Best Falkland Islands Tour

[NMTraveller]

I was just wondering where the best place to go in the Falkland Islands is for a penguin tour?  There are about 3 or 4 different places.

[hpeabody]

Volunteer Point IMO

[capriccio]

Without a doubt:  Volunteer Point!  It is a full day tour over rough terrain but absolutely worth it.  To quote Wikipedia:

 

"Volunteer Point has been identified by BirdLife International as an Important Bird Area (IBA). Birds for which the site is of conservation significance include Falkland steamer ducks (75 breeding pairs), ruddy-headed geese (100 pairs), gentoo penguins (100 pairs), Magellanic penguins (2000 pairs) and white-bridled finches.

Volunteer Point is notable for having about 150 pairs of king penguins breed here, at the most northerly part of their range. King penguins were once nearly extinct in the Falklands, and Volunteer Point contains most of the Falkland population. There are also southern elephant seals."

 

We can highly recommend doing the excursion with Patrick Watts.  Estancia also gets rave reviews.

[NMTraveller]

8 minutes ago, capriccio said:

Without a doubt:  Volunteer Point!  It is a full day tour over rough terrain but absolutely worth it.  To quote Wikipedia:

 

"Volunteer Point has been identified by BirdLife International as an Important Bird Area (IBA). Birds for which the site is of conservation significance include Falkland steamer ducks (75 breeding pairs), ruddy-headed geese (100 pairs), gentoo penguins (100 pairs), Magellanic penguins (2000 pairs) and white-bridled finches.

Volunteer Point is notable for having about 150 pairs of king penguins breed here, at the most northerly part of their range. King penguins were once nearly extinct in the Falklands, and Volunteer Point contains most of the Falkland population. There are also southern elephant seals."

 

We can highly recommend doing the excursion with Patrick Watts.  Estancia also gets rave reviews.

Thank you very much!

[satxdiver]

Volunteer Point with Patrick Watts.  You will literally be walking among the hundreds of penguins.  He books up early so do not delay.

Edited January 4, 2020 by satxdiver

[casofilia]

Make sure before you book that there will be penguins there!!!!

[Aus Traveller]

7 minutes ago, casofilia said:

Make sure before you book that there will be penguins there!!!!

I am puzzled. How would you be sure that there were going to be penguins there? They usually are, but how would you check?

[casofilia]

@Aus Traveller

 

We were on the last cruise from BA to LA, re-positioning;  there were virtually no penguins there at all.   If you needed to be certain wait to book till as late as possible and check with the seller.

[bornfreenowexpensive]

They come on land to breed and hatch chicks.  They spend the rest of the time in the water.

 

[capriccio]

The Falkland Islands Tourist Board published a general wildlife calendar that might be helpful:  https://www.falklandislands.com/inspire-me/blog/read/2017/03/the-falklands-wildlife-calendar-b23

[wheezedr]

Volunteer point. See below.

[lois1112]

On 1/3/2020 at 7:10 PM, NMTraveller said:

I was just wondering where the best place to go in the Falkland Islands is for a penguin tour?  There are about 3 or 4 different places.

I'm just back from there. 

Patrick Watts volunteer point if you really want to see Penguins

we saw 4 types.

It is a long bumpy ride

[ironflower]

On 2/11/2020 at 4:21 PM, lois1112 said:

I'm just back from there. 

Patrick Watts volunteer point if you really want to see Penguins

we saw 4 types.

It is a long bumpy ride

What cruise line were you on?  We have booked Holland America for Jan/Feb 2021.  Starting to research shore excursion options.   Not limited to just those offered by HAL.

Edited February 19, 2020 by ironflower

[lois1112]

I was on the Coral Princess

East Falklands (where Stanley is) is not a large place. Tours sell out extremely quickly

Patrick Watts is usually booked 12-18 months prior to the cruise

The picture of the penguins above are from volunteer point and could have been my pictures.

it is a trip you will not forget

[Spuzzum]

We just returned from cruise to Antarctica and had great weather the day we got to the Falklands, as my understanding the cruise before us could not get in due to the weather. We used Estancia excursions to go to volunteer point. Our driver Gary had a great sense of humour. You must book early as they only allow so many vehicles to go out. I think I booked a year out. There is no deposit needed. Do know that it is a 2 hour drive out there the first hour paved road and gravel the last hour is off road,

over very rough terrain in a 4x4. It was a slow process as we zigzagged and went up and down through some very deep ruts. I thought my head was going to fall off. We were not looking forward to the repeat journey home. I was glad I had made the trip but not sure I would do again. The penguins were amazing and although you can’t step into the rookery, they waddle out and walk along side of you or cross your path. We saw penguins with their egg, and newly hatched penguins. The king penguins and gentoo are what we saw. Both having a large circle rookery. 

[jantoby]

I just got back from the Falklands.  Volunteer Point is certainly the best place to be guaranteed to see penguins, with a colony of around 2000 birds, but we didn't want to spend 6 hours on a very bumpy very off-road (there is no road).  Instead, we did a helicopter tour there - takes only about 15 minutes to get there.  The pilots are very knowledgeable about penguins and we had an amazing few hours there - more time than you'd get when going on land.

 

The website is falklandshelicopterservices.com 

[scubacruiserx2]

We liked Volunteer Point also

 

 

Video clip of  a penguin pair waddling through the crowd  :

 

 

 

[jantoby]

Wonderful place, isn't it.   The hard thing now is to cull the hundreds of photos and videos.