The 33% Rule kicks in . . .

Anchored in the Falkland Islands this morning in the outer bay at Stanley. This alone was an accomplishment as the weather here is so bad most of the time that one cruise ship in three isn’t able to put passengers ashore. Because this port does not have a dock big enough for cruise ships, we have to use our ship’s tenders and when the weather is bad, the the problem is loading and unloading these small bobbing boats, especially when the average age of the passengers is probably 70.

But all in all it was good this morning. The tendering operation was a slower due to the extra time needed for loading and unloading, but we were ashore on a sunny and windy++ day, had a lovely, very English lunch of pies, pies & chips and were all set for our afternoon tour out to the penguin colonies.

And then the belated 33% Rule rule kicked in, the weather started getting worse, the barometric pressure started dropping (4 points in an hour) and the Captain put the word out that everyone ashore was to return as soon as possible. We were about 20 minutes away from getting on our bus to go out to the penguin colonies and instead we got on board a tender and we got our butts back to the ship.

Proof that Mother Nature rules the waves.

The penguins will have to wait for us to admire them.

The Drake Passage looms ahead:

Lake?
Shake?

Stay tuned, film at 11Read more