The Lemmers Lynns, Lachine, QC, CA - SA Cruise 2004, Falklands

The Lemmers Lynns
Lachine, Quebec, Canada
Bienvenue! / Welcome!

South America / Antarctic Cruise 2004
Tuesday - Wednesday, February 10-11, 2004 - Cruising and The Falklands

Tuesday we travelled from Elephant Island toward the Falkland Islands, leaving behind the ice bergs and Antarctic landscape as the air and water became warmer.

Wednesday morning we reached the Falklands and anchored off shore, taking the ship's tenders to go ashore. We had a shore excursion scheduled to depart at 12:15, so we had a brief stroll around Port Stanley, the only city on the islands. The total population of the islands is about 2500, so Stanley is not too large.
The weather tends to be breezy and cool, but the winters are mild with temperatures rarely below freezing. The population is British, thus the British look to some of the gardens and phone booth (s?) , and the Globe Tavern.

The arch by the "cathedral" (third row) is made of whale bone, built in 1933 to celebrate the centenary of British rule.

Our afternoon tour to Bluff Cove took us by bus along a paved road for perhaps half an hour. We then transferred to Land Rovers to bounce across peat bogs to the beach where a bunch of penguins hang out.

The motley looking penguins are chicks born this year. They are losing their baby down to be replaced by their waterproof coat. Once they have that their parents stop feeding them and they have to hit the water for food.

The beach is on a sheep ranch owned by Kevin, the man who was driving our Land Rover. He has only about 4000 sheep, a marginal operation, says he, particularly with today's low wool prices. The penguin tours are something he started just a year ago to augment the sheep income (or lack thereof).

The peat bog makes for a somewhat bumpy ride to and from the beach. Until recently the islanders used the peat for all their heating. They now use imported oil, but the peat is still there for backup.
One of the unusual features of the landscape is a series of "stone rivers", apparently left by the last ice age.
Land mines left by the Argentinians in the 1982 war have not been cleared. They are made of plastic and are not detectable by mine-clearing equipment. Since sheep are not heavy enough to set them off, it was decided to simply mark the fields.

During the bus ride we snapped photos of fellow travelers Elizabeth & Ron Potts of Don Mills and Ian & Pat Downey of St. Catharines.

After a very enjoyable tour in the Falklands we returned to the ship to find the dining room decked out for another extravaganza. Marg's décor went with the entrance décor.
Our last view of the Falklands was a deserted beach somewhere in the area of the Bluff Cove beach that we had visited earlier in the day.