been turned down.

Today's temperature got up to 14°