PocketBear Posted July 4, 2010 #1 Share Posted July 4, 2010 We will be taking the Dec cruise out of Rio to the Faulklands and Antarctica. When on the Faulklands- how close can one get to the penguins for photography? Would a 200MM lense be big enough? Any photo suggestions for this cruise would be welcomed. The Bear Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pam in CA Posted July 4, 2010 #2 Share Posted July 4, 2010 We will be taking the Dec cruise out of Rio to the Faulklands and Antarctica. When on the Faulklands- how close can one get to the penguins for photography? Would a 200MM lense be big enough? Any photo suggestions for this cruise would be welcomed.The Bear You can get very up close and personal on the Falklands. I highly recommend going to Volunteer Point with Patrick Watts on an independent tour. You do the exact same thing as the Princess tour for about half the price. The ship's tour was right behind us the whole way. And book early. All of the tours to the Falklands, both independent and ship's tours, fill up very quickly and there are no other tour sources on the island. They can really accommodate only a small percentage of the passengers who want to take tours. Here are some photos of how close you can get. The pictures are taken with a plain old digital camera, nothing special. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruizer2d Posted July 4, 2010 #3 Share Posted July 4, 2010 Also look at other ports that you're going to for penguin-watching. A lot of times, some ships just can't get into the Falklands, obviously due to the weather at that time. The worst you can do is see different penguins at different places. We were on the Star Jan.2010 . Apparently, the cruises before us and after us couldn't get into the Falklands. Patrick Watts in Falklands is great. He puts you on a reserved list, and doesn't want payment until you start his tour. I envy you--I'd love to go back to SA/Antarctica---but too many places to see, too little time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pam in CA Posted July 4, 2010 #4 Share Posted July 4, 2010 Also look at other ports that you're going to for penguin-watching. A lot of times, some ships just can't get into the Falklands, obviously due to the weather at that time. The worst you can do is see different penguins at different places. We were on the Star Jan.2010 . Apparently, the cruises before us and after us couldn't get into the Falklands.This is true and happens quite often. I've been to the Falklands twice now and lucked out both time; the weather was clear and in the 50s - 60s. The first time I went it was on the Golden and literally hundreds of people (a guess is close to a thousand) weren't able to book a tour to see or do anything on the Falklands and they were really upset. The second time was about a year and a half ago on a much smaller HAL ship and the difference in onshore experience was much better. We deliberately decided not to go with Princess because of the size of the ship and number of passengers, and we made absolutely the right choice. I'd book a penguin tour in Punta Arenas as a back-up in case you can't get into the Falklands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caribill Posted July 4, 2010 #5 Share Posted July 4, 2010 The first 4 pictures below are from the Falklands. The 4th one shows a rope that people cannot cross, but there are no restrictions on the penguins crossing the rope to get close to humans if they wish. The pictures were taken with a digital camera with a 12x optical zoom lens, but I do no remember how much of the zoom I used to take these pictures. The 5th picture is from Magdalena Island on a Princess excursion from Punta Arenas, Chile. Only way to get there is on the Princess tour. As posted above, book the Penguin tours as early as possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccrain Posted July 4, 2010 #6 Share Posted July 4, 2010 Don't know if they will offer it this year, but during our 2010 trip they offered a flight to Antartica from Punta Arenas for $3300 pp. You actually landed on the continent itself. Pricey, but the tour sold out on the ship. For photography during the cruise, bring the biggest and best lens you feel comfortable with. Whales, seals, sea birds and penguins will pop up during all of the various straits. I felt like I was at a football game with all the lenses on the various decks. The icebergs are just phenomenal. Its a photographers dream cruise for sure. My puny little 12x with 10.1MP just didn't quite do it. The HD camcorder with the 32x lens caught penguins swimming in the ship's wake, in formation, with good quality. And the photography is not over with once you leave Antarctica. Deception Island, Cape Horn and the Beagle Channel offer magnificient shots of wildlife and scenery. Thank goodness for digital images - we shot over 6 hours of HD video and over 3000 still photos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DougH Posted July 4, 2010 #7 Share Posted July 4, 2010 I also highly recommend the Volunteer Point tour with Patrick Watts. Fantastic tour and penguins are everywhere. They will walk right by you if you stand still, within 4-5 feet. They can walk surprisingly fast, I followed a group down to the beach and it was tough to try and stay ahead of them to take photos as they passed. Contact Patrick as far in advance as you can, a year is not too early. This tour would be in my top 2 or 3 excursions and I've been on 40+ cruises Was supposd to repeat this again this spring but was on the Star Princess earthquake cruise and I missed the first 11 days including the Falklands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cdngrl Posted July 4, 2010 #8 Share Posted July 4, 2010 i second (third?) the patrick watts tour for volunteer point in the falklands. there were hundreds of king penguins. my best tour ever. ever! there are some restrictions on how close you can get, but as caribill pointed out, there are no restrictions on the penguins. if you get down low and are quiet they will approach you. like pam, i booked punta arenas too as a backup plan just in case we missed the falklands and saw different breeds of penguins there. i too got amazing pictures with an inexpensive no frills regular old digital camera. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColoCruze Posted July 5, 2010 #9 Share Posted July 5, 2010 Ohhh...just reading these posts makes me want to go book a cruise to the Falklands right now! I'm heading to the Great White North (Alaska) soon...hopefully one day before too long I can make it to the Great White South. :) Smooth sailing to you, and have a blast!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunviking Posted July 5, 2010 #10 Share Posted July 5, 2010 Don't know if they will offer it this year, but during our 2010 trip they offered a flight to Antartica from Punta Arenas for $3300 pp. You actually landed on the continent itself. Pricey, but the tour sold out on the ship. I have been fortunate enough to twice take the Princess tour that landed and spent the day in Antarctica. I have no idea whether they still offer it and it is pricey but if you want to see penguins and be absolutely amazed, I highly recommend it. On my last trip there my daughter lay down on a beach and had penguins walking around her as close as in her face. We got up close and personal with an elephant seal. The trips were absolutely amazing. We also were fortunate enough to make both of our port calls in the Falklands. The place and the people are amazing. The driver we had in the Falklands told us about a fairly recent incident (at that time) of people left stranded on a HAL ship when serious winds came up during the day. The Falkland Islanders put the people up and cared for them until the ship could pick them up. They said the most challenging thing was the meds. It never occurred to me before that, but if one tenders ashore in a place where the likelihood of seas getting bad, one should take a supply of meds in case you can't get back right away. Anyway, the great folks of the Falklands rose to the challenge, put up all the stranded passengers (nearly as many as live on the island) and managed to supply their medications. Amazing in my view! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccrain Posted July 5, 2010 #11 Share Posted July 5, 2010 Ohhh...just reading these posts makes me want to go book a cruise to the Falklands right now! I'm heading to the Great White North (Alaska) soon...hopefully one day before too long I can make it to the Great White South. :) Smooth sailing to you, and have a blast!! Antartica is Glacier Bay raised by a factor of 10. Never would have thought a coastline of ice and snow with no trees could be so magnificent and breathtaking... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruzinNoony Posted July 5, 2010 #12 Share Posted July 5, 2010 Pocketbear-We have a very active roll call for this cruise. Come on over!!! I'm organizing a private excursion to Magdelena Island. Plus, many of us have already signed up with Patrick for Volunteer Point in the Falklands.:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pam in CA Posted July 5, 2010 #13 Share Posted July 5, 2010 Antartica is Glacier Bay raised by a factor of 10. Never would have thought a coastline of ice and snow with no trees could be so magnificent and breathtaking...I agree. I've been to Alaska, the Norwegian fjords, New Zealand Fjordland Park, and the Chilean fjords, and they can't hold a candle to Antarctica. I've uploaded some photos below to give you an idea. Plus, many of us have already signed up with Patrick for Volunteer Point in the Falklands.:)I strongly suggest that you get GBS in advance and pay Patrick in that currency. He quoted us £85 and said that was the equivalent of $185 at the "current" time. ("The cost is £85 per person which equates to 185 dollars US on the current exchange market.") When it came time for the end of our tour and payment, £85 was worth about $125 but we were told that we had to pay the $185. I'd assumed by his using the 'current exchange' rate that we would pay according to the exchange rate at the time of our tour. Not so. It was still cheaper than the ship's tour and was worth the money but that left a bad taste in my mouth as I thought it was kind of smarmy. Here are some photos of Antarctica. I probably won't be able to get them all into one post: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pam in CA Posted July 5, 2010 #14 Share Posted July 5, 2010 Here are some more photos. In the first, you can see the penguins on the ice floe, the second shows the penguin trails from up on the mountain to the water (you can see the penguins as dots way up high), and the third is of Palmer Station, one of the three U.S. stations in Antarctica. I was on a HAL cruise and the scientists and other crew from the station boarded the ship for the day to talk to the passengers, tell us what it was like living there, what studies they were conducting, what environmental impact ships, have, etc. We even learned how they handled garbage and got their food. Fascinating. I assume Princess also goes there or has something similar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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