Stanley, Falkland Islands. Thursday, February 7

Stanley, Falkland Islands.  Up early for excursion to Volunteer Point.  Good thing we weren’t dependent on room service for wake up since they were more than 20 minutes late with coffee.  Went in Land Rover to Volunteer Point — definitely off road for about an hour.  Saw king penguins including chicks and eggs, gentoo penguins, and chinstrap penguins.  Stanley looks like a British village which is a little incongruous.  Decided to stay in for dinner and a movie.  No pizza available.  Not what we expected for service.  Enjoyed Bohemian Rhapsody.

·        Took a fairly strenuous tour to Volunteer point.  1 hour driving on gravel then 1 ¼ hour on rougher off roads than Africa, which was most of what was strenuous.  Especially since I had middle seat with Rose and Maxine in back, Bob in front.  It was as if guide's goal was to always go over new ground and thus find the bumps. Same on way back. So, only 1 ½ hours with the penguins!  Was fun to be up close. Officially no more than 6 meters but you could work it to get closer.  The game is to plant yourself and let them come towards you as they walk by.  Saw a penguin bleeding from both wings. Thought we were too late for babies but saw 1 egg and numerous little brown baby chicks!  Our driver had personality.  Was the leader.  They make all their money from cruise ships during summer.  MJP and Rose worked out tip.

·        Souvenirs were a bit of a problem for me because who cares about The Falklands. Got a patch to put on my Seabourn jacket. Got xmas ornaments for us, Kenny, Carole.  Falklands people are British but sound Scottish -- people at the souvenir store were ½ unintelligible.  

·        Room service this am requested for 6-6:15am and arrived at 6:35am. Was Leon from South Africa who we later came to know.  Disappointing. I’m sure everyone asked for it as part of taking tours but they should know.  They do this every week.

·        Decided to test room services on return at 4pm and asked for bowl of nuts. Got nuts, mostly unsalted, combined with raisins. Since lunch was a sparse sandwich in light rain at Volunteer Point, I was hungry.  We were surprised at how poor the food was on excursion.  I did snag a “penguin chocolate bar” that I’m going to give Eric L.  MJP went to tea and brought back a jar of salty snacks for me from the Observation Bar.

·        We got a call about last minute opportunity to dine with member of singing group but we declined.  Officers are interesting, but not entertainers.

·        As I write this I’m in Observation Bar, which is 4 floors immediately about our room and convenient to watch sail away.  

·        Captain promised us waves under 4 meters which should be moderate roll.  He engineered this by having us leave Falklands at 5pm rather than 3 to let a storm system pass in front of us.  Expects to be in Antarctica by 9am the day after tomorrow.  On retrospect, it turns out this was the Drake Lake version of the crossing.

·        I have to confess it was thrilling (I was surprised that it was) to hear the Captain saying, “We’ve now set sail for Antarctica”.   I’d read that they only get 40,000 tourists/year which makes this pretty cool!  Only 10,000 per month