Geoff Brock & Bruce Gamble
         
     
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Falkland Islands:
In and around Stanley

Friday 16th November 2018
 
 
 
 
I chose to go on the battlefields tour instead of the (possibly slow) walking tour of Stanley. I thought it would be a good opportunity to see something beyond Stanley, which is small and easy to walk around and something I could do on my own in the afternoon. Derek decided to do the same, even though he knew the area quite well from the time when he was stationed here.
 
The out of town supermarket, close to the port of Stanley, which we passed shortly after we started the tour.
 
The Falkland Islands are bigger than I thought. With an area of appoximately 12,000 sq km, they are roughly the same size as England's biggest county, Yorkshire. Today we were exploring a small area of East Falkland.
 
The blue route shown here is roughly the route we followed, although I don't think we got as far as Fitzroy.
 
We left Stanley and stopped close to Mount Tumbledown, one of the key 1982 battle sites.
 
 
 
...has no historial significance, but contributors to it don't seem to mind (to the slight annoyance of our guide!)
 
 
 
 
Stone runs... a bit like glaciers but without the ice.
 
 
 
Looking towards Estancia House, which we were told played a strategic part in the final phase of the conflict.
 
Despite the clean, clear and unpolluted atmosphere, dust from traffic on unmade roads is not pleasant.
 
 
 
Our brilliant expedition photographer, Sue. She was rarely seen without a camera or two!
 
The wreckage of an Argentinian Chinook helicopter.
(I merged two images, hence the colour contrast in the middle)
 
 
 
 
 
A strongish, cool wind blows continously here, we were told. We were, however, well prepared for the weather... here and further south!
 
 
 
 
 
Olsynium filifolium (the only species of the iris family native to the Falkland Islands)
 
Arriving back in Stanley at the end of the tour.
 
 
After lunch on the ship, we took the shuttle bus into town to explore it for ourselves.
 
I lived near Clapton Pond for a few months in the late 1980's and was a frequent traveller on the No. 38 bus, possibly even this one!
 
 
We bought a few things in this shop. They stocked a good range of Waitrose products.
 
 
 
Despite being in the centre of town, there were lots of birds to be seen.
 
Government House
 
 
The 1982 Liberation Memorial
 
 
 
 
 
Thrift
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
We visited the Falkland Islands Museum, which was very interesting.
 
 
 
 
The Southern Antarctic Monument sits on the tip of the historic Dockyard Point, close to the museum.
 
 
Looking back from Dockyard Point towards Government House and the Governor's residence.
 
 
 
Hmmm, well someone has a sense of humour!
 
Christ Church Cathedral is the southernmost Anglican cathedral in the world and was consecrated in 1892.
 
The whalebone arch, made from the jaws of two blue whales, is a monument, raised in 1933, to commemorate the centenary of British rule in the Falkland Islands.
 
 
 
 
 

We caught one of the last shuttle buses back to the ship. We knew that this would probably be the last time we would embark via the gangplank like normal people (as our expedition leader Pam put it). From now on, the only way on or off the ship would be on a zodiac. Also, from now on, we would be in unforgiving territory and the ship had to provide for all of our needs. We were also aware that if any person needed urgent medical care during the next fifteen days, the ship would have to be diverted back to Stanley or on to Ushuaia, whichever was closest and the rest of the trip would probably need to be abandoned.

The risk was brought home to us quite starkly yesterday, when one of our fellow passengers had a heart attack during our excursion to Carcass Island. He and his wife were lucky that we were close to Stanley, where he received treatment at the local hospital today. For them, the trip was over. We heard later that they were flown to Chile on a medical evacuation flight, where he had heart surgery and was still in hospital there when we returned to the UK.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
©Geoff Brock and Bruce Gamble