Dateline March 10, 2018, The Falkland Islands
Our next stop was the Falkland Islands, a small set of islands with a very large history. Big ships sat anchored in the harbor, hard to make out at first; they turned out to be squid boats, most of them Chinese. Squid is the islands' great business, something like forty percent of what they earn, on the order of thirteen million pounds a year.
Most of us remember the Falklands for the war of 1982, when Britain sent its forces to turn back an Argentine invasion, back in the days of Reagan and Thatcher. There is not a great deal here to fight over, but the people are British through and through, and more than happy that it stayed that way. Here and there across the islands you still come on a downed plane or a wrecked military vehicle, the remains of the Argentine forces, left where they lie as a remembrance.
To Volunteer Point. One of the most exciting outings of the whole trip was a four-wheel-drive run out to the King penguin colony at Volunteer Point. It is a big colony, thousands of birds, and reaching it meant two hours of cross-country going with no road at all, a rough ride if ever there was one. This one Janice took on her own; John was not feeling well and stayed behind.
Partway out, the track runs through a gate onto private land, a great ranch the guides pay a fee to cross, and as they passed, the local cowboys were out rounding up the sheep on horseback, dogs working alongside.
The King penguins. Many of us have seen it on television: the male and the female take turns with the single egg, holding it up on their feet, tucked under a flap of belly skin off the cold ground. When the time comes to trade places, one of them slipping off to the sea to feed, they hand the egg across with enormous care, because if it touches the ground it will not hatch.
There were only a few eggs down on the ground in the whole colony; the rest were kept up safe. It was unbelievable to watch.
It was one of the finest things we saw on the whole trip, even if only one of us got to see it. Next the ship turned for Montevideo, and the last days of the cruise.
