Falkland Islands

We spent a full day and night steaming from Ushuaia to the Falkland Islands. First confirmed sighting was in 1592 and it was a base for whalers, sealers and penguin hunters over the years until in 1833 Britain claimed sovereignty (as they did). It has one settlement Stanley and continues to be a self governing Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom despite the attempted invasion by Argentina in 1982 which Maggie Thatcher put an end to (and consequently has a memorial dedicated to her in the main street). It is mainly a sheep farming economy (there are ~ 550,000 sheep on the islands - 125 per human) and now also includes tourism and sale of fishing licences (there is currently a small fleet of Taiwanese longline squid trawlers here).
It is a rather windswept and bleak looking place but the main reason we came was to see the Magellanic penguins which we won't see after this. That and a meal of traditional British fish and chips and warm flat ale in the hotel! We got to test out our waterproof gear as well with several rain storms.Read more