Toni and Janie's Blog

19th posting on Jan. 23, 2014 ..... Back to the welcome page and listings for other links

Special day today pulling into Port Stanley--the Falkland Islands (also known by non-Brits as the Malvinas). Initially we weren't going because the weather there has been treacherous of late with winds hurricane force. But alas God knew we were coming & pulled out all the sunshine, magnificent clouds & little wind for our ship to anchor and for us to get ashore safely. The Falklands are very barren with hardly any trees. (See pic) Stark beauty with rock formations everywhere--reminded me of No Ireland Connemara area. They even have peat bogs here & some still use it to burn in their homes. (Pic) Town is a sweet small very British looking town with pubs, red phone booths and gorgeous English gardens (pics)

We went to a place called Bluff Cove to see King & Gentoo penguins up close & personal. A mini bus took us from the dock to the other side of the island (where we got into Range Rovers) & drove over barren land & rocks (this property is privately owned) for about 30 min (seemed like an hour with major rockin & rollin in the rover) to the cove with a beautiful white sandy beach. (Pics). The colony here are primarily Gentoos with a few King's and exciting news that the first King baby was just born yesterday. The Gentoos here are juveniles (about 1 yr old) and still have their down and not totally feathered yet. They are so funny to watch when they preen, flap their flippers and squawk at each other---typical teenagers. They waddle of course because they have no knees. The adults have a huge fat pocket of feathers at the bottom of their tummies to shield the egg before it hatches.

We finished up our visit in an English tea room with treats made by 3 local ladies. Nice warm hut with a peat fire going. Scones, carrot cake lemon cake---fabulous---probably totaled 50 wt watcher points!! :). Back into rovers for the whoop dee doo ride overland.

This had to be the best day so far for penguins, beauty, weather and is another 10+ on the happiness scale. love to you all. J & T. We sail tomorrow for two days to get to Punte del Este Uruguay.

Our email address is janie8500@gmail.com. Feel free to drop a note and say hello anytime!