Falkland tendering

[macaroni]

Would appreciate how the tendering experience is in the Falklands…..how long, how rough and what do they use? The ships life boats?

thanks…..I am so not good with rough tenders…want to be prepared.

[onyx007]

If the tendering is "rough" then there is no tendering at all...

[donaldsc]

The Falklands is a total crap shoot.  I have been there 3 times and we made it every time.  We have a friend who has been there 4 times I believe and has not made it yet.  The problem w the Falklands is that the entrance to the harbour can be very difficult and the bigger the ship the more difficult it is.  You don't say if you are doing a 1 day Port Stanley visit or spending several days visiting the smaller outer islands.  The latter provides a much better Falklands experience.

 

DON

[2552phxcrzr]

On 2/4/2023 at 11:20 AM, macaroni said:

Would appreciate how the tendering experience is in the Falklands…..how long, how rough and what do they use? The ships life boats?

thanks…..I am so not good with rough tenders…want to be prepared.

 

The big ships have to stay outside the protected harbor, so the tender ride is anywhere from 15-20+ minutes depending on the designated anchorage.  If it is rough at the anchorage — and more often than not it can be — then you won't be tendering and the ship will skip Stanley.  We've been twice now (most recently about 1 month ago) and made it ashore both times (easier/shorter tendering on the 50 pax vessel in 2007 because we were able to get inside the harbor entrance).

[kathynorth]

Our ship used the ship lifeboats. When we arrived it was windy with light rain, choppy water, but waves were manageable. Tendering took around 20 mins. It was pouring by the time we reached the dock in Port Stanley. We quickly found our tour guide and it turned into a sunny day about 15 mins outside of town. The water was calm when we tendered back to the ship in the late afternoon.

[donaldsc]

2 hours ago, kathynorth said:

Our ship used the ship lifeboats. When we arrived it was windy with light rain, choppy water, but waves were manageable. Tendering took around 20 mins. It was pouring by the time we reached the dock in Port Stanley. We quickly found our tour guide and it turned into a sunny day about 15 mins outside of town. The water was calm when we tendered back to the ship in the late afternoon.

 

We had sort of the reverse on our last Falklands visit.  When we got off the ship the sea conditions were not great but manageable.  Halfway through our penguin tour our guide got a call telling him to get back really quickly or they might have to leave us behind.  It was interesting getting off the tenders going back to the ship.  I heard that not surprisingly there were some people who complained on the ship that their tours were cut short and the ship owed them compensation.   

 

There actually have been a few instances in the Falklands where ships have had to leave so quickly that they had to leave people behind.  The islanders just put up the stranded travelers in their homes overnight.  Our guide said that he had to do that one time.  I thank that an experience like that would be a real hoot.

 

DON

Edited March 26, 2023 by donaldsc

[kathynorth]

So sorry to hear of your experience. I bet that was quite an adventure in itself! When I read your post it jogged my memory that it actually started to rain while we waited on the tender line.