Port Stanley was one of my favorite ports on the cruise. With Patrick Watts Tours we went to Volunteer Point to see Penguins and yes we saw plenty. Notice all the cute fuzzy little ones in the center of the group.
We drove in a caravan of Range Rovers for 1.5 hours. Hubby wasn’t very happy about the bumpy road but our driver Kenton kept us entertained chatting about his life on the island.
While you won’t find many people in and around, one thing you’re guaranteed to see are penguins! King penguins are the largest and tallest penguins. They can stand up to 39 inches and look like distinguished statesmen.
These are my favorite guys just out for a stroll. It’s easy to understand why people love penguins they have so much character.
The largest population of Gentoo penguins live in the Falkland Islands. These guys are adorable and are really fast swimmers, reaching speeds of 22 mph.
On the way back to Port Stanley we passed a curious collection of shoes on stakes. Nobody seems certain as to how or why the shoes first came to be there. And like all good local legends, there are several versions of the story. One story is visitors or islanders leave them as they depart believing “if you leave your own behind as your visit to the island come to a close, you are meant to return.”
In town, we stopped at the happy sight of Kay’s B & B gnome garden, a locally-famous and often photographed attraction.
Outside of Christ Church Cathedral we saw this interesting “sculpture.” It’s four jawbones from blue whales that were erected as an arch in 1933 to commemorate a century of British rule in the Falkland Islands.
Port Stanley has a population of 2500 and is a very unique place. Our guide told us when he was young, a girl moved into town and he told her she’d be his wife because he knew they weren’t related. We all had a good laugh. The Islanders are very proud to be British and want to remain part of the U.K.
