Stanley, Falkland Islands, 8 January 2024

On 8 January we arrived in the Falkland Islands-Malvinas for a 1 day jaunt. It was supposed to be overnight, but the night before was blowing a gale so the captain worked his magic again and kept us out of trouble. 

The good news - we got to snorkel again! The bad news, we could only go to the capital, Stanley, and there were four other boats going at the same time, one of which was full of 2200 people. Stanley is a quaint little town with a population of about 2500 people.

So when we found that out the night before our landing, I madly googled bespoke local private tours and messaged a company that did just that, and arranged to get out of the town and the crowd in the afternoon. 

My morning was delightful, with three hours to do a Zodiac exploration  of Gypsy Cove and snorkel to our hearts' content, while our counterparts explored it by bus, or kayak if they were paddlers. Linda stayed on the ship rather than join a bus tour, where we regrouped for a quick lunch before we headed into town to meet up with Sharon of Mercado Tours.

Weeeeee

The weather was perfect, a beautiful sunny day in the front end, and our zodiacs were greeted early by a pod of dolphins. They made it known they were keen for some wake to play in - so we obliged, of course. They whizzed around and between the zodiacs, and one particularly frisky dolphin leapt out of the water a half dozen times to show approval of the boatiness provided for their pleasure.

On the beach at Gypsy Cove we saw our sixth type of penguin, the Magellanic penguin. There were just a few pockets dotted around the beach with small groups, nothing like the scenes of South Georgia. And on this occasion they were almost outnumbered by the people turning up to the beach by bus.

While we were expecting four degrees in the water, it turned out to be a balmy 12 degrees. The water was a stunning aquamarine and there was plenty to see among the rocks and the kelp,  including some beautiful sponges and soft corals. We did two snorkels of about 30 minutes each in the end. The highlight from the snorkelling was sea spiders - unfortunately they don't really come out in photos. But once Adrian pointed out one, we noticed them everywhere! 

Photo courtesy of snork Kelly Mac

Here we were crossing the beach from one cluster of rocks to the other - you can see a bus group up on the cliff

There were birds everywhere including ducks, nesting on the rocks, and we could see the penguins on the beach from the water, so as usual there was equal time spent with faces above the surface as in the water.

This fella communing with the birds

It was delightful, with the peace broken at the end by a (repeated) flyover by some jet fighters. Later on our tour Sharon told us they do this whenever ships with a lot of Argentinians turn up - flexing their muscles a bit.

buzzed by a fighter jet - can't see it so well, taken on gopro

A quick lunch and short zodiac ride to shore and we were met by Sharon. With only two hours available we didn't have too many options, and what we did probably wouldn't normally be worth £100 each, but on this day it was - just to get away from the crowds. She took us off-road and we admired the landscape and some local birds. We stopped at Yorke Bay and caught a look at a creche of penguin chicks before being castigated by a fellow in high vis on a mission to keep us at a distance. Sharon was a little confused, having been there that morning with no drama - we guessed the number of people on the island might have kicked off some extra precautionary measures in the middle of the day.

                   Yorke Bay dunes

                       Creche

        MoreYorke Bay landscape

Wild geese - sometimes we saw these mixing with domesticated geese

Can't remember what bird this is but an endemic species

We drove to the lighthouse, the easternmost point of the Falkland Islands-Malvinas. It was quiet, with just a couple of other people there. It's not operational now, but there's a plan for a £2m investment to restore it. 

Memorial from the 1982 war

Sharon thought we might see some fur seals but alas, we did not. The sky was starting to look stormy and it made for quite a dramatic landscape. We had a fly over by the military again, this time a cargo plane rather than the jet fighters.

Sharon took us back to town via a lookout for one last look - it's a lovely town to look at with all the colourful houses set in the windswept, rugged natural landscape. Later some people were lamenting a disappointing end to the trip (to be expected after the incomparable South Georgia). But I was lucky and with the snorkelling and the dolphins, and getting out of town in the afternoon - pretty satisfied with my day in the Falklands-Mavinas.