We arrived at Stanley after a much better night’s sleep.
The sea had been a lot calmer overnight with only the occasional roll and virtually no pitching at all.
Our expedition voyage on Hurtigruten’s MS Fram would take us from Ushuaia to Antarctica, to South Georgia, around the Falklands and then onto Montevideo.
Our visit to the Falklands started in Stanley on Wednesday March 8th.
Arriving at Stanley
After an early breakfast we were up on Deck 8 as approached the Falklands.
The ship was surrounded by birds. The high point was when a Wandering Albatross made a pass right over our heads. It was then obvious just how large the wingspan is of these birds.
Once through the narrow entrance to the bay. Navy Point on starboard and Engineer Point on port. Fram turned to port towards the Fipass jetty. Stanley was away to our starboard side.
On our port side away across the bay, past the jetty, was a wreck.
Fram docked behind two fishing vessels at the Fipass jetty.
After the lines were tied up, we went back to our cabin to change into our wet gear. I added more camera lenses to my bag – just in case.
The HM Customs and Immigration ladies came on-board and by then we were all in a queue on Deck 3 waiting to leave the ship.
Adrian from Murrells Farm was waiting for us on the dock with a Ford Transit passenger bus. There were six of us for the Rockhopper penguin trip across his farm. Once at the farm we would swap into Land Rovers to across ‘camp’ to see the penguins.
The drive to Murrells Farm took us down the main road through Stanley past the other jetties, the shops, the war memorials and the Governor’s residence.
After passing through Moody Brook, the road became a gravel track. We also passed the foundations of the Royal Marine barracks. This was where they were billeted before the Falklands War. Before this gravel road was laid they had to do a wide detour around the river to get to the farm.
Murrell’s Farm
Once at the farm we split into two groups. I was in the second Land Rover driven by Trevor. We set off from the side of the farm across camp going northwards. The day before there had been a lot of rain and the ground was extremely wet.
We were off-road for nearly an hour to where the penguins were. The journey should have been less than 45 minutes but the heavy going caused the delay. As we crossed ‘fields’ the fences were laid flat and we drove over them (putting them back upright when we returned.)
Trevor’s Land Rover followed Adrian’s avoiding the same route that had taken. We chatted about Trevor’s life on the Falklands. He’d been born on West Falkland and first came to East Island and Stanley when he was 19. Back in 1982 he had had Royal Marines billeted at his house as the detachment was in transit. The Marines were with him as there wasn’t enough room in the barracks for the replacement Marines on the changeover.
This kindness did mean he received rough treatment when the Argentinians conducted house to house searches. A rifle was rammed into his stomach when the Marine’s abandoned kit was discovered in the house.
In our connected world it is hard to comprehend the ban on listening to the BBC World Service imposed by the Argentinians. Even more outlandish were the lengths they went to try and catch any of the Islanders listening to the banned service.
This was the first time that I had been off-road in a Defender and we were ascending and descending deep gullies, wading streams and crossing deep mud after the rain.
