Cruising - from Montevideo to the Falklands

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We packed up before noon on the 4th and taxied to the port area in Buenos Aires. A storm had hit the area only a few days before and damaged our port of departure. Fortunately, Monica had been notified and she redirected our driver to the new site. The cruise itself, aboard the Sapphire Princess, lasts 16 days travelling south along the coast of Argentina, slowly exploring Antarctica south of the cape before turning north on the Pacific side and heading up to Santiago Chile. We joined a long snake like line of travellers and slowly crawled our way forward in what looked like a giant airport hangar. More than one boat was loading so the scene was crowded and chaotic. Eventually, we were relieved of our luggage and then presented with a necklace like medallion. These medallions are basically our identity. Each one has our name on it - it acts as a key for our cabin door and is used to order food and drinks as well. Each contains a picture of the person so no one can use another medallion. It is also used to identify one when they disembark at a port and then reload. We had assumed that our cabin would be beside Don and Patty's - they were E216 while Monica and I are E217 - however we soon learned that the odd numbers were located on one side of the ship and the even on the other side. We boarded and found our cabin. Both Monica and I found the room quite impressive. I was also relieved to see our luggage waiting for us inside the door. By 5:30 we were slowly making our way out of the port. The water is very shallow and a ship our size has be careful with its navigation. We had a quick dinner and drinks before hitting the sack for the night. Amazing how well one sleeps with the gentle rocking of the boat - like a baby in a cradle. The next morning we had arrived in Montevideo Uruguay. We spent a day in Montevideo. In many ways, it is the anti of Buenos Aires. The government is stable and the economy is strong. A city of 1.3 million, Montevideo is said to have the highest quality of life of any city in Latin America. The average income is over 30,000$ US and unemployment is low. After the hustle and bustle of Buenos Aires, Montevideo seemed to have a sleepy calmness. We walked around the downtown area for a few hours, pausing to read the historical statues while listening to a local horn player who I thought was quite good. We returned to the boat in late afternoon and began a two day sail south and east to the Falkland Islands. This gave us a chance to explore the boat. It has numerous restaurants and bars and our medallions can actually identify where on the boat we are on a phone. Monica and I are quite impressed with the food and the service - it is much better than our last cruise aboard Norwegian. There is quite a mix of people on this cruise with a surprising number of Canadians as well. We purchased the drink package - not only does it allow us to have up to 15 drinks each per day, (we have not reached that limit yet), but it covers our overall gratuity and gives us free internet access as well. We arrived at the Falkland Islands the morning of Jan. 8th. Our boat was moored a mile or so out to sea and a constant stream of shuttle boats took everyone ashore. We had purchased a small tour package and boarded a small shuttle bus. Our driver, Robin, took us on a tour of the main island while giving us a history lesson and identifying land marks. Our first stop was a place off the side of the main road called Boot Hill. It consisted of a hundred or so stakes in the ground with each one topped with one or two shoes or boots. It seems that a soldier fell in the deep mud here during the Falkland War and lost one of his boots. He took the other one off and stuck it up in the air on the end of his rifle. From there, he was spotted and rescued, but decided to leave his boot. Our guide explained to us that life on the Falklands is not to everyone's liking. The legend goes that if one leaves only one shoe, it means they plan to return - leaving two shoes means one will never return. Robin turned off the main and took us to a cluster of jeeps sitting stoically upon the moors. The four of us - Don, Patty, Monica and myself - boarded one jeep with a driver who took us to a beach filled with a colony of penguins. It was fantastic to get so close to these critters - most of the time they simply stood basking in the sun. There was even a larger colony a few hundred yards in land. We also wandered to the other end of the beach where a solitary bull seal guarded a pup. Our guide welcomed us to go down and investigate but warned us to move slowly and keep our distance. We got to within 50 feet or so before he stood up and roared at us. They say they can move quite quickly when threatened so we decided to back off. We spent an hour or two with the penguins - the local guides just left us on our own promising to return. Eventually we went back into Stanley and had a pint of Iron Lady IPA at the Victory pub. The Falklands is an archipelago - a cluster of 776 islands dominated by two main ones simply called East and West. It is a self governing British territory and the residents are British citizens. Health care and education is all paid for - they have 5 doctors and only severe cases are flown to the UK for treatment. Education goes up to high school and any post secondary education is paid for and takes place in the UK. There is a military base where two flights a week go to the UK and one to Santiago Chile. There is one boat a month that sails to Montevideo. These are the only ways to leave or visit the island besides the cruise ships. The economy is strong ranking within the top ten in the world based on individual income. There is no unemployment. The economy is based heavily on tourism and oil exploration. Sheep and cattle are raised in abundance and along with fish give the island a strong food supply. The climate is much warmer than what I suspected - the winters going down to only -2 to -4 C. and the summers going up to low 20sC. However, the winds are strong and constant - 70% of their power comes from turbines. Trees are almost nonexistent. In 1982, Argentina attacked the islands claiming the islands belonged to them. The UK sent a convoy of warships and soldiers and the short war was over in a matter of weeks. The British lost 255 soldiers, Argentina 687. The islands remained British - in 2013 a vote was held to determine if Falkland's residents wanted to remain sovereign to the UK. The vote was 99.8% in favour of staying with the UK. It is a very isolated and tight knit community consisting of no more than 3500 people. Everyone knows everyone and one can sense a great deal of domestic pride. Our guide informed us that many of British soldiers who fought in the 1982 Falkland War, chose to return to the islands after the war and take up residence. One can understand why.

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