Falklands tours

[sharke]

Looking for information regarding touring in the Falklands. What did you do there and what do you recommend? Cruise ship tours and/or private touring? Anyone have any experience with Patrick Watts of Adventure Falklands or Nyree of Estancia Excursions? Thanks in advance.

[Magnetchief]

Can't comment on the tour company you have mentioned but I have spent 5 periods of my life in the Falklands thanks to HRH.

There are 3 things worth investigating whilst there.

1. The wildlife

2. The scenery

3. The events from 82.

 

It is a wild, beautiful sometimes cold place but well worth investigating.

If you do go then I hope you enjoy yourself.

 

Steve

[Magnetchief]

Further info found here

 

http://www.falklandislands.com/

[sharke]

Thanks Magnetchief. Appreciate the info.

[bcnvcanada]

Patrick Watts is wonderful. His tour is great, uses locals who love to share their knowledge of the island its wildlife and history. The ships tours and all other tours go the same route. The ride out is a hoot. Paved roads, gravel roads and off road over the hiills. I would highly recomend him.

[surfsidemary]

Patrick Watts is wonderful. His tour is great, uses locals who love to share their knowledge of the island its wildlife and history. The ships tours and all other tours go the same route. The ride out is a hoot. Paved roads, gravel roads and off road over the hiills. I would highly recomend him.

 

On the other hand, don't worry if you wind up on the ship's tour. I did that and also had a ball as described above. Off-road with the locals! They dropped us off at Bluff Cove and promised to be back in a hour or so - and were. Wandered among the penguins, had a cup of tea and homemade pastries (all free) provided by the local ladies. Nice little gift shop there.

[Magnetchief]

Mmmm, Bluff cove. Don't recall the tea and pastries. More like bullets and land mines :)

I guess times have changed.

[DougH]

My tour with Pattrick Watts a couple of years ago was fantastic and his price was 1/2 what the cruise line charged. One of the best tour I've taken anywhere, the penguins were fantastic to see up close

[no fuss travel]

Patrick Watts tours were fantastic. The penguins would walk right up to you and rest their heads on your knee. There are more penguins where his tour takes you than you will see on the ship tour. He also gives you a CD that shows all the flora and animals found on the Falklands. He included a lunch with the tour and we had enough time to wander through the town before we boarded the tender for the ship.

[Coolcruise02]

Mmmm, Bluff cove. Don't recall the tea and pastries. More like bullets and land mines :)

I guess times have changed.

 

We went to Bluff Cove and loved it! :)

 

Of course, we stayed away from the land mines, but the tea and homemade pastries were delicious!!

[WarEagle76]

While we've heard great things about a number of private tours in the Falklands, this past December we decided to do a ship's tour to Sparrow Cove. We did this so that we could see get a good sampling of penguins as well as have time to go into Port Stanley once the tour was completed and booked the first tour of the morning. A small boat picked us up from the ship and took us to Kidney Cove where we boarded 4 wheel drive vehicles for a 30 minute bumpy ride to Sparrow Cove. At the cove we were met by two rangers but were allowed to wander on our own. While they had roped off areas, you could still get very close to the penguins (and they didn't pay much attention to the ropes on the ground). These were Gentoo penguins (we lucked out and had one King Penguin there as well). There was a small building that sold a few items including hot drinks. The 4 wheel drive vehicles then took us back to Kidney Cove to catch the small boat back to the ship. We then tendered from the ship to Port Stanley and were able to look around for about three hours there. For us it was the perfect way to see the Falklands. If you want to get an idea of the penguin colony at Sparrow Cove check out the pictures in the link below, the Falkland Island visit begins at picture 140.

 

http://smengelt.shutterfly.com/1665

[Bowie MeMe]

We did the ship's tour from the ship to Sparrow Cove in late January 2012. It was a wonderful excursion. All lands in Falklands are private and there are no roads so my advice is to have a tour planned well before landing. There are few people and cars for many tourists. The best thing about the Sparrow Cove trip was that we were off the ship and on the local ship about 8:30 AM and the tenders were just starting a rather long tendering process. We were back for lunch on the ship by noon and then tendered in comfortably for a walk in Stanley. This was the best of the penguin viewing in my opinion. Lots of penguins who were curious and came up very close (nipped at my shoe in fact) and the ride in Land Rovers was rough and rugged and thrilling as a carnival ride.

 

Have a great time. Loved this whole trip.

[digitl]

Mmmm, Bluff cove. Don't recall the tea and pastries. More like bullets and land mines :)

I guess times have changed.

It's Bluff Cove Lagoon, not Bluff Cove. A world of difference and an excellent tour. Highly recommended, along with the hot chocolate and cakes!

[digitl]

We went to Bluff Cove and loved it! :)

 

Of course, we stayed away from the land mines, but the tea and homemade pastries were delicious!!

No land mines to stay away from: they're elsewhere. But, yes, the Sea Cabbage Cafe's food is awesome, and free!

[ibfishing2]

Looking for information regarding touring in the Falklands. What did you do there and what do you recommend? Cruise ship tours and/or private touring? Anyone have any experience with Patrick Watts of Adventure Falklands or Nyree of Estancia Excursions? Thanks in advance.

 

January 2012 we went to Volunteer Point on a Holland cruiseline arranged tour. Just a note, while we were going to our vehicle, there were people trying to join groups but they were pretty well booked and some people were not able to get last minute transportation. It is best to book as soon as the excursions become available or make private arrangements ahead of time. (I was too chicken to book private tours. They do cost more, but I call it Insurance)

 

The trip started out on paved roads but changed to off road in a 4x4 that was rough but, oh so worth it. They suggest that people with back or neck problems should not go, and now I know why.

 

Beautiful scenery and quite an experience. We saw Gentoo, Magellanic and King Penguins.

 

Our cruisemates that went on the other Penguin tours were just as excited about their tour as we were about ours. It depends on which penguins that you are interested in seeing.

[ibfishing2]

Looking for information regarding touring in the Falklands. What did you do there and what do you recommend? Cruise ship tours and/or private touring? Anyone have any experience with Patrick Watts of Adventure Falklands or Nyree of Estancia Excursions? Thanks in advance.

Quite a few people said that they had used Patrick Watts before and I only heard good things about his tours. If you search Falkland Island on CC there is quite a bit of positive conversation about him.

[TracieABD]

We are booked with Patrick Watts for February. He has had consistently wonderful reviews.

 

I am trying to avoid ship's tours due to the crowds.

 

Patrick and his team will get us out to the penguins as quickly as we can get off the ship!

[piper28]

We went with Patrick, felt it was an excellent choice.

 

Now, that said, what you find is that the people actually doing the driving, they all will work for multiple companies depending on who has the business for that day. So if you went two times and booked with different companies, you could still have the same driver both times. The way they travel out there and back, if something happened with one of the vehicles, they'd find a way to get you back, even if it might mean a somewhat more cramped trip. We certainly heard tales of that happening from our driver :).

 

The drive out there was a blast. I'd love to do it myself, but it'd take me a little longer (I'd be more concerned with trying to make sure the suv survives the trip). Maintenance costs on their vehicles has got to be pretty brutal. We really learned a lot about life on the islands talking with our driver, was definitely an interesting perspective.

[Santa Fe L&L]

It's Bluff Cove Lagoon, not Bluff Cove. A world of difference and an excellent tour. Highly recommended, along with the hot chocolate and cakes!

 

We toured with Eric Goss a few yrs ago, 2 couples in his Land Rover and had an incredible day of penguins, history and beutiful scenery. His wife, Hattie, did all the booking. Email address: em dot sagoss at horizon dot co dot fk

I just looked up that trip in our files; it was 2008 and we paid $60US per person.

[muskatnuss]

We did the North Pond Tour with Gus and Paula last Dezember. It was great!!! He gave a lot of information about the Falkland Islands.

http://www.falklandislands.com/contents/view/392 Just take a look!!!:)

[Bowie MeMe]

On the other hand, don't worry if you wind up on the ship's tour. I did that and also had a ball as described above. Off-road with the locals! They dropped us off at Bluff Cove and promised to be back in a hour or so - and were. Wandered among the penguins, had a cup of tea and homemade pastries (all free) provided by the local ladies. Nice little gift shop there.

 

We also did a shore excursion from the Star Princess in Jan 2012 that goes to a penguin colony at Sparrow Cove. I think that the biggest value in this excursion is that you are picked up BY BOAT from the ship and you skip the lines for the tenders! After a scenic boat ride across the harbor you are taken to the off road vehicles that take you on an approximately 1/2 hour "joy ride" across the land to where the rookery is located. There is a little snack shack with wonderful tea and cookies. The wardens are available to tell you about the penguins (2 kinds the day we were there) and they ask you to not go near the colony BUT the penguins are very very curious and they were around our feet and posing like a tip was coming. There was a bathroom here (outhouse and shockingly "cool":o )

The ride out is really bumpy -- so much so we got to giggling and joking about our "personal space". I would not recommend for people with back pain or neck injury problems -- you will get bounced around. You are brought back to the ship just before noon on the local boat (we were on early departure) and you enter the ship on level 4 but not the same place as the tenders. The best thing here is eat lunch onboard then grab a ship's tender to go to see the town. NO CROWDS going big crowds for tender coming back.

 

I would certainly have my plans in place for this port. All of the penguin colonies are on PRIVATE land and you can't "just drop by" the colonies.

The town is very small and if there is more than one ship in port even having all other businesses close and help with the tourist trade the number of people on the ships far out number the local population. The season is also very short and the winters very long (and cars useless in the mud and snow since there is only one road or so) the equipment for the tourist trade is not adequate. Make your plans early. Don't miss shopping in the one general store in town-- It has a tiny bit of everything but very limited choices. WiFi in town as of Jan. was not much. They get approximately 4 hours of satellite coverage a day and less in the winter.

 

We really enjoyed Sparrow Cove. It does not get the publicity of Patrick Watts but it is a quality tour, friendly people and friendly penguins. The chicks are the cutest things PERIOD!

[Coolcruise02]

We very rarely do ship tours but this is one place we did for these reasons:

*tendor port so ship excursions get off first

*some excursions leave right from the ship on a tour boat

*hard to get private tour as many of the locals and their vehicles are hired by the cruise line

*this port is missed a lot so easy refund from ship if we don’t make the tour

*if you arrive late cruise line will rearrange tour

[digitl]

The best thing here is eat lunch onboard then grab a ship's tender to go to see the town.

I have to disagree.

 

Go into town for lunch. Experience the atmosphere, enjoy a change from the ship's food and, most importantly, support the islanders.

[WarEagle76]

I have to disagree.

 

Go into town for lunch. Experience the atmosphere, enjoy a change from the ship's food and, most importantly, support the islanders.

 

We tried. We also took the Princess Sparrow Cove excursion (which was awesome) in order to have time to go into Stanley. As the tours to Sparrow Cove were offered all day long, we booked the very first one. Following the tour, we immediately tendered into Stanely. Unfortunately (and surprisingly), most of the restaurants were closed. Not sure if it was becuase it was New Year's Eve day or what. Ended up at the Globe Tavern which was a zoo, as that's where everyone ended up.

[Bowie MeMe]

There were a few restaurants in Stanley but as OP pointed out most were closed and the others were a zoo. The line to get into the gift shop on the one street was 1/2 block long. What I saw as the advantage to the Sparrow Cove trip was not having to do tenders in the early morning and then having the choice of eating on shore or on ship. Our cruise was very end of January and there were 2 large ships in port. Made tendering tricky.

 

That xxxdam ship rammed the pier with a tender and believe me the rest of the crowd were using the last syllable of the ship name freely:D Any alternative to tendering for a shore excursion is well worth taking is my general rule.