It is actually one of the wettest parts of the islands - and it didn't rain at all while we were there! The town is very small with only about 2,000 people living there. Besides small wooden houses, there is the Falklands Islands Museum, the Government House (built 1845), and several war memorials. There are only four pubs, eleven guest houses, three restaurants, a fish and chips shop and the main tourist office! The Anglican Christ Church claims to be the southernmost cathedral in the world! The police station houses the only prison with room for 13. The only swimming pool on the island is at the community center!
We had to drop anchor in the Falklands in the middle of the ocean, as there was no port there. In Belem, we also had to use tenders provided by the city, but here at Stanley the ship used its own tenders which were several of the covered life boats! They lowered them down to the ocean and had us board them from the lowest level of the ship.
It took about 20 minutes in the tender to reach Port Stanley, and when we did a giant Welcome to the Falkland Islands sign greeted us! In addition, we had a private tour to Volunteer Point so a driver had a sign with our names on it and he showed us to our 4x4 jeep! There were 4 people per car, and a total of 44 people in our caravan. You have to drive in a caravan because of the terrain and off roading, Since there are no roads, small paths have been created but these paths are covered with ditches, holes, makeshift bridges and even ground. As we started our drive, we passed boot hill, cattle grids, and an old Argentinean helicopter that was shoot down.
On our way out to Volunteer Point, we first drove on a small rocky unpaved road, and passed many areas with signs that read, Mines Ahead! We also saw the roped off areas where suspected mines where placed. I saw two guys off in the distance and I later learned they were the mine removers.
Then we were on a really rocky road and they whole length of the road was covered in layers and layers of uplifted rock. We also passed one of the cars in our caravan and found out later that they blew a tire! I have never seen a tower like that before!
Finally we reached Volunteer Farm and we waited for the rest of our caravan to catch up. Although when we got out of the car, it was so so windy.
Once we had everyone together we started out over the farms. You have to pay the farm owners 30 pounds a person to drive in their land! The driving was crazy! Some cars were ahead of us, others behind. We drove through ditches, alongside the water, in water, at times our car was vertical going down the steep slopes. Not to mention the ride was extremely bumby and it took about another hour to reach Volunteer Point.
As we drove along the stretch of road to Volunteer Point, there were penguins everywhere! They were looking out of their burrows, walking across the sandy ground, or just hanging out. When we pulled up to the end, thousands of penguins were right in front of us! There were huge colonies of Magellanic and Gentoo penguins right in front of us. If you stood there long enough, they would walk right up to you! There were so many penguins, just in one area! They all looked a little different, some were nesting, others sprawled out on the ground, and some chased the other penguins!
Then we walked down to the beach and saw penguins in the water, coming out of the water, walking through the sand and many burrowed into small holes on the beach!
We continued to walk and found the most fascinating group of penguins, about 1,200 King Penguins. This is the largest colony and most accessible of the King Penguins in the world! There were so many penguins! You could hear the sounds they were making and watch them stick their heads up to call other penguins! I saw some penguins walking methodically in groups of three… they looked like people walking in suits! There was one male penguin balancing an egg on their foot!
We spent about 2 hours at Volunteer Point, then we drove back to town. This time we got separated from the group and our driver did everything to avoid the main tracks! We were all over the roads, climbing huge dirt hills, crossing over streams of water and he didn't slow down at all, in fact he was flying over the roads! You definitely had to hold on or you would slide across the seats!
Once back in town, we took a tour of the town. We saw Christ Church Cathedral - the most southern Anglican Church, Whalebone Arch - built in 1933 from jawbones of two blue wales, the Jubilee Villas - which were constructed like British town houses to commemorate Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee, the Governor's House, Victory Green and many momuments. We had some time to stop in one of our drivers favorite places and then did some walking around and browsing into the stores of the Falklands.
Today was a great day and it was fascinating to see all the penguins!
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