nearing Elephant Island

Well after leaving Buenos Aires, (where not much happened for me - I was busy being a model in the spa, amongst other things), We were quite late getting into Montevideo, Uruguay due to weather conditions. This allowed us to have a quick dash into the city though late in the sfternoon before our gig. Booby Milton & I were on a quest for fruit & vegatables. There are usually market type stands here & there by the squares. Alas , this late in the day , & on a Sunday , there was none. We picked up a trinket or two(actually 3 ketchain thingys , for 200 pesos , whatever that is in Uruguay money - I disremember). We also dashed into the town again after our gig , as we were done by about 9:30, & didn't need be aboard by 11:00 o clock. Just enough time for some snacks & four quarts of uruguay beer. (Not bad at all, but then again , its almost hard to find bad beer isn't it)?
So then of course there was a number of sea days , & the arrival once again Port Stanley of the Falkland Islands. (Or Malvinas , if your from Argentina). Rob had a gig at the Malvina hotel, so I went to the post office alone this time, also picked up a flag for the "Wool Club"-(the Falkland flag has a sheep on it)! Then decided to walk out to Gypsy Cove this time & catch the shuttle back. My theory was that it would be safer than walking back , as I could predict when I wanted to come back precisely. On the way I tried to arrange for a fellow to take Colin & I fly fishing for sea trout next time we are back here on Feb. 10th. (Oh please)! So I walked along the shoreline for about a mile, & took some pretty cool pics of upland geese , some pintail type ducks, & black & white oyster catchers. (the ones with the bright red bills). I walked for a ways after this before managing to hitch a ride the rest of the way to Gypsy Cove with a local chap. It was already well into the afternoon before I took my first picture there , but the weather was improving. I walked way down into the near shore area where there may or may not be land mines still , looking for bird photos. Got a couple pretty good shots of as of yet undetermined species. Will try & uoload a few soon.
Have been at sea for days now already since then. Am just now in the Antarctic Zone , nearing "Elelphant Island". (Named for elephant SEALS , don't you know). Its been a rough night weatherwise. The crew mess is aptly named today , the twelve foot high swells have wreaked havoc down there. They also knocked chairs over etc in our cabin, if that is any indication of the power of these waves.So now we are to spend four days exploring this island , & the channel just below it. I have already seen some albotross with impressive 9 foot wingspans, and a few other species flying alongside the ship. So far , it is almost impossible to get a photo of one of these. By the sounds of the lectures I have been attending though , we should be slowing down in the channel enough to get some good glimpses of quite a variety of the wildlife species which seem to thrive in these rich waters here. ( apparently , it is the wind whipping up the waves that causes so much oxygen to be churned about under the surface , making these the richest waters on the planet for vegetation & marine life of various sorts. It is for this reason we have some strict rules during our passage. (ie: no laundrey for four or five days. I got up at six a.m. to do mine yesterday. after being awoken this morning by crashing furniture at 4 a.m., I still need some more sleep ! Yawn)...

Gypsy Cove

Well I failed miserably trying to upload photos of the glacier & other recent pics, so am abandoning those photos for now , & moving ahead to yesterday's shots taken at a place called "Gypsy Cove" on the Falklands main Island,(The town is called Stanley). I had signed up for a tour with passengers from the ship , & as that didn't happen , I had sort of given up hope of much in the way of bird photos. However, during the mailing of a number of parcels from the post office,(including some first day covers for the collection-replete with extra stamps !), I saw Bobby Milton,(our Guitarist), trying to make change to use in a payphone.There was some haggling about exchange etc with him amidst my stamp collecting , wrapping up of packages etc & Rob's joking about single women, gay bars on the island etc."Please dont come back" quipped the cool lady when we were finally done. (And she had refunded Rob's american money from the Falkland change; the phones don't take coins, but cards.) Note: The Stanley post office rocks !So we went for some coffee at the Stanley syore , which has lots of everything like any general store on a remote island should,(albiet expensive)! We did find some Cayenne pepper , & a few interesting sundries not always found elsewhere , such as treacle , which seems to be a type of mineral loaded mollasses. It was still probably morning , but just barely , & I decided to try & take a shuttle bus to a place I had heard of called "Gypsy Cove", where there was supposed to be some penguins around on the beach. Mr. Milton begged off in pursuit of Carrot soup. Soup shmoup I figured , & was glad I did. It was only $10.oo to take the shuttle after flshing my crew card, (Half price); & it left pretty much right away. It wasn't that long a drive (15 minutes thereabouts), & before we even came very close I was seeing some new & interesting sights & birds ! It was a great three hours or so I spent wandering the trails , hanging with many,many birds including maggellin penguins , rock shags, turkey vultures, strange geese & other waterfowl as of yet undefined. The land is covered with the most amzing & colourfull moss , shrubs, rocks, sand & various forms of life. This place really is a birdwatchers paradise ! There is also some remnants of the Battle there ( in 1982) , & warnings to be aware that there still may be landmines present off the trails. I wandered around nearer the shore a bit for photo ops , & didn't get blowed up. (obviously). I took 1101 photos , which I am currently tyring to upload on Colin's computer while he is fast asleep ! It takes way too long to upload these things from here on the ship, but I will try & get a few on now. Stay tooned for more & better ones , when I eventually make it home to Beautifull B.C. !

Penguins !

Well Here it is 2009 , and we have rounded the cape once again , with a stop first in the Falkland Islands first, & in Ushuaia, & Punta Arenas afterwords. Had a nice visit in all three places , although it was biting cold in the Falklands , & even snowed a tiny bit. Did a bit of shopping in Punta Arenas Argentina, & had some brunch. (It seems almost everything on all the menus here has ham & cheese , including my ommelette; I really must improve my spanish) ! The Falkland Island menus are all about fish & chips , which are not all that great if you ask me , & neither were the canned peas.(& at $17.00,I opted to eat on board the ship that day). New Years Eve was another formal night for us here aboard the Star Princess, & we held a rock & roll crowd till 2:20 a.m. , which was another long night& its been hard to have enough dress shirts this week. (Colin & I did a gang wash of whites in the crew laundrey today, as it was formal tonight & we did the champagne waterfall , as well as a few sets in Explorers lounge).
So New Years day was the aforementioned crew penguin tour ! Rob somehow managed to miss the bus , which was unfortunate , but at least he hasn't missed the ship .We had to travel about an hour to penguin land, & along the way , our guide explained all about the different breeds of penguins, how much they weigh, eat etc. (they eat mostly squid & sardines , weigh about 10 to 15 pounds , & live something like 15 years). The species we saw are called magalene (I think thatsthe proper spelling , I'll check). There are probably 20 or 25 other types of penguins, all similar looking , but some with quite wild differences, includingcrazy yellow eyebrows & rounder shapes etc. We had to walk about a mile along a path once arriving at the site , & there is a charge for visitors , which was included in our tour price. The path became a wood slattrail after a ways, & I started spotting the odd nesting penguin after about 3/4 of a mile. At first I was dissapointed as he was a long ways off, & I knew we only had about an hour here at the site. Within a few more minutes though , I was quite close to some of these fascinating creatures , & they were unafraid, & quite amiablein fact. Apparently , they think that we are just more penguins. (Funny looking ones , no doubt) ! I will try & get a couple of my photos of them uploadedpresntly. I have quite a lot of shots, its tricky to load anything from here at sea though. If anyone would like more photos (or LOTS)' send me a note with your address ,& I'll try & deliver you a disc. So meanwhile, we are at sea for three days , & will have a new group of passengers after the dis-embarcation in Valpraiso. Will be back at sea & heading back to Buenos Aires once again after this stop. Will try & keep doing updates from time to time. Please send me some messages or e-mails if your reading any of these blogsas I haven't gotten much mail over the holidays & it would be nice to know whats going on in Canada these days.( Is there going to be another election) ?