Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 FALKLAND ISLANDS Sunday, 13 December (a.m.). The ship anchored in Port William, just outside Stanley harbor, at 7:30. The Falkland Islands are an archipelago in the South Atlantic, located 300 miles east of Argentina. They consist of two main islands, East Falkland and West Falkland, and more than 700 smaller islands, only about a dozen of which are inhabited. The total population is about 3,000. Stanley, the capital, is on East Falkland. The islands are an overseas territory of the United Kingdom.
The truth is that Stanley really doesn't have much in the way of highlights, but the tour was still interesting. Stanley only has about 2,200 inhabitants. Our guide pointed out the Globe Tavern and the cemetery as highlights as we passed them. Need I say more? As we drove, she explained that there were no native trees and little other vegetation because not much will grow in the constant strong winds. Native tuft grass (tussock) was and still is the dominant flora. Certain trees and flowers have been introduced and survive with careful cultivation. For example, hedges of gorse, with bright yellow flowers, are everywhere in Stanley, providing windbreaks and refuge for birds and adding a splash of color to an otherwise bleak landscape. We drove out to the marina on the edge of town. It had many modern vessels and several derelicts, and it was sometimes hard to tell which was which. The hulk of the Lady Elizabeth, an iron sailing ship built in 1879, rusting away in Whalebone Cove, was the most impressive of the wrecks. We drove out to the little airport, then along beaches still littered with mines from the 1982 Falklands War.
Returning to the town itself, we stopped at the home of an anti whaling activist whose yard displayed whale and fish skeletons, a harpoon gun, and much more. He also had a live reindeer tethered at his front door. Leaving there, we passed Government House, where the Governor (appointed by the Queen) resides.
Next was the Memorial for the Battle of the Falklands, not for the 1982 Falklands War, but for the British naval victory over the German Navy in December 1914 during the First World War. Then we stopped at the Falkland Islands Museum in Britannia House. It housed an eclectic but interesting collection ranging from old soda bottles to historic documents to stuffed penguins. The red double-decker bus carrying the other Stanley highlights tour arrived there just ahead of us, and our bus followed it for the rest of the tour.
We drove down to the harbor and paused at the Falklands War Memorial, this one to the 1982 war with Argentina. We drove along the harbor and through the "downtown," passing St. Mary"s Catholic Church and Christ Church. The latter had a "golden" arch made from three huge whale jawbones. At first glance I thought there must be a McDonald's nearby.
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