The Falkland Islands. An Intimate Penguin Experience of a Lifetime.
This will be a day like none other for the four of us. An adventure that brought us face-to-face, up close and personal with the most amazing penguins. There were many hurdles to overcome for this day to actually happen.
I will share enough details to describe the day and experience, but will also limit many of my thoughts on the day for now so that you can just peruse the images, and especially the videos (and every chance you get, I recommend making the videos full screen). I shot them all high resolution. I guess that’s a giveaway that we overcame the hurdles. But, there were absolutely no guarantees this would happen, and we would have never known what we missed.
NOTE: If you don’t care about the details of the day, and just want to skip to the images and videos, please do.
First, we hear it’s 50/50 on when the ship can get into the harbor to give our ship’s tenders access to transport us to the tiny pier. This harbor is so small that when a ship our size comes in, all private boats, yachts, and commercial vessels are required to be out of the port.
Next, as a definitive law by the The Falkland Islands government, the port is closed to all fishing vessels, cruise vessels, and their tenders whenever sustained winds reach 30 knots. This was our biggest hurdle. And, as we went to sleep during the Drake Shake, it wasn’t looking good.
7:00 AM Captain’s Announcement to those passengers who planned to tender from the ship to the shore for the day:
The ship has been cleared to anchor in the harbor at Port Stanley. Current temperature 58 degrees, high temperature expected of 64. Current winds gusting to 25 knots. Critical notes to everyone visiting the nearby coves or bays: please listen for any sustained horns from the ship as we approach the afternoon. If you hear these horns, immediately return to the dock and tender to the ship as the ship will be required to leave Port Stanley if winds reach 30 knots sustained. For those few attempting to go across the island to Bluff Cove, you will not be able to hear the ships whistle. If you get contacted through any guides and are told to return to the ship, do so immediately as the ship will be required to leave port.
Since we’re not scheduled to attempt the trip to Bluff Cove until the afternoon, we decide to immediately head ashore early and go to a nearby cove where there may be a few penguins in case we are unable to do Bluff Cove. And so, we do.
We tender over just after 8 AM and arrive at the small dock via the ships lifeboats again.
We immediately book the town shuttle to nearby Gypsy Cove for $20 so that if nothing else, we get to hopefully see some penguins close up. As we stand on the dock, there’s no doubt that we’re now on an a British Island with this red reminder & crown next to us.
Mom stays back during this adventure and saves up her strength for the hopeful trek to Bluff Cove. Upon our arrival, we have a few hundred yards of coast and rocky hillsides to hike to get to Gypsy Cove.
As we crest this hill, Gypsy Cove comes into view and here I get my first good glimpse of the Magellanic Penguins.
My first video below of these cute creatures while joining them on land for the first time.
This is one of my favorite video below of the Magellanic Penguins in the cove. I’m still in awe of how quickly they can swim… it’s as if I sped up the video after they make their way into the water but I promise it’s unaltered. If you take it full screen you can follow them under water.
This was a short visit but at least I had this experience in the event Bluff Cove didn’t happen.
On the shuttle ride back to Port Stanley we spot Lady LIz which was built in 1879 and sustained severe damage sailing around Cape Horn in 1912 and headed towards Port Stanley for repairs. However, she struck Uraine Rock just off Volunteer Point and suffered a 6-foot (1.8 m) break in the hull and keel along with a 1-foot (30 cm) hole. The ship began to sink but was able to get to Port Stanley and was then declared unseaworthy. She was moored in Port Stanley until 1936 when her lines broke during a storm and she drifted into Whalebone Cove which is where she still sits today, as I captured here.
We have an hour to kill before our still hopeful trip to Bluff Cove. Winds are kicking up. We decided to walk around the quaint town of Port Stanley.
And, then, it’s confirmed and we will make the drive through the farmlands, and 1982 battlefields of the Falkland War to the private sanctuary that is Bluff Cove. This place is special and I will attempt to share more after I give you what I’ve curated from nearly 90 minutes of video I shot, and over 400 pictures, to just the best of the best here.
Bluff Cove is a small part of a 35,000-acre sheep and cattle farm owned by Hattie and Kevin Kilmartin which is also a private wildlife reserve and haven to over 3,000 Gentoo penguins and a growing colony of King penguins. It’s about a 30 minute drive from Port Stanley through the countryside with the last several miles down dirt roads.
In addition to the battlefield history shared with us on the way, we see miles of stunning stone-runs, flowing down the mountainsides, along with some Belted Galloway Cattle as we arrive into the remote and tranquil lagoon that is Bluff Cove.
Our (Your) Penguin Journey Starts Now.
Meet the King Penguin. You might wonder why all of them are sitting in the same manner amidst this group below… and not moving. We learn from the local ranger who is one of many who protect them, that they all had baby chicks 10 days earlier. And, there’s a single chick under almost every one of these brilliant penguins. With any luck we will see one later. The penguin not matching the others and walking around is a Gentoo penguin.
NOTE for all videos. You can certainly have your volume up if you would like and you can hear them at times. But, the wind is a very steady 20-25 knot wind with gusts much higher the entire time we are at Bluff Cove so I suspect the audio is loud. Hence the shaking videos too, as I work to keep my balance.
I fell in love with both the King and Gentoo’s today. If you watch all the videos, you might too. I laughed. Awwww’d. Was intrigued. Fascinated. Surprised. And again, laughed often as my mind narrated so many of the different things I watched, and captured.
My first watch of the King penguin walk.
This is the first time I see what I call the aristocratic walk and posturing. I will share it many times when I capture it in other places and it cracks me up… it first shows up about halfway into this video.
The end of this video is the highest I’ve seen the nose and chest so far.
I’ve officially named these three guys above the Three Stooges and this seriously looks like a penguin version of a Larry, Curly and Moe skit.
This cute Gentoo penguin below goes on a walk right towards me and in front of me and I can’t help but just watch every step and hop.
Larry, Curly and Moe take their act to the water and attempt to integrate their version of synchronized swimming dance while keeping their antics going.
Top Three Video #1: Feeding the Chicks! The next video happened right in front of me when I begin to follow one of two adolescent chicks and their mother. Ultimately, one chick goes through a feeding ritual with the mother where the chick rubs under the mother’s beak and she will regurgitate food from her stomach and allow the chick to eat this food out of her throat. This was amazing to watch.
Top Three Video #2. The Chase!: So, there’s several things I love about this video. I’ve watched it dozens of times and there’s a reel of dialogue that plays in my head every time. But, there’s several things happening here. One, the Gentoo chick is ALWAYS on the quest for food from the adult. However, I learned from one of the rangers that mothers use this to get the chicks to get into chasing games with the mother to help build the chicks strength and stamina.
Here, mom is literally pestering the heck out of the chick and when the chick calls in their sibling for backup support mom takes off and the chase is ON! Gotta say I also enjoyed the face plant and pop right back up by the chick! Note the chicks are nearly full grown here and you can see one already losing their fluff to their adult coat. And while they might be almost as big as mom, you can tell she’s king of the hill in this banter session. Enjoy!
3 fun facts about Gentoo Penguins.
During deep dives, Gentoo penguins reduce their heart rate from 80 to 100 beats per minute (bpm) down to 20 bpm.
They are famous for their courtship ritual of wooing females with gifts of pebbles.
They can swim up to 22 mpg and reach depths of 656 feet (seems like an odd number but that’s what I can find documented).
Back to the King Penguin and the first opportunity to see chicks. Here you see a little wing begin to emerge and then the baby emerges further in the next two videos.
Top Three Video #3. A series of 4 videos of mother and her full baby chick out from underneath her (apparently very rare at 10 days according to the ranger). Amazing!
And, finally, I saved the best for last… with special thanks to my wife Trina… who was also capturing videos and images of these beautiful creatures. Earlier I shared the video I captured of the mother Gentoo penguin feeding her adolescent chick… but here Trina managed to capture the only video, best I can tell, of a mother King Penguin protecting and feeding her 10-day old chick.
Herein is the end of the videos (that I narrowed from a list of >40) taken during our unforgettable experience in the Falklands. And, I want to share a little more about the special humans that created this oasis of intimacy with wildlife.
Photo of the day:
And last but not least, ‘Skippy’:
And now, to share a little about the special couple that have made this sanctuary possible plus the above-and-beyond hospitality they showed us during our visit.
To the Kilmartin’s: Should you ever run across this journal… Thank you… and I know my wife thanked you in the cafe… but truly, we are so grateful that after a 996-day break during Covid that you reopened your ranch to visitors again. We will never forget our experience with the and your hospitality.
After a drive through the farmlands and battlefields from the port, this is the dirt road we navigated to get to the Kilmartin farm and lagoon.
Their personally-curated museum includes penguins to pioneers but also supports local artisans with original paintings and I’m not surprised to learn they support local charities, musicians, and historians. In tribute to their history, I felt I should include at least one historical image here. Here’s Kevin in the 1970’s herding their sheep:
Later I will add pictures of some of the best of the gifts we purchased in our five-week journey.
Lastly, but importantly, and the perfect segway to our return back to the ship, Bluff Cove was the site of secondary landings by the British Royal Navy in the Falklands War of 1982, which resulted in a successful attack of the Argentine Air Force.
Every year the Kilmartin’s are delighted to welcome back veterans of the 1982 war to have the opportunity to express their gratitude. This year they hosted the Welsh Guards and the Gunners. From previous pilgrimages they have enjoyed visits from the Gurkhas, 42 Commando led by their Colonel Nick Vaux and Peter Cameron, commanding officer of “3 Commando Brigade” helicopters, pictured here (below) with Toby laying a wreath to fallen comrades at the Ajax Bay 1982 field hospital on San Carlos water.
As we travel away from this true sanctuary of wildlife and humans, our guide shares more details of the Falkland Islands War in 1982 when Argentina invaded and occupied The Falkland Islands and you can tell how fresh the wounds are of this experience for so many that we have met. They point out where various battles took place along the way, and share more history from their British perspective (several days later in Buenos Aires we would hear perspectives from Argentinians). Again, perfect segway to our departure from this wonderfully British group of two main islands with 778 smaller islands.
As we arrive back at the dock to take the tender back through the bay to our ship, I capture these images from across the bay:
I cannot recall if I asked about what these names were or it was volunteered by the guide but I learned that this is a long-standing tradition to celebrate the names of the British ships and their seamen that protected and currently protect the Falkland Islands and their people.
I decided to dig into this a bit and learned that the stones are large and bright enough to be visible from a height of 7,000 ft and can be seen on Google Earth (minus Leeds Castle until the satellite imagery is updated) at 51º40'58"S, 57º51'32"W.
I was able to find these two images below of when they were putting in the white-painted rocks for the warship ‘Leeds Castle.’
And then looking back across the bay (below) to the dock where I took the three pictures of all the ships names:
As we approach the dock, my last wildlife video of the day… a sea lion and her pup cuddle up on the dock. And that’s a wrap for The Falkland Islands adventure. The ship was able to stay in the bay as wind gusts were above 30 knots all day but never hit sustained at 30 knots. Thank you. Really, Mother Earth, thank you.
What’s ahead:
1/24: Puerto Madryn, Argentina
1/26: Punta del Este, Uruguay
1/27: Montevideo, Uruguay
1/28: Buenos Aires, Argentina
1/31: Iguazu Falls, Brazil
2/1: Buenos Aires & Don Julio
As I’m unfortunately running out of time to post in this journal due to complicated travel on the backend of this trip to reach the most spectacular waterfalls on earth, I may have to skip several of these days for now to post about Iguazu Falls and then circle back later as I’m able.
Back to the sea, as there are many miles to travel to Puerto Madryn, Argentina. Good night!