Today was our official start to our expedition cruise! Our cruise company had booked all 82 of us on a commercial flight from Punta Arenas to Mount Pleasant, the military base on the island of East Falkland. The only airport is at the base, which currently allows just one civilian flight per week. Needless to say the flight was jammed, and late, so the sightseeing time allotted for the capital of Stanley was reduced to only an hour before we had to board the ship. Seeing the Falklands had been a special goal of mine so I leapt off the bus and hurried down the main street to snap photos of it all. With only a total population of 3000 in the country, Stanley was suitably small and the majority of cute shops and photo worthy buildings were conveniently strung out along the waterfront so I managed to shoot it all, shop for my lone souvenir, and buy a bottle of booze for the ship with time to spare.
We boarded about 5:45pm and we’re ushered to our room by the most pleasant and engaging young expedition staff one could imagine. Our cabin’s diminutiveness took us a bit by surprise and we couldn’t quite find spots for all our belongings before we were called to the sky lounge for our welcome aboard cocktail, nibbles and official greeting. The captain quietly set sail during our briefing and that was it – we were off on our adventure! More unpacking, a muster drill, further unpacking, dinner, and a final sorting of gear rounded out our evening.
We’ve got calm seas to lull us asleep and the promise of great weather tomorrow on our first “landing” at Sea Lion Island so there’s much to look forward to!!
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