Penguins at Volunteer Point, Falkland Islands

[Mercruiser]

We went on the Penguin Excursion at Volunteer Point on the Falkland Islands. Our ship, the Azamara Onward, and the Sapphire Princess visited the Falkland Islands that day.

 

Sadly, for reasons I don't understand, the Norwegian Star captain elected to skip the scheduled Falklands port stop and sailed right on by. Star's passengers must have been very disappointed. 

 

[Mercruiser]

Our Volunteer Point excursion was with Estancia Excursions.

http://estancia-excursions.com/

 

The cost was $200 USD per person, payable in cash during the excursion. It was a great tour with a great company. I wholeheartedly recommend Estancia Excursions.

 

Here are a few photos in the following posts.

[Mercruiser]

Recently hatched chick

 

Going fishing!

 

Thousands of penguins at the rookery

 

Juveniles transitioning to their adult feathers.

[Mercruiser]

March of the penguins

 

Beach party

 

[Mercruiser]

Watching penguins reminds me of the days when we had teenagers with voracious appetites.

 

Teen: Mom, What's for dinner?

 

When's dinner? I'm starving!

 

Every meal, it's regurgitated fish. I'm tired of regurgitated fish. Can't we go out for dinner?

 

Mom: I gave up a career for this?

 

 

[JasonMochilero]

I was on the Norwegian Star at the time. The reason the captain gave for not going to the Falklands was the weather which was clearly nonsense.

 

Then there was an onboard protest which required security to get involved and he held a meeting the following day where he came up with a number of excuses. Our previous tender port had been Punta Arenas and the transfers were shambolic. We were an hour late for our Norwegian booked tour.

 

After the protest, the internet mysteriously stopped working completely for two days so I couldn't recheck the weather or which other ships had docked.

 

I certainly won't be booking anything with NCL again.

[Mercruiser]

Wow. The Norwegian response was not good. 

[Dancing Shoes]

NCL is not too popular right now regarding their Anartica sailings.  Hope the passengers get something.  I know the fine print, but really.  

Edited February 15 by Dancing Shoes

[Liz Masterson]

Thank you for posting all the lovely photos @Mercruiser!

[teamflames]

On 2/8/2024 at 8:34 PM, JasonMochilero said:

I was on the Norwegian Star at the time. The reason the captain gave for not going to the Falklands was the weather which was clearly nonsense.

 

Then there was an onboard protest which required security to get involved and he held a meeting the following day where he came up with a number of excuses. Our previous tender port had been Punta Arenas and the transfers were shambolic. We were an hour late for our Norwegian booked tour.

 

After the protest, the internet mysteriously stopped working completely for two days so I couldn't recheck the weather or which other ships had docked.

 

I certainly won't be booking anything with NCL again.

Just came here to read about the penguins. We originally booked the Star for this coming season and then remembered all the problems we have had with NCL dockings over the years and especially issues with the Star. 
I don’t know why but NCL make visiting ports incredibly difficult and their shore times are often at weird hours and short. We enjoy the onboard experience but would never use them for an important itinerary. Sorry this happened to you.

[Torquer]

We were on the Falklands in March 2024 on Oceania Marina, and the NCL Star was there with us, so they do actually get to the Falklands sometimes.  We happened to meet a member of a reality TV show we watch, on the island who was there vacationing on the Star...that was pretty cool.  When we were tendering back, there was a huge waiting line to board tenders for the Star, whereas we simply walked onto the next waiting tender to get back to Marina.

[DreadPirateRobert]

Really enjoyed the penguin photos and captions. We just booked an Azamara cruise which includes The Falkland Islands stop. My wife wanted this cruise because of the drive by of Antarctica and the opportunity to see marine wildlife. Penguins are a good start. 

[SLVNEAF2]

On 2/2/2024 at 10:33 AM, Mercruiser said:

Our Volunteer Point excursion was with Estancia Excursions.

http://estancia-excursions.com/

 

The cost was $200 USD per person, payable in cash during the excursion. It was a great tour with a great company. I wholeheartedly recommend Estancia Excursions.

 

Here are a few photos in the following posts.

Your pictures are beautiful.  What equipment did you use to capture the images?

[Mercruiser]

6 hours ago, SLVNEAF2 said:

Your pictures are beautiful.  What equipment did you use to capture the images?

Thanks. Most of them were taken with a Canon R7 and and a 18-150mm zoom. Most any digital SLR would produce similar images. You really need a good zoom lens to get good wildlife pictures. No cellphone camera can do this.

 

However, even though I took these my with my SLR, probably 90% of my travel photos are taken with a compact zoom lens camera. I don't really like lugging around an SLR. This Sony RX100 VII is small enough to carry everywhere.

https://electronics.sony.com/imaging/compact-cameras/all-vlog-compact-cameras/p/dscrx100m7-b

 

 

 

Edited 20 hours ago by Mercruiser