We were in port from 9am to 8pm; this was our last tender port. We had read a long tender (~20-30 mins). The weather was still beautiful and seas calm. We caught the tender. Husband felt the long tender needed entertainment, and I felt that we needed to watch the scenery in an area that we have not been and may not make it back to. He worked on a crossword puzzle on his phone. On the subject of crossword puzzles, this trip the crew did good at keeping the daily crossword puzzle changed and no dups, even with the longer cruise. We get the daily crossword puzzle and trivia and work them together. In Alaska, they had trouble changing it.
We arrived; the visitor center was right at the tender port. We had planned to take the shuttle to Gypsy Cove to see penguins. The shuttles are just through the visitor center and to the left. Someone was taking money and giving tickets. I should remember the price since we read different things. I think it was $20 pp for roundtrip. We have notes of 15 GBP pp roundtrip though did not confirm. These shuttles are 2-aisle-1 seating where another seat folds down into the aisle, leaving no aisle.
Drive to Gypsy Cove
They dropped us off at the parking lot that I believe had a type of chemical toilet restrooms. The shuttles continually brought more people and took those that were ready to go back. Sometimes there was a line to go back. There also seemed to be different shuttles because they noted one person had the other shuttle but then let them ride anyway.
The first penguins we saw were further away in the grassy area off the beach.
These guys were right off the trail. The bigger one is the child; it looks bigger because it is molting baby feathers and fluffier.
The surf was pretty on the beach and the warning that one cannot go on the beach since it may not be completely clear of land mines from the Argentina-Falklands War. Luckily, penguins are too light to set off land mines.
Penguins with some geese and other birds.
Cormorants on the rocks near the ocean, and more geese.
Caught a view of the ship. Cannon from the war. After hiking around (and some was wet where we had to hop over small streams), we came back to visit these guys one more time.
View of town.
We waited in line for the shuttle and returned to town. We walked along the coast, looking for the solar system art that we read about before.
The Falkland Islands are disputed between the UK (an overseas territory) and Argentina. Argentina calls the island group: Malvinas Islas. I read they receive mail monthly from the UK, and the school is similar to a one room schoolhouse. These signs were asking Argentina to leave them alone. We later learned on a walking tour in Buenos Aires that Argentina sent a poorly trained army and the British army sent was well prepared. They drive on the left side of the road.
The two whale bone statue. War memorial.
We found the Solar System. An artist was commissioned to create it. They are to scale to each other here, and then to scale into the distance from each other as you continue to walk down the road. They go way up into the mountains; we only walked to Mars. To back up, the shuttle returned us to the visitor center, and then we walked right -- if you were in the tender facing the visitor center.
Little Earth with the sun behind it.
Mercury and Venus looking back toward the sun.
Shipwreck and birds.
Back in town after visiting Mars. British phone booths and postbox drop.
Ship mast
Then we did some shopping. We got our youngest, who loves penguins, a penguin knitting kit. His sitter was trying to teach him, and he was practicing with other yarn. However, I think he has given up. Maybe she will knit it for him :). We had about 9 GBPs in change left from previous trips to London, so we took this in a coin purse. They were not patient in this store of me looking for pound coins. In the next store, I also got a penguin t-shirt and husband some Diddle Dee jam; here we used a credit card. They wanted to see our id; which did not go well because my husband signed for it and showed his id. Then we realized that we had given them the card with my name. We have the same acct with each a card, so it is all the same to us. So, I signed above his signature and showed my id. We took our driver's licenses on this trip to have an id to take ashore. We also stopped at a grocery for some British candy and got: Turkish delight, a little Haribo bag, and British smarties (husband), and I found Milka Daim -- my favorite! Here the grocery store was super patient, and I was apologizing for having to count out change. We used most of our British pence. At the first store, we got 1 pence change in Falkland Pounds -- it had a penguin on the back :). I have a coin and bill currency collection, so I also try to save some local currency.
With shopping done, we headed back to the visitor center (which also looked to have nice merchandise) to catch the tender. One more note -- the visitor center does not have free wi-fi, but has it. You have to buy a pre-paid wi-fi minutes card. We did not try to figure this out.
Back at the tender, there was quite a line that was starting to get in the way of people walking through. There was a food stand next to it selling hamburgers and other things. We were hungry by this point but almost back on the ship. No tenders were coming. I believe they finally radioed, and the ship sent three.
The tender port sign.
To finish off our day at the Falklands, when we were back on the ship, we waited in a LONG line for the Great Outdoors (portion of the buffet that was the only part currently open) for a 3:30 lunch. Then, we did gemstone trivia; it was hard. We had dinner at the Sports Bar. I loves the wings. Other ships have them 24 hours a day in the Blue Lagoon or O'Sheehan's, but this ship only has them after 5:30 in the Sports Bar. We had gone one other day during the cruise and got service okay. However, today, we could not get service. They were only interested in their bar drink buying customers. I went to the bar twice to ask. The second person did send a waiter out. Since this is the only option and time for wings, I expect they would be willing to take orders... We shared the spinach and artichoke dip, and I had the hot wings. Husband had the chef salad. When leaving, we grabbed some popcorn to enjoy during the 7:30 show.