Blogs from Falkland Islands, South America - page 5

We sailed into the Port William, a large inlet on the east coast of East Falkland island, shortly after sunrise. The Falkland Islands are an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean, located 300 miles from the coast of Argentina. They consist of two main islands, East Falkland and West Falkland, together with 776 smaller islands. Stanley, on East Falkland, is the capital. The islands are a self-governing Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom. In 1982 the islands were invaded by Argentina, precipitating the two-month-long undeclared Falklands War between Argentina and the United Kingdom, which resulted in the defeat and withdrawal of Argentine forces. To visit Stanley we tendered through a strait called "the Narrows" into Stanley Harbour. Stanley is the capital and only true city in the Falkland Islands. It is located on the isle of ... read more

After a light lunch on board, we went into Stanley for a wander around the neat, colourful small town of about 2,000 with its pub, churches, civic buildings and four terraced town houses that could have been transported brick by brick from Victorian England - apart from the green corrugated roof rather than tiles. The morning cloud had blown away and it was a beautiful sunny afternoon. We were told there had been a fair bit of damage in yesterday’s storm but we saw not a sign of this - frankly it was a tribute to the quality of construction that half the homes weren’t completely flattened. I suspect that the buildings here are pretty well put together given that a fresh wind apparently blows most days of the year- you could see, for example, that ... read more

We left the hotel at seven for flight to Ushuaia, in the far south of the country, from which 95% of Antarctic expedition ships depart. We had been to Ushuaia several years before when we finished a driving trip through southern Patagonia here; it is a pleasant own of 60,000 or so whose culinary claim to fame is its Patagonian baby lamb rack-roasted over a charcoal fire. By noon we were digging into this finger-licking delight at one of the specialty restaurants on the main street, Avenida San Martin. Afterwards we had time for a short walk and some duty-free shopping before meeting up to board the Minerva in mid-afternoon. We had chosen Minerva based on the recommendation of friends who had sailed aboard her, as well as an assessment of other ships doing the route ... read more

Tuesday 22nd we were at sea for the day. A somewhat hot day so it was spent on deck getting the sun and relaxing. In the evening prior to dinner, we went to yet another gala evening attended by the captain and again more free booze. Wednesday we arrived in Puerto Madryn, Argentina at around 0800hrs. This town has a population of around 65,000. The town is an industrial center, a major port and has a large fishing fleet. Tourists flock to this area for the superb scuba diving and to see the birds,whales, penguins and sea lions in the nearby wildlife reserves.The first Welsh emigrants to Ptagonio landed near here in 1865. We took a tour to a welsh village for tea and cakes. Not only did we have the eats and drinks but were ... read more

Hello and welcome to my Travel Blog. The main purpose of writing this is to create a place where family and friends can visit to update themselves on my travels and see my photos. Remember you can visit my website Magical Places Fine Art where you can see more photos, and buy greetings cards, prints, postcards, journals, calendars and more from my CafePress online shop. The best photos you see here will make their way there. I’m currently working as an Internet Manager on a cruise ship called the Norwegian Crown. The ship is sailing between Buenos Aires in Argentina to Valparaiso, Chile and back again until next April. I will be posting blogs and photos about the ports we visit on here. I’ll also go back a little in time and post photos from my ... read more