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) ?