Antarctic Cruise Day 24 / 40 - Gentoo, Magellanic, & King Penguins galore
Trip day: 24 / 40
Port days: 7
Sea days: 16
Countries: 4
Continents: 3
Ports: 4
Land. It's been a while - eleven days to be precise - since we've seen any. But today, we did as we anchored off of Stanley in the Falkland Islands.
We started the day today by taking the tender from the ship into the port in Stanley.
They went all out for us as their local celebrity, Stanley the sea lion, was lounging around and posing for photo ops.
Our tour today was a 4x4 tour to Volunteer Point where groups of Gentoo, Magellanic, and King penguins reside.
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| Drivers, discussing our route |
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| There are a lot of sheep here |
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| A farm that we cut through to get to Volunteer Point |
As we arrived, we started to see some of the local wildlife.
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| A Magellanic penguin, bringing nesting material |
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| A local goose |
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| Sheep were roaming all over |
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| We had to dip the soles of our shoes in a cleansing solution on the way in and out |
Here is the photo dump as I couldn't delete more since they looked so amazing.
Gentoo
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| Bringing nesting material |
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| Making the next generation Gentoos |
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| Love is in the air... |
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| Guarding the egg |
King
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Molting
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| The number of feathers on the ground was amazing |
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| The super-fluffy juveniles were nearly adult-sized and perhaps a year to two old |
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| How big are you? *THIS* big |
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| The juveniles followed us around - we're supposed to keep a 20-foot distance but they wouldn't stay away |
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| Penguins and sheep (and geese) all live together |
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| Nappy time |
Magellanic
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| Magellanic penguins dig burrows up to six feet deep - here are a couple of shots of them in the burrow |
Other various things we saw.
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| Two-banded plover |
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| Turkey vultures |
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| A face only a mother could love |
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| Geese |
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| Local sheep |
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| Time to get out of the water |
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| I think this is a sandpiper |
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| Arlona, doing her water-feeling thing |
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| Gull - probably a kelp gull |
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| I think this is a snowy sheathbill dining on the remains of some other bird |
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| My queen with a group of kings in the background |
On the way back, we encounter a little issue when one of our vehicles (not ours) got stuck. Then, when they pulled it out, it ripped off its bumper facia.
Our convoy was a Nissan, two Toyotas, and our proper, English Land Rover.
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| Arlona thought the 4x4 ride was OK |
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| Back at the farm where we went from gravel to full off-road |
After our return to Stanley, we walked a little through town, visiting Christ Church with its iconic whalebone arch.
As we got ready to tender back to the ship, the farewell party extended to two groups.
We enjoyed a nice dinner at Manfredi's with the Excursion Manager, Mark, and Excursion Program Coordinator, Valbona. Then, we enjoyed a nightcap at the Explorers' Bar while I started this lengthy post. As I finish this in our stateroom, Arlona is already out cold.
We will rest up for tomorrow. The plans are in flux due to the weather so I'll update you tomorrow with what we wind up doing.
