Picnicking With The Penguins

NOTE:  We're now in Valparaiso, Chile.  But I have about 15 or so blogs from our cruise, so I'm going to post these a few per day, in chronological order.  I'll try to remember to add this note so that people know to go back a few days.

6 February 2020

Our port today was Stanley, Falkland Islands.  The Falkland Islands archipelago is located about 280 miles (350 km) east of South America.  While the Falkland Islands have over 700 islands, the two main inhabited islands are the two largest, East Island and West Island.  Simple and effective, even if it isn’t the most creative naming process.

Cruise ships always have excursions at the various port stops, but the excursions are limited, as is the space.  Richard and I talked about what we wanted to do at the various ports, looking through the excursion brochure.  We both agreed we wanted to go to see the king penguins when we were in the Falkland Islands.

Turned out this excursion was fully booked, so we signed up for the waitlist.  I then sat down at the computer and found a list of all the independent tour companies in the Falklands.  I sent out emails to all of those companies, hoping we could find someone who could take us to see the king penguins.

I found out several things.  First, there would be four cruise ships in port the day we were there – so that cruise ship passengers would greatly outnumber the 3500 inhabitants of these islands. That almost every tour company on island, no matter how large or small, was fully booked for that date. That all of the penguin colonies were on private land, and that the number of tours to each colony was controlled – so that only a certain number of tours and tourists could go to any of the various penguin rookeries. (They don’t want to stress the penguins.) So we were pretty much out of luck, because the one location for the king penguins was solidly booked for that day. 

However, one company sent me their brochures about where they could take us.  The owner was quite friendly in his emails, and said he takes four-wheel drive vehicles but only takes four passengers per vehicle so it would be more comfortable.  That he could take us to see the gentoo penguins, as well as the Magellanic penguins, all in one day.  So, we signed up.

This turned out to be a great decision!  Our company owner, Pete, met us at the pier as we got off our tender.  He found two more guests so that our price would be reduced.  He had a few more guests for another vehicle, so his son-in-law, Doug, was our guide for the day.  Here’s a link to contact them:  www.facebook.com/petekingfalklands 

We set off for Bertha’s Beach, on the south side of the East Island.  (Maps at the end.)  Even though the Falklands are small islands in the southern part of the Atlantic Ocean, they are fairly dry, and almost desolate.  These are definitely windswept islands, with a consistent wind blowing up from Antarctica, with a constant chill in that wind.  Native vegetation is limited to ground cover, scrubby bushes, and maybe a few brave but wind-twisted trees that people have planted.  Flowers seem to survive better, but anything taller than maybe a yard or meter seems to be mowed down or permanently warped by that constant cold wind.

There are rocky outcroppings looking like dragon scales along the crests of the hills, and Darwin’s description of rivers of rocks scrawling down the hills, leftover from glaciers during some long distant ice age.

This definitely is not a friendly environment, and only the toughest humans and hardiest animals have adapted to living here.

As we were driving along the gravel road, past the rivers of rocks and the wind barren hills, at one point all traffic stopped as a huge flock of sheep ran across the road, being moved from one grazing area to another, guided by a few farmers and sheep dogs.  I can’t even begin to estimate the number of sheep – it was a huge flowing river of sheep, running as far as the eye could see up a rise to the left, across the gravel road, and down to the right until they disappeared behind another small hill.  There were enough sheep that traffic was stopped for over five minutes, and that sheep river flowed on and on.  It was amazing to see this many sheep being herded whatever distance – and there may have been more sheep than the number of inhabitants on this rather isolated island!

Ever onward, and finally we reached Bertha’s Beach.  The beach is the coastal portion of a working sheep farm, and is named after the ship Bertha, which was wrecked on the beach in 1892.  This beach is supposed to be one of the best wildlife sites in the Falklands, and is recognized as a wetland area of international importance.

Bertha’s Beach is a long flat beach covered in powdery white sand, backed by very low sand dunes covered in some feathery beach grass.  The far end of the beach, in front of gently sloping hills instead of dunes, is home to a large colony of gentoo penguins.  About 800 breeding pairs of gentoo penguins live here, returning each year to breed and rear their young.

Gentoos are pretty large penguins, roughly 20 to 35 inches tall (roughly 50 to 90 cm) – the third largest penguins!!!  (After the emperor and king penguins.)  They are snowy white on the belly and under wings, with black heads, backs, tails, and wings.  However, they have a white racing strip that runs across the top of their heads, flaring out over each eye like twin apostrophes, which gives them sort of a heavy metal rocker look.  They have orange feet, and bright orange lips inside their black beaks.  And with very almond shaped eyes, adding to their rather exotic look.

Maybe about 60-70% of the penguins were hanging out on the hill, either napping or waiting for lunch.  Baby to adolescent penguins, still wearing their fuzzy baby plumage, periodically raced around following adults, crying for their lunch.  Some penguins napped standing upright, but some gentoos seemed to just face plant onto the grass and fall asleep that way.  I know, they look as if they might be dead, but they really were breathing, or they might periodically open an eye or stretch their little wings.

I walked over to see the gentoos, and one curious young penguin started walking over to me, as if to see if I happened to have some fish for his/her lunch.  I started chatting with this friendly youthful penguin, but someone rushed over the get a selfie with this curious penguin, who then was startled and ran away.

As long as people walked around gently and softly, the gentoos didn’t seem to mind.  I was standing and watching as they walked or waddled-ran around, and realized that two penguins were passing by me just inches away!!!  They don’t have any natural predators on land here, so they’ve learned not to worry about anything while they’re on land.  They know they’re safe.

The other 30-40% of the gentoos were hanging out on the beach.  Some adults were coming in from fishing at sea, surfing the waves onto the beach and then hopping up onto their feet at the last minute.  Young penguins ran down hoping their parents were coming in, but some seemed to get distracted by their reflections on the wet sand.  A few seemed to find tiny things to eat when the waves washed in and then receded, or maybe they were just tasting if something was edible. 

The adults who returned would walk up to the grassy hill, wings extended both for balance and to let those feathers dry out better.  Some would stop to feed their children, others seemed to ignore their babies and go looking for their partner.  Both male and female gentoo penguins care for their young, so we had no idea which parents were which.

Gentoo penguins are funny, because they are definitely bottom-heavy – they seem to have big feet and no legs, so they almost look like they’re walking in gunny sack races with only their big orange feet sticking out!  But their funny waddle is in such contrast to the rakish head design with that extended white eye shadow that streaks across their head.  And sometimes, they give people a really goofy look, like they're being the clowns of the penguin world!

This pair of penguins actually walked by this close to me!  Really, they nearly stepped on my feet!!

We didn’t exactly picnic with the penguins, because they were eating fish, and we had sandwiches and hot coffee or tea.  Well, and we also stood around the car and had more of a tailgate picnic in the parking lot.  Chips and cookies were included.  And no fish for the humans.

The Falklands have five kinds of penguins – the king, the gentoo, Magellanic penguins, macaroni penguins (with a sweeping crest of feathers on their heads), and rockhopper penguins.  Since we’ve seen the Magellanic penguins at Punta Tombo, it was fun to see the gentoos, and have a whole new penguin experience!!!