Port Stanley, Falkland Islands
Today back to the “real” world. Suddenly in the morning we were docked alongside the floating docks outside Port Stanley. No wet landing in a Zodiac today! Yes, it was a strange feeling!
As we walked down the gangway to board the buses, which were soon to take us through the “largest” city in the Falklands, it was really like stepping on to shore along a coastal British small town. Not only driving on the left side, telephone boxes, mail boxes together with a grey sky made the setting perfect. Of course it was drizzling. Well, it cleared up very soon and the afternoon was in fact very nice!
Our first destination was the outskirts of Port Stanley, to view the “city” but also some of the many wrecks which ended their cruising days here. The largest wreck is the SS Lady Elizabeth and during a storm as she was on the home run from Chile to England and outside Cape Horn her masts were crushed. To find shelter to be able to repair the ship they went to the sheltered bay at Port Stanley. Unfortunately they were never able to refurbish the ship and for many years, anchored in the harbor, she was used for storage. During a storm in the 1930’s she was wrecked on to a beach.
As we reached town we really felt back to “jolly old” England. The oldest buildings in town are right at the corner of the harbor road. The gardens are lush and filled with flowers, like any English garden.
As we walked through the small town center, the church together with the whaling jaws really stood out to make a good monument of the previous time.
Later in the day, we visited the most charming museum to learn some of the history. Falkland Island is named after the fifth Viscount Falkland, but was in fact first settled by the French, the famous circumnavigator Bougainville came to settle in Berkley Sound in 1764 at Port Louis, named after the king who later was beheaded during the French revolution.
The English almost at the same time period settled at West Falkland on Saunder’s Island at Port Egmont. Later the English were able to take control of the East Falkands and used Port Louis for the base.
During the famous James Ross Antarctic voyages 1840-43 he visited the island and found the bay we right now are in, which was a much better base for ships. The main problem, strange for an island surrounded by water, was to solve the fresh water supply since the prevailing wind from the Southern Ocean makes the land very dry.
The Falkland Island consists of many island but the two main islands are East & West Falklands. Together they are the size of Connecticut.
West Falkland was ,during early 1800 and until about 1850, a very important stop over for the New England whaling fleet on route to the whaling grounds in the south Pacific. Cattle, pigs, goats were brought in to make it possible to get easy access to fresh provisions. Unfortunately this totally changed the eco-system on the islands and much of the tussock grass disappeared.
In the afternoon some of us made a short bird excursion to Gypsy Cove, to enjoy the fauna. After endless numbers of albatrosses and penguins it was neat to see some land birds like the ground-tyrant, long-tailed meadow-lark, shore birds like the two-banded plover, rufous-chested dottrel, and magellanic oystercatchers. Ducks and geese were also in big numbers and at last we recognized a bird from “home” as the turkey vultures were patrolling. At 6PM we set sail for West Falklands and more adventure but now with wet landings! As we sailed out into the Ocean we had at least six sei whales near the ship.
Today back to the “real” world. Suddenly in the morning we were docked alongside the floating docks outside Port Stanley. No wet landing in a Zodiac today! Yes, it was a strange feeling!
As we walked down the gangway to board the buses, which were soon to take us through the “largest” city in the Falklands, it was really like stepping on to shore along a coastal British small town. Not only driving on the left side, telephone boxes, mail boxes together with a grey sky made the setting perfect. Of course it was drizzling. Well, it cleared up very soon and the afternoon was in fact very nice!
Our first destination was the outskirts of Port Stanley, to view the “city” but also some of the many wrecks which ended their cruising days here. The largest wreck is the SS Lady Elizabeth and during a storm as she was on the home run from Chile to England and outside Cape Horn her masts were crushed. To find shelter to be able to repair the ship they went to the sheltered bay at Port Stanley. Unfortunately they were never able to refurbish the ship and for many years, anchored in the harbor, she was used for storage. During a storm in the 1930’s she was wrecked on to a beach.
As we reached town we really felt back to “jolly old” England. The oldest buildings in town are right at the corner of the harbor road. The gardens are lush and filled with flowers, like any English garden.
As we walked through the small town center, the church together with the whaling jaws really stood out to make a good monument of the previous time.
Later in the day, we visited the most charming museum to learn some of the history. Falkland Island is named after the fifth Viscount Falkland, but was in fact first settled by the French, the famous circumnavigator Bougainville came to settle in Berkley Sound in 1764 at Port Louis, named after the king who later was beheaded during the French revolution.
The English almost at the same time period settled at West Falkland on Saunder’s Island at Port Egmont. Later the English were able to take control of the East Falkands and used Port Louis for the base.
During the famous James Ross Antarctic voyages 1840-43 he visited the island and found the bay we right now are in, which was a much better base for ships. The main problem, strange for an island surrounded by water, was to solve the fresh water supply since the prevailing wind from the Southern Ocean makes the land very dry.
The Falkland Island consists of many island but the two main islands are East & West Falklands. Together they are the size of Connecticut.
West Falkland was ,during early 1800 and until about 1850, a very important stop over for the New England whaling fleet on route to the whaling grounds in the south Pacific. Cattle, pigs, goats were brought in to make it possible to get easy access to fresh provisions. Unfortunately this totally changed the eco-system on the islands and much of the tussock grass disappeared.
In the afternoon some of us made a short bird excursion to Gypsy Cove, to enjoy the fauna. After endless numbers of albatrosses and penguins it was neat to see some land birds like the ground-tyrant, long-tailed meadow-lark, shore birds like the two-banded plover, rufous-chested dottrel, and magellanic oystercatchers. Ducks and geese were also in big numbers and at last we recognized a bird from “home” as the turkey vultures were patrolling. At 6PM we set sail for West Falklands and more adventure but now with wet landings! As we sailed out into the Ocean we had at least six sei whales near the ship.
