Falklands

We are sailing through the Falkland's on route to our final stop. We spent yesterday in Stanley, an interesting town and interesting characters. The town is small, 2,100 residents, with narrow streets crammed with small, pre-fabricated houses tucked in behind the hundred year old original homes made of tin. Many of the homes still use peat for cooking and heating. The peat is free. There is a peat commissioner that assigns each family a peat plot where they dig, cut, and dry the peat. There are no indigenous trees due to the constant strong winds on the island but people have planted many trees in their yards or, gardens. The arrangement of buildings, shrubs, and trees are all planned with the wind in mind. The islands are a windswept, rocky, barren place.


The 1982 conflict with Argentina is still fresh on the islanders minds and the topic of many of our conversation with the islanders. There is now a large military base on East Falklands and there are signs around many/most of the beaches warning of land mines and un-exploded ordinance. The Argentines mined all the beaches and only a few have been cleared. The locals show little concern. The occasional blown up cow does not appear to bother them.


The magellanic penguins are too light to to trip the mines but I guess the presence of the mines could explain the lack of seals along the beaches.


Stanley is famous for all the ship wrecks in and around its port. Before the Panama Canal, all ships had to round Cape Horn. The first port is Stanley and many of the ships were too battered to continue and, with no trees in the islands, there was no way to repair the damage.


The Lady Elizabeth was launched in 1879 and ended up here in 1913 after being damaged rounding the Cape.


We sailed over night to Carcass Island. A small island in the west Falkland Islands. Carcass Island is a private island and is a farm. We anchored in a large cove just offshore from the farm house and out buildings. The island is a birders paradise. We explored along the coast for a bit and then walked to the farm house for tea. We had an amazing array of sweets, breads, cakes, and cookies. While loading the zodiacs, Paula and I saw a beautiful black and white porpoise playing around the zodiac. A good morning. We are now sailing to our final landing before returning to Ushuaia.


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Location:Falkland Islands, South Atlantic Ocean