ANTARCTICA / SOUTH AMERICA  - DAY 6/7/8 - AT SEA / FALKLAND ISLANDS

Blogs: Day 1-2 Iguazu and Itapu | Day 3-4-5 Buenos Aires | Day 6-8 Falklands | Day 10-14 Antarctica | Day 15-16 Ushuaia | Day 17 Punta Arenas - Patagonia | Day 21-23 Santiago | Day 24 Valparaiso

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We got an extra day at sea due to the bad weather in Montevideo. Mostly relaxing, eating, drinking, playing trivia which is fun and hanging out with some Australians we met in the smoking lounge.

We were surprised to discover that over 1100 of the 2000 passengers are American. We thought that number would be a lot lower due to sailing out of a foreign port. Until we discovered that this trip originated from Fort Lauderdale where it was sold as a 32 day trip to Santiago, and then a 16 trip from Buenos Aires. A LOT of the passengers took the 32 day package hence the higher number of Americans on the ship.

On arriving in the Falkland Islands we realized that this was going to be a busy port as THREE cruise ships docked the same day!

The Falkland Islands are a British territory, but surprisingly enough they have their own currency: The Falklands Pound. However they had no problem taking my dollars!

There is only one town on the entire group of islands and that is Port Stanley where 90% of the population live. The Falklands Islands have a population of just 3300 people most of British decent that were born there with some immigrants from England and Chile. Many have never left the island, it's all they know.

Argentina has always disputed the UK's ownership of the islands and in 1982 went so far as to invade and try to occupy them against the residents will. Thus began the brief but bloody Falklands war which lasted 8 months and 687 Argentineans died and 255 British servicemen.

The Falklands is most famous for its animal life and more specifically penguins. So we took a $20 bus tour to Gypsy Cove to see some penguins.

The penguins make burrows in which to lay their eggs. The Falkland Islands have no trees, the only trees are in the city and they were brought in from overseas.

During the war a lot of land and sea mines were put down and this beach has been deemed unsafe since 1982. Now after all these years, as you can see way in the background, they now have a team clearing the mines to make the beach safe again.

There are a lot of ship wrecks. Mostly abandoned boats that broke down and Falkland's did not have the dry dock or equipment to repair so they were abandoned as it was too expensive to take them anywhere else.

The Royal Falklands Police Department

These are whale bones

Falklands has always been strategic military position. This gun dates back to World War II.

Gun barrels from HMS Lancaster a Royal Navy Ship from World War I.

After that we decided to grab a beer in a local pub.

Where we met these guys, all British Soldiers stationed in the Falklands for 6 months on deployment.

They have a Philatelic Bureau - for those who do not collect stamps, this is a place where stamp collectors can purchase stamps for their collections at face value in either mint condition or cancelled to order.

These are most specifically found in small countries where their stamps are rare due to the small circulation in the world.

And finally...

I really like the last picture, do people REALLY ignore the toilet and take a dump on the floor?