Cape Horn and The Falkland Islands

Kind of the whole point of this cruise was going around Cape Horn. Well, we did it. I have to say that for me it was a bit of an anti-climax. There is a lot of history to the spot, but actually seeing it? Well, it looks like some rocky land.

We did (again) get lucky and have fairly calm seas for this portion of the journey which is definitely not usually the case. Even a short time after we rounded the Horn we heard that it got considerably rougher.

The next day though was another of the great highlights for me: the Falkland Islands.

Here again, we'd prearranged for a tour. Our trusty guide met us at the port and got our convoy of 4x4's ready to roll.

There's still plenty of evidence of the 1982 Falkland's War.

In fact, they've only recently begun clearing the miles and miles of land mines. This is a Zimbabwe land mine team working to clear the land.

Researching the excursion, I knew that we'd have a 2.5 hour journey across the islands to get to Volunteer Point, one of the best sites for seeing penguins. Two and a half hours seemed like a lot of driving just to see some birds, ya know? But little did I know that the drive turned out to be almost as exciting as the penguins!

The first hour or so was across roads, or at least trails.

Passing some picturesque farmhouses along the way.

But the last bit of the trip was across the peat bogs! No roads, no trails! We travelled in a convoy so that when one vehicle got stuck, there would be others to pull them out. It happened several times.

It was fascinating. The peat was soft so the vehicles would sink as they'd roll along. Made some nice cushioning for the passengers too!

And, at long last, we made it to Volunteer Point.

The Gentoo Penguins were out en masse, tending their young.

It seems they were quite accustomed to their celebrity status, they didn't pay much attention to us at all.

But I'd have to say that the King Penguins were our favorites.

In addition to penguins, there were lots of sheep on the islands. Soren enjoyed playing archeologist and was stuffing bones in his pockets as quickly as he could.

One adolescent King Penguin in particular couldn't resist the temptation of playing tug of war with a little sheep bone.

But when that ended in a tie, they just moved on to a stare down...

Before arriving, we'd debated whether or not Soren would be taller than a King Penguin. Mystery solved, we discovered that unless they are stretching their necks to make their squawking noises (which they do a lot,) Soren is indeed bigger. I think this confidence led way to a little penguin waddle mockery.

But here's one area where my photography failed me. This was probably one of the most beautiful beaches I've ever seen. The sea was this incredible crystal green color. Only the frigid temperatures (oh, and possibly the remote location) keep this from being the next must-visit beach vacation.

But, sadly, we did need to leave Volunteer Point.

After a long journey back through the peat bogs, we arrived back in the port of Stanley where we had a short time to explore. Soren wasted no time finding instruments of destruction.