Falklands Islands

Never having visited Falklands before it was an exciting prospect having only wondered about it as a kid watching the World chart on top of my bed that was gifted by my uncle. It used to be my pastime to look at funny foreign names on foreign continents before falling asleep. Well, now looking at Falklands map closer it was all English names interspersed with an occasional Spanish name.

Article from local newspaper about us

RAF flyover prior arriving Falklands as a SAR on their part

fpv Lilibet as from the flyover by RAF (courtesy of unknown pilot)

Lilibet rounding the Narrows and heading for Port Stanley (photo by Col M. Gray (retd))

Lilibet alongside the FIG jetty

Lilibet making headlines at local newspaper

Lilibet's RHIB

Local public jetty, bit in need of TLC

Port Stanley view

Port Stanley view

Port William, local paparazzi kept circling us in this fishing boat

Sunset on Southern Atlantic

Whalebone cove

Lady Elizabeth shipwreck

Falklands is basically divided into two main islands (E & W) and in between there is the Falkland sound that is navigable. The islands themselves are surrounded by numerous small islands with scattered small settlements. These are serviced by a local ferry doing its rounds as per their schedule. The main settlements outside of Port Stanley are in S part of E Falklands, Goose Green (entrance to Lafonia) and then on W Falklands, Port Howard. W Falklands are easiest reached by airplane service that is flying out from Mount Pleasant to various local airstrips. In Mare Harbor the British Navy maintains a presence too, strict access control maintained. Probably the best protected natural harbor around Falklands.

Weekend special, local fastfood van, Hungry Dinosaur

Stanley architecture/ buildings

Stanley architecture/ buildings

Stanley architecture/ buildings

Local vegetation

Stanley architecture/ buildings

Stanley architecture/ buildings

Stanley architecture/ buildings

Local vegetation, very dense brush

Stanley architecture/ buildings

Stanley main drag/ seafront

Globe tavern

Stanley cathedral, C.O.E.

Falklands Island Company offices

Inside the Victory pub

Inside the Victory pub

Inside the Victory pub

Globe tavern entrance

Having arrived in good order, after having gone through a major South Atlantic depression and the seas and wind that accompanied it, I felt relieved to be in sheltered waters once again. We anchored off Port Stanley and then were subjected to Port State control and various demonstrations of the vessel to officials. At one point we were also detained but it turned out that the person doing the detaining had no authority to do so, the detention was lifted the very next day. So all in all, good British wrangling over petty matters that eventually were resolved during the course of weeks as we were preparing for the first fishery patrol.

Traditionally the most common transport on the Islands for going out into the sticks (the Camp or El Campo)

Falklands distillery where is manufactured 2 different gins from local herbs

Falklands Catholic church

Old whaling cannon outside the museum

Museum yard centerpiece

Museum exhibits

Museum exhibits

Museum exhibits, music instrument

Museum exhibits

Gov't house

Stanley post office

Memorial plaque for Brunel's s/s/ Great Britain

The mizzen mast of the s/s Great Britain still remains in Stanley waterfront

Map of sunken wrecks around Falklands

s/v Fennia

s/v Fennia

s/v Fennia

Local sight, the Totempole

Local memorial 

South shore to Port William

Penguins on the beach

As we motored into Stanley one could see on the left hand an old wreck stranded into the Whalebone cove. It was the old s/v Elizabeth. Stanley used to be lined by old wrecks that were used by the Falklands Islands Company as their warehouses for items either for import or export. These days the wrecks have been replaced by proper warehouses and the exports are still wool and seafood that makes up the majority of the Islands GDP.

Goose green pub

Goose green settlement

Goose green settlement

Goose green settlement

Meanwhile the crew and management setup accounts with local suppliers and service providers and got to know the town and networking contacts with local people. During weekends we got the chance to visit some of the main theaters of the Falklands-Argentinian war. The war theaters are protected by law and are to be left undisturbed, walking there is not prohibited but taking souvenirs is. Hence, it was possible to see some of the debris left behind, wires from the comms, old tripods and various hardware and also discarded bits of uniform, mainly footwear. Also impact craters in the peat were still clearly visible. Mines had been cleared some years ago and was not a risk anymore.

View towards Stanley from Two Sisters

Impact crater

Two Sisters memorial plaque

Helicopter debris

Helicopter debris

Stanley Governors house

Memorial plaque of ships that participated in the Falklands campaign

Views from Two Sisters

Views from Two Sisters

Views from Two Sisters

San Carlos

San Carlos jetty

San Carlos

San Carlos

San Carlos

War memorial statue

Memorial for Margaret Thatcher

Then of course we had to win the hearts of the locals so an open day was penciled in for one Sunday  and we had throughout the day 532 visitors coming through the vessel. That is about 10% of the population so not too bad for a days work. Both young and old, from all cultures came onboard and some had very mundane questions whilst others were retired mariners themselves and asked about performance and handling among things. All in all an interesting and exhausting day that required a few pints at the Globe to wet my dried up voicebox. Later on one or two visitors published reviews of us that can be found here and here.

The crew of Lilibet after open day

Sealife at the Volunteer point (photo by Col M. Gray (ret'd))

Sealife at Volunteer point (photo by Col M. Gray (ret'd)) 

In the evenings we got the chance to sample local craft beer (at the Beerworks) and gin as well as the local cuisine, many of the venues were Chilean owned and managed. The population in Stanley appeared quite international from different parts of the world. Townfolk usually made an appearance on weekends and let their hair down a bit. The local pub Globe Tavern was run by a Saint (from St Helena) and was closest to us so it became our local. Not that the pubs varied themselves very much from each other, there was scattered another 4 pubs and I think managed to get a pint in each and everyone of them.

On patrol doing 16kts in 6-7Bf winds and accompanying seas (photo by unknown Loligo squid jigger)

We also met the ex patrol vessel on their way to Europe

Fpv Protegat

Navy training an approach but was called away on a real emergency

Spectacular sunsets on Southern Atlantic

Spectacular sunsets on Southern Atlantic

Spectacular sunsets on Southern Atlantic

Settlement in Falklands sound

Training recovery of RHIB

Whale blowing in Falklands sound

Sea Lion Is view

Spectacular sunsets on Southern Atlantic

Fishing vessel

Fishing vessel 

Local birds

Spectacular sunsets on Southern Atlantic

Night fishing

Fastnet rock off Falklands sound

Fishing vessel

Spectacular sunsets on Southern Atlantic

I also had the opportunity to visit the Falklands museum where the history was displayed and among many bits of information on display the major ones was the maritime heritage, the Falklands war and the British conquests on Antarctic exploration as well as South Georgia and Sandwich Islands. I also discovered a French built and Finnish flagged sailing school ship "Fennia" had been derelict on Falklands for several years (she limped into port for repairs that never came into fruition) until an attempt was made to salvage her and bring her to USA to be restored as a museum. Unfortunately she only made Montevideo and was subsequently scrapped in Uruguay.

 

Chinese fishing vessels night fishing

Chinese fishing vessels night fishing (the white spots)

Chinese fisherman

Chinese vessels in International waters

Then after about 2 weeks of patrolling and showing the new dog on the block we returned to Port Stanley for fuel and provisions as well as crew changes. It was my time to sign off for some R&R as I had been onboard almost 6 months since Vietnam. I signed off 4 days shy of half year onboard. Boarding was happening in Mt Pleasant airport and happened with the RAF service via Ascension Island to Brice Norton. The flight required strong butt-muscles as it was 9 hours for each leg. The alternative to this would be commercial flights lasting abt 2 days going from Stanley to Punta Arenas to Santiago and then Madrid.

Approach to Ascension Is

Approach to Ascension Is

Ascension Island

Finally we had our SOP's drilled down ,the fishery officers trained and our paperwork in order so we could depart for our 1st patrol and we then left to check the dregs of stragglers (the fishing season was drawing to an end) trying to catch the last of their allowed license and then depart for other venues until the next season would open. We circled around the Islands, through the sound and saw squid jiggers, longliners and trawlers at work. We also made our way North and exited the the Falklands FOCZ to the International seas area where mostly Chinese and Spanish fishing vessels were catching squid. The lights could be seen for miles during night and the vessels were factories that processed all their catch.