Gixer

WOW! Loads of great pics! I cant wait until its my turn to sail on her :D

Hi everyone -

First of all let me apologise, I have totally neglected the SA forum these last few weeks :o

I am still around, but am hanging out in the NCL lounge at the moment planning our next trip, all my time has been taken up researching our next vacation (I cant get enough of reading threads about NCL's villa's they look amazing!)

Glad you all enjoyed your cruises and your visit to the Falklands, sounds like some of you had great fun with the penguins! The Gentoo chicks can be very curious and if you sit quiet and still long enough they do tend to come and investigate! Gentoo's definatley do that type of thing more than any other species, but its usually always the chicks that are so inquisitive :D

Thank you all for the kind messages and fridge magnets - WOW! I have got loads and loads of them, I dont think I can fit anymore in the kitchen! :eek: :o

I will try and pop in a bit more often, but if there is something you need an urgent answer to then you will definatley find me in the NCL forum :)

Hi Gixer,

Our cruise will arrive April 4, I understand it is autum in Stanley, is the trees changing color, if it is what stage will it be in early April (early or peak)?

 

Liana.:)

We dont really have any trees, not native ones anyway! the wind is too strong and the soil too acidic due to the peat. There are a few trees in and around Stanley but they are evergreens, so there will be no autum show of turning leaves for you too see Im afraid :(

Yes I did the magnet! Thanks!

Nobody would know me by my cruise critic user name - a Gixer is the type of motorbike my husband usd to ride - hence the user name! Glad my friend at the cafe managed to solve the mystery for you though!

I just sort of dropped in here by accident, I was researching our Disney cruise, and everyone in other the parts of the forum had been so helpful and I got such a lot of useful info that I thought it might be nice to try and repay the favour - must admit I hadnt quite expected such a huge response to the thread!

If there is something I dont know off the top of my head then I will always ask around and try and found out the most acurate info for you, glad that other cruise critic members have found the thread helpful, I know that the Disney forum and carribean ports of call forum made a world of difference to me when I planned my trip!

Thats great news Art! glad you managed to get something sorted - enjoy your trip - Fingers crossed for you that the weather holds out! :D

Gixer: I gather that some or most or all of the owners of private penguin coves will allow cruise ship passengers to visit only as part of cruise ship tours and not with a local tour agent. Among those of your local friends and acquaintances who are not involved in the tourist business, is that considered a fortunate or an unfortunate situation?

Its not really an issue, we are a population of aprox 2000 people, so one cruise ship alone can bring in double our population all in one go! All cruise ships contract out to the local tour agents which is why its almost impossible to book anything independantly - the cruise ships have already booked everyone up in advance! Local tour agents are not missing out, they are the people taking you to the private coves on the cruise ships official excursions.

This is sort of how it works, say you have 10 local tour agents, well a local company like International tours and travel for example will book up all 10 local agents for the day that the cruise ship comes into port, then International tours and travel are contracted by the cruise ship to run the official ecxursions, the result being no local tour opperators are avilable for private trips that day because they have all been booked up in advance to run cruise ship excursions.

The weather at the best of times can be unpredictable, the saying 4 seasons in one day - more like 4 seasons in half an hour in the Falklands! I would plan for the worst and hope for the best, layers would be a good idea and a windproof/waterproof coat is essential. A fleecy hat that covers your ears and sunglasses, if its sunny it can be exceptionally bright with lots of glare coming off the water. You may be lucky and have a beautiful calm autum day, but most likley you will experience the odd rain shower.

If you take a trip to bluff or sparrow cove you will have no problems viewing penguins, the Gentoos are resident all year round. The jackas penguins will start to return to sea in April, but as your here towards the beginning of the month then you will definatley see some at Gypsy cove, but probably not the entire colony.

Hello everyone!

We got back from Florida on Saturday but its taken me a while to unpack and get sorted - we had the most fantastic time, the cruise was brilliant, I am definatley hooked! I think St John has to be the most perfect place in the world, unbelievably beautiful, I would love to go back and spend a bit more time there, Trunk Bay was breathtaking, I cant imagine there is a more idyllic beach anywhere else in the world!

Thanks also too everyone who has dropped off magnets, I have got HEAPS of them! I have been collecting them from all over town, the jetty centre, gift shops, the post office etc etc :D

OK, I guess there are some questions that I need to try and help with, so here goes!

Thrifty - You are best to take a cruise ship tour to either Bluff or Sparrow cove, some local companies do run private tours but these are for land based passengers only. If you wait and try and organise something when you reach Stanley you will probably find yourself out of luck. We are a very small community, and most tour guides will have already been contracted out by the cruise ships for their tours which is why you will have difficulty in trying to book something privatley. In all honesty the only tours you can book independantly are local taxi trips to Gypsy cove or trips to Volunteer point, for all others I highly recommend booking with your cruise line.

dnsnduo44 - Yes, the Rockhopper tour is worth it. You are arriving at a good time to see them, the chicks have already hatched and the adults are moulting before returning to sea so you should get to see quite a lot of little guys! I love Rockhoppers, the are very entertaining and are not shy of humans at all. The journey isnt too rough, so you should be fine.

polinav - Bluff and Sparrow cove are very similar tours, you will see Gentoo penguins, ***** penguins and also a couple of Kings. Both trips are excellent and are only half day excursions so that still leaves enough time to have a look around town. The kids will be fine in a 4x4, infact they will probably find the whole trip pretty exciting! If the journey is a big worry for you though, Gypsy cove is very easy to get too and you wont be driving over any rough ground, you will only see ***** penguins at Gypsy cove, unless there are a few visiting kings or Gentoos passing by.

Artye - It would be difficult to book a private tour to Bluff/Sparrow cove, the taxi's dont run to those areas as some of the journey is off road. You can take a taxi for about $10 to Gypsy cove which is only 5 mins from town. Im not sure when you are travelling but it might be worth looking into a trip to Volunteer point if you have enough time, there you wil get to see a large King colony, and also plenty of Gentoo's and *****.

I havent had time yet too read back a few pages so apologies if I have missed out questions from anyone!

Happy New year to you all too!

Sorry I wont be able to post on this thread for a while, we fly to Florida on Saturday, we have some time at WDW then are so excited to be going on our first cruise! We land back home 2nd Feb, I hope you all enjoy your visit to the Islands and have fun on your trips!

I have a quick question for you. Was the Infinity able to make it to the Falklands on the 27th, yesterday? My husband and I had to cancel three days before leaving for the cruise so I have kinda been trying to follow the cruise. I had met a lot of folks here that I hoped to meet in person. Am also wondering if they've had good seas. Thanks for any info you can give. Jule

We have had no problems with ships docking at all, a few have even managed to sail right into Stanley harbour which doesnt happen very often! we have had glorious weather the last couple of weeks, the seas have been calm and the winds light so your friends would have had a great visit!

Gixer/Samantha-

Thank you SO much for all the helpful insights, and your fabulous photos.

We will be in Port Stanley (we hope!!) on March 11.

Will there still be many penguins there at that time? Is it worth heading all the way out to volunteer point that late in the season, or would you suggest the closer options?

We don't mind the bumpy roads, we just don't want to pay HAL outrageous prices to get out to Volunteer point if the main reason (penguin viewing) is not going to be worth it to us.

 

Thanks again!

Beth

You will have no problems seeing Penguins in March, the Kings & the Gentoo's at Volunteer (and all the other sites) are resident all year round, its only the Rockhoppers and megallanics that return to sea in April :)

Thanks for all your wonderful information. This quote concerns me a little. Motion sickness pills? How rough is the ride? We'll have just come off a ship that is gogoing around the Cape which is pretty rough. And I don't plan on taking pills for that.

 

Thanks again,

 

DH

Motion sickness meds are only needed if you are very prone to seasickness, the ride is bumpy, you will be driving over peat bog for almost an hour and a half, with constant up/down and sideways motion. If the ground is dry it isnt too bad, but if you do suffer from motion sickness and need to take Dramamine on the ship then it would be wise to take some for the journey. I am used to driving along this type of terrain and dont usually have a problem with it, and when we went last Sunday it was a great run, but the time before that even I had to stop a while and take a breather! If you dont need meds to go around the cape then you wont need them to go on the excursion :)

Yves - I will drop you an email this afternoon

Wordly cruisers - thanks for the info on the Disney cruise, it looks superb for kids with tons of activities, so hopefully that means DH and I will get some peace and quiet and a chance to relax for a while!

Hi

Yes there is an internet cafe in town, its called Zac's cafe and its located on Fitzroy rd, if you go up the steep hill in front of you from the jetty centre, take the second left onto Fitroy rd, then about 150yds down the street is Zac's.

Dont worry you will definatley get to see Penguins in March! The penguins at Bluff Cove & Sparrow Cove, and Volunteer Point are resident all year round, The Megallanics and Rockhoppers return to sea by the end of April so you will be fine.

Ruth, have emailed you :)

FunforUs - You should have great weather in January, it was HOT when we went on Sunday, warm enough for shorts and t-shirts but we suffered in long trousers and tops because of the high sunburn risk. You are more likley to experience strong winds more than anything. I would wear long trousers and walking boots, long underwear wont be necessary, and a warm waterproof jacket and a fleece. I usually always take a clean dry pair of trousers with me and a clean dry light top so I can change into dry gear for the trip home. You dont need to carry all your stuff about with you, you can leave it in the cabin. Ohh and a hat, even on warm days the wind whistling down your ears isnt nice, so a fleecy one that pulls right down is a good idea! Your so right, it is a once in a lifetime trip, your going to just LOVE it!

Tarheelbelle - Yes the currency and conversion is exactly the same as the UK. I can understand why Patrick has asked Cynthia to pay in Sterling or Euro's as he will lose out a lot to convert US Dollars into £'s try and spend as little cash as possible, you are much better of using a credit card unless you happen to have Sterling on you.

Mary Ellen - the tour you will go on to see the rock hoppers is just up from Kidney cove, Febuary is a brilliant time to view Rockhoppers, their chicks will have hatched and you should get some great photo's! Rockhopprs are funny to watch, they are bad tempered little so & so's and are always arguing with each other! Its a great excursion :D

tjcox9 - Yes, I read another post about shoe covers today, honestly dont worry, never in all my years of seeing penguins have I ever ended up covered in poop, your boots might get dirty but that would be from mud not poop! I have never seen anyone wearing them, walking boots with a thick sole will be fine ;)

Just read another post about changing currency, and thought I would mention the situation down here regarding local money. For anyone coming from the UK dont bother changing any money, sterling is accepted everywhere obviously! But, we do have the Falkland £ notes, which for some weird reason is not legal tender back in the UK, whenever we travel back to the UK we have to exchange our Falkland notes for British notes at the bank before we leave! So just be aware that if you recieve Falkland notes in your change you wont be able to spend it outside of the Islands.

For US travellers dont bother exchanging US dolars into British pounds, you will lose out to much on the exchange rate, everywhere down here accepts US dollars (although things are not always priced up in $ so you will need to do a quick conversion in your head!) For purchases in the gift stores or if you have lunch in one of the restraunts you would be better off using a credit card.

Here are the last few photo's, a couple of my youngest daughter going for a paddle in the sea with a few Kings who were happy to have her join in!

I hope you liked the photo's! I didnt post any of the Jackases or Gentoo colony's that are also at Volounteer as I wanted to give you an idea of what the Kings were all about.

Top tips -

Wear LOTS of high factor suncreem, even on a cloudy day, we are directly under the hole in the ozone layer and you will burn very quickly. Even though it was hot today I made my kids wear long sleeve tops and full leg trousers.

Take motion sickness meds before you leave Stanley so they have kicked in by the time you start going off road.

Bring at least a litre bottle of water with you, there is nowhere to buy drinks/snacks

Wear a bright coloured jacket if you have one, the penguins seem to be attracted to red and yellow colours and will come very close to you.

Pick a spot close by a group of penguins and just sit down quietly and wait, they are curious and will edge closer and closer and you will get much better photos than trying to run all over the beach after them!

And finally, have fun and enjoy seeing nature at its best!

We loved these two, they looked so sweet holding hands in the water!

A few Gentoo's just coming back from a swim -

Continued...

My youngest daughter hanging out with the kings -

Kings enjoying the water -

Continued....

Next stop was to see the fluffy chicks that hatched last summer, they had grown HUGE and most were already moulting -

Next we headed over to see the breeding colony, almost all were sitting on eggs -

Seeing as it was such a beautiful sunny day we decided to head back to the beach and take some photos of the Penguins in the water -

Continued....

Had a brilliant day out at Volunteer point today, the weather was glorious, the King penguins as always were a real privilage to watch, I hope that those of you who are going on this excursion when you visit enjoy it as much as we did! Anyway, here are some photo's.

We left Stanley at 9am and after a lovely drive through the beautiful scenery along a gravel track road we arrived at Johnson's Harbour at exactly 10am, after a quick leg stretch we were back in the Landrover and on our way off road to the point.

Johnsons harbour -

At 11.20am after a bumpy but fun journey (travel sicknes pills recommended if you suffer from motion sickness) we arrived at the point, this is the cabin where there are restrooms and a small room where you can sit and warm up if needed or have a snack -

After dropping our bags & packed lunches off in the cabin we headed for the beach -

Continued...

What a deal! We are able to have our own private shore excursion expert for the Falklands! We were there before and opted to wander around town - we had planned our major penguin excursion for a later port - then weather interfered.

 

We did hear that some on our cruise were disappointed in the number of penguins - but you are making it sound like there will be quite a few to see.

 

By the way, our ship encountered high winds leaving Montivideo. It was calmer as we arrived at the Falklands, but the wind picked up as we walked around town, and we decided to return to the ship about noon. As it turned out, this was the last tender of the day - 2 others bounced around for quite a while, unable to link to the ship (HAL Amsterdam). They returned to shore, and about 1000 passengers and crew spent the night (in homes, barracks, and on church pews). The anchor would not hold, so the ship went farther out to sea, returning about 5 a.m. when tenders were able to bring people out. I am sure this is a rare occurrence, but did provide some excitement. Apparently the residents of Stanley do have a plan in place for such emergencies.

 

On the other hand,, we hear that the area around the Cape is often rough - we had smooth sailing there.

It does happen, infact it hapened a week last Sunday! we had 200 people stuck here overnight, and then the ship was able to sail at mid-day on the Monday. Its never an issue though, we have our names on an ''emergancy list'' and recieve a phone call asking us if we can accomodate a few passangers and to collect them from the jetty centre. Any of you cruise critic members are welcome to email me before you travel and I will give you my cell phone number, so if you do happen to get stuck you can ring me and I will come collect you :D

Etsdas, The best time of day to see the penguins is always about 7pm when they are returning from sea, although you wont be here at that time of night you will still get to see plenty. I guess its the passangers that arrive very early or very late in the season that would maybe be a bit dissapointed in the numbers?

We're looking forward to seeing your pictures of Volunteer, and hearing more about the trek out there!

How long is your Disney cruise? Will you be back in the Falklands by Jan 30th?

Hi,

We are in Florida/Cruising for a month, we leave on 5th Jan and get back on 2nd Feb so unfortunatley I wont be here when you visit, our cruise is from 19th - 26th Jan but we have some time in WDW before hand then after the cruise we are spending some time at Universal. Its getting so close now and I think my kids are about to burst with excitment!

My user name is the name of a pet too, Gixer is my cat, a beautiful Ragdoll seal point. My real name is Samantha John, you could put the magnet in an envelope with my name on it and drop it either into the post office, or Michelle's cafe in town where my friend works, or leave it behind the bar at the Goose hotel, you could leave it with anyone in town really and it would find its way to me :D

Hope I get to meet some of you when you visit!

Ohhh my goodness! :o

I love fridge magnets! it would be fantastic to have a collection from all over the world :D Honestly though its not necessary, I really enjoy just trying to answer questions for you if I can, I want you all to enjoy your visit as much as possible!

If you do happen to bring a magnet and Im not here then you could always just leave it in the post office for me, then I can pick it up when I get back or my mum could collect it!

Your all very kind, Thanks :o

Tarheelbelle -

It only takes 10mins in a taxi from town to Gypsy Cove so you will have plenty of time to do your excursion, go to Gypsy Cove and have a wander around town too.

Hi Kyle & Cindy,

Gosh! thanks for your lovely post, and to the kind words from everyone else too :o

A taxi to Gypsy cove will be easy, they will be waiting in the carpark next to the Pod gift shop right where you get off the tender. You could ask the taxi driver to take you on a quick tour of the battlefield site areas, the only problem being that all the memorials (apart from the one in town) are on the battlefield sites themselves, which are all on top of mountains in the Stanley area, so you need to be in a 4x4 to get up there, unless you wanted to hike but that would take up all of your day.

I think maybe you could do a half day battlefield tour, so you just do the sites around Stanley instead of going out to Fitzroy & Goose Green/Argentine cemetary and your guide would take you to gypsy cove too, leaving you with half a day to look around town, visit the museam, do a bit of shopping (the wool products are beautiful) and have a couple of pints in the pub :D