From West Point, we sailed overnight to Stanley, also known as Port Stanley, on the East Falkland Island, arriving in the outer anchorage of Stanley Bay at 08:00.
Stanley, the capital of the island, is the only city in The Falklands and more than two thirds of the total population lives here – 2460 of 3390. It is located on the northeast coast of East Falkland, is the only harbour of the islands, is the shopping hub and is home to the Falkland Museum and National Trust.
The zodiacs and Special Ops Boats had been stored away as they were no longer required for landing or sight-seeing. Here in Stanley, we would be taken by tender to the harbour landing dock. As these are lifeboats they can have up to 50+ persons on board at a time, not that we were loaded to that maximum. Those guests who were on early excursions went across first and then the rest of us, at our convenience, as the tenders travelled back and forth all day.
We had an hour to spare before we had to depart for our excursion to Gypsy Cove and, as we had visited Stanley in 2020, we wandered around to see if it had changed at all. We walked down the main street, looked in a curio store and watched some petrels basking on an old pier. Stanley had not changed significantly as it still has red telephone booths and a red post box outside the post office. Another red item is the Hop on/hop off bus as found in cities all over the world today.
We then crossed over to the Cathedral which has a large Whalebone Arch constructed of four Blue Whale jaw bones brought from the South Shetland Islands in 1922. They were used to erect the arch in 1933 to celebrate 100 years of British administration. The bones have been cleaned, maintained and painted with resin on a regular basis since then and still look beautiful.
At midday we made our way back to the harbour area by going up and down some streets and seeing what else there was to see. Almost every home had at least one LPG tank and a small vegetable garden. Sadly, there were several abandoned homes which had been left to fall apart.
Our scientist guide for the excursion was Dr Tim Berger, the man who loves his plants. Once we were all on board the bus we drove out of town heading East. It was quite an interesting drive just to get to Gypsy Cove itself. I was fascinated to see a supermarket, with very little other life around it, and yet there were a few vehicles parked outside. Further along we passed the Port Stanley airport and there was a warplane parked there. On the side of the road we saw a few groups of Kelp Geese.
We passed the Lady Elizabeth shipwreck sitting in Whalebone Cove. Built in 1879 she spent the first 10 years transporting bricks and cement to Stanley to build the Cathedral. Thereafter, she went to many other ports until 1913 when she was battered by gales southwest of Cape Horn and ended up settling in Stanley Harbour. In 1936 she broke her moorings and drifted down to her present position.
Map of Stanley and to Gypsy Cove. Red cross indicates where the Lady Elizabeth shipwreck lies. Modified by Dr Blofeld. Permission to use photo at http://www.maps-for-free.com/html/about.html
After about 40 minutes we arrived at the entrance to Gypsy Cove area where we were introduced to our park guide. It is a fully fenced national park with a variety of local plants, penguins and geese. Walking around the park is easy as much of it is on a wooden path. It is a circular path so we would return to the starting area where the bus would be waiting.
On entering the park, we were treated to a stunning view of Yorke Bay. On the far side were Magellan Penguins but we could hardly see them. As we continued along the path we saw a burrow which would have been used by a pair of Penguins for nesting. A most interesting bush was the Diddle Dee which produced red berries which make a delicious juice. Our park guide told us that she makes the juice for her children and adds it to her tea.
After about half an hour of walking, we arrived at the viewing spot of Gypsy Cove. In the bay here, were a few ships which we learnt were for fishing squid in particular, about 75%, but they also fished for Rock Cod, Hoki and Hake. Half all Calamari eaten in Southern Europe is likely to have come from Falklands waters. The Falkland Government restricts each company to a maximum of 10 000 tons of squid per annum and this is very carefully monitored, with checks every time that a ship goes out and returns.
We also saw many Kelp Geese, who pair for life. The male is completely white whereas the female is brown. We watched a pair for a while as they went about looking for food. While we watched, one of our party saw another penguin burrow with a baby penguin inside. He got so excited that, unfortunately, the chick was frightened back into the burrow.
On a hill called Ordnance Point, we came to a mounted gun from World War II. There were 14 manned defence sites on the islands and this one was to protect Stanley Bay. Besides the gun, all that remains is a searchlight stand, foundations of the main hut, a generator shed and several lengths of stone edged pathways.
We continued around on the path, which was now a dirt path, and were treated to beautiful views across land down to Stanley and the Bay. From there we walked straight down back to the bus.
Daily Viking
For those who were on board during the day, there was a meeting of the Scientific Journal Club for discussion on a journal article. Scientists would give a plain language summary. interpret the data and figures and discuss the implications of the findings. There was a documentary, “BBC Blue Planet II: One Ocean”. This takes one on a journey showing how knowledge of life beneath the waves has improved with modern technology and showing never seen before animal behaviours. Our evening lecture, “Stormbirds”, was by Jack Buckingham and was about the Petrels, prions and albatrosses. It was one of the best lectures we experienced.
The front-page story today was a short piece on Stanley and giving information which is extra to that above. It is known as the Penguin Capital of the World” having 5 species of penguins living on the island. Over and above the penguins there are 180 bird species on the island. The island is still very English in tradition with teatime every afternoon and gatherings in atmospheric pubs just as in Britain.
The animal story was about the magnificent Blue Whale. “With tongues comparable to the size of an elephant and hearts as big as a car, the prize winner for the largest animal that ever existed on earth goes to the Blue Whale!” They can grow up to 100ft (30m) in length and weigh up to 200 tons (180 metric tons). They are very vocal animals, using their bellows and moans to communicate with each other over distances of almost 1000 miles (1609 kms). Their normal swimming speed is 5 mph (8kph) but, if necessary, can do up to 4 times that. During the summer feeding season, they eat up to 4 tons (3.6mt) daily. Due to the whaling industry they were on the endangered list for many years but since that has been outlawed, their numbers have grown unprecedently.
