This morning we got up early and had breakfast in the room. As we ate, we watched Port Stanley, in the Falkland Islands come into view. We had to be in the meeting area for our tour by 8:25 and got there a little early. And then we waited, and we waited, and we waited some more. Princess is usually a right on time outfit, so I was surprised. Later I heard that the reason for the delay was that they had opened the port side pontoons for the tenders and what the should have done was open the starboard side ones. They had to redo all the landing areas and therefore were running about ½ hour late. Finally, our group was called and as we passed a bathroom, Alan ducked into it. The last thing I said was “You have my tour ticket.” I went ahead and got down all the stairs, through security, and onto the tender, still never seeing Alan. The tender pulled out and there I was, no ticket, no camera, no I.D. When I got to the pier (about a 25 minute tender ride today), the very nice people in charge of the tour gave me a duplicate ticket. There was no way in hell I was going to miss seeing the penguins, with or without Alan. I was the last person in line waiting for the shuttle buses to take us out to the four by four SUVs and the shuttle wasn’t full, so we waited for the next tender. Meanwhile, I told the shuttle driver all the ways I was going to murder Alan, and while he agreed I had reason to do so, he asked that I not do it in his van as there would be much too much paper work for him to have to do if I did. The next tender finally came and about half through unloading I spied Alan. Our shuttle driver breathed a sigh of relief at not having a murder aboard and loaded eight of us into his shuttle. He was quite witty and the ride was pleasant. We then switched to a 4×4 and took off. I now understand why they said pregnant women and anyone with neck and back problems shouldn’t take this excursion. It was quite a ride over peat and granite fields, in and out of ravines, but when we finally reached our ”landing” area, it was so worth it.

There are three distinct groups of penguins in Bluff Cove Rookery. First we walked up very near to a large group of Gentoo penguins who happened to be in molting season and were very docile.

Then a little further on, we came to King Penguins who were caring for their chicks.

Finally, we walked down a bluff to the Atlantic Ocean and there were a couple of large groups of Magellanic penguins. These were very active, running down to the water and diving in and then coming back ashore.

It was amazing. The Cove was not crowded or over run with people and so it was a highly initimate experience with just us and the penguins.

There was a gift shop and a small café where we got coffee and delicious English pastries. Alan said he felt like he was living in the “Great British Bakeoff” tent!

Back into the 4x4s and then into the shuttle vans. We stayed in Stanley a little while, had fish and chips and a local beer at Victor’s Pub, and then came back to the ship for naps.

Tomorrow is a sea day, so we can sleep a little later. More then.