Falkland Tours

[hoya68]

We are on the Quest in February visit to Falklands and are considering the Seal Bay wildlife encounter and would like others experiences.  The problem is my wife had major back surgery in May. She has recovered very well and is able to walk six miles at a time. How rough is the off road ride? She is game to try but doesn't want to be foolish. Would love other's experiences.  Of course the decision will be up to her. Thank you.

[Laylam]

29 minutes ago, hoya68 said:

We are on the Quest in February visit to Falklands and are considering the Seal Bay wildlife encounter and would like others experiences.  The problem is my wife had major back surgery in May. She has recovered very well and is able to walk six miles at a time. How rough is the off road ride? She is game to try but doesn't want to be foolish. Would love other's experiences.  Of course the decision will be up to her. Thank you.

I don't know about Seal Bay, but the Volunteer Point ride is VERY rough over farmland.

[galeforce9]

5 hours ago, Laylam said:

I don't know about Seal Bay, but the Volunteer Point ride is VERY rough over farmland.

Agreed. We’ve been stuck there a few times.  

[LouChamp]

11 hours ago, hoya68 said:

We are on the Quest in February visit to Falklands and are considering the Seal Bay wildlife encounter and would like others experiences.  The problem is my wife had major back surgery in May. She has recovered very well and is able to walk six miles at a time. How rough is the off road ride? She is game to try but doesn't want to be foolish. Would love other's experiences.  Of course the decision will be up to her. Thank you.

Aloha. We loved the Falklands but in my opinion the roads are rough. I too have had back surgery and I will tell you that I felt it. It is of course a personal decision and every medical situation is unique and must be weighed with the generally once in a lifetime Falklands experience. Please keep us posted and all blessings and best wishes.

[hoya68]

Thank you!

[Mrs. Claypool]

I went on a private tour from Port Stanley to the penguin colony a few years ago and it was the longest, roughest, most painful ride that I’ve ever been on. And I wasn’t coping with back problems!

[margbem]

We were supposed to go to Antarctica but Covid got in the way! But when I was researching I found a helicopter trip that went to the same penguin colony for not a ridiculous sum of money. Maybe have a look.

Edited December 1, 2023 by margbem
Grammar

[hoya68]

That looked perfect, but apparently, they are no longer operating.

https://falklandshelicopterservices.com/

[frantic36]

4 hours ago, hoya68 said:

That looked perfect, but apparently, they are no longer operating.

https://falklandshelicopterservices.com/

 

That is a shame. We used Tom from that company in February and it was money well spent. I hope things are okay for him as he was only in his 40s and seemed to be doing well with the business. 

[cruiseej]

I would ask where else you are visiting on your cruise. Do you make other stops in the Falklands? Are you visiting South Georgia Island? If yes to both, you will likely have lots of awesome penguin colony visits, so  Seal Bay might not be worth the effort. If this is your primary shot at a large penguin colony, then it might be worth the effort if you feel you can manage the rough rise. 

[hoya68]

We are in Falklands a second day, but not sure if there are Zodiac landings. Unfortunately South Georgia is presently a no landing zone, except for one site because of Avian flu. 

 

[highplanesdrifters]

4 hours ago, hoya68 said:

We are in Falklands a second day, but not sure if there are Zodiac landings. Unfortunately South Georgia is presently a no landing zone, except for one site because of Avian flu. 

 

 

 

I cannot verify the accuracy of this website, but it appears there are many landing sites available.  Fingers crossed.

 

https://www.swoop-antarctica.com/cruises/south-georgia/avian-flu

[hoya68]

38 minutes ago, highplanesdrifters said:

 

 

I cannot verify the accuracy of this website, but it appears there are many landing sites available.  Fingers crossed.

 

https://www.swoop-antarctica.com/cruises/south-georgia/avian-flu

I believe the site is accurate. If I read it correctly, as of November 30, all landing sites, except for Grytviken are either closed for the entire season ofr are temporarily closed.

[highplanesdrifters]

3 hours ago, hoya68 said:

I believe the site is accurate. If I read it correctly, as of November 30, all landing sites, except for Grytviken are either closed for the entire season ofr are temporarily closed.

 

Here's what the website says:

 

Over half of South Georgia's landing sites remain fully accessible to visitors, including the spectacular king penguin colony at Fortuna Bay.

The following sites are closed for landings for the 2023/24 season, with zodiac cruises permitted:

Royal Bay (Moltke Harbour), St Andrews Bay, Cooper Bay

The following sites are all temporarily closed for landings, with zodiac cruises permitted:

Gold Harbour, Elsehul, Right Whale Bay, Salisbury Plain, Ocean Harbour, Husvik

The following sites remain open for landings on a restricted basis:

Grytviken (including Shackleton's grave, the South Georgia Museum and Norwegian Church)

 

 

So the questions are: 

Will Expeditions avail themselves to the landing sites that are available?

What is at the available landing sites?

[hoya68]

Only Grytviken is open for landings. The others allow Zodiac cruising, i.e. no landing.

[margbem]

On 12/1/2023 at 7:45 PM, hoya68 said:

That looked perfect, but apparently, they are no longer operating.

https://falklandshelicopterservices.com/

That’s a real shame. Hope you find something.

[frantic36]

45 minutes ago, highplanesdrifters said:

Grytviken (including Shackleton's grave, the South Georgia Museum and Norwegian Church)

 

 

So the questions are: 

Will Expeditions avail themselves to the landing sites that are available?

What is at the available landing sites?

 

So as per the website and @hoya68 only Grytviken is open for landings. When we landed there in February there were Elephant & Fur seals and penguins to see on land so hopefully there are still some there. In fact we weren't able to get into the graveyard to see Shackleton's grave because there was a small colony of Elephant seals obstructing the path and deemed unsafe. I agreed as those guys are big and could inflict some damage.

 

It was interesting to walk around all the old whaling station stores where they still had things on shelves. Also the church was interesting. I posted a postcard from the Post Office which arrived in Perth about April 😀.

[highplanesdrifters]

30 minutes ago, hoya68 said:

Only Grytviken is open for landings. The others allow Zodiac cruising, i.e. no landing.

 

Just trying to get a grip on accurate info. I read the below quote from the Swoop website "fully accessible " to mean landings. Do you have other info or interpret it differently?

1 hour ago, highplanesdrifters said:

Over half of South Georgia's landing sites remain fully accessible to visitors, including the spectacular king penguin colony at Fortuna Bay.

 

 

[hoya68]

Quite confusing.

[cruiseej]

16 hours ago, hoya68 said:

We are in Falklands a second day, but not sure if there are Zodiac landings.

 

Your itinerary doesn't say where you stop in the Falklands? (I can't find the detailed Quest itinerary on the Seabourn website any more because it's sold out.) We we in the Falklands for two days last winter on a Silversea cruise, and really enjoyed our day with stops at New Island and West Point Island, both of which offered different and great colonies to see up close. 

[hoya68]

Thursday, February 15

Stanley/Falkland Is/Islas Malvinas

Arrive: 8:00 AM Depart: 5:00 PM

 

Friday, February 16

New Island, Falkland Islands

Arrive: 7:00 AM Depart: 3:00 PM

 

[whogo]

A travel agent website lists Port Stanley and New Island, Falkland Islands. Might be accurate. New Island was a Zodiac landing in February, 2020 and a highlight of our cruise.