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 Sunday at 10:16 PM by Mercruiser

[SLVNEAF2]

On 9/15/2024 at 3:15 PM, Mercruiser said:

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

 

 

 

Thanks for sharing!  We are going to be on a the Viking cruise around the horn and the only camera I currently have is my cellphone camera.  Your feedback is exactly what I needed to encourage me to invest in something with more capabilities.  I love the size of the Sony RX100 VII but the price is more than I am able to spend.  I am going to check out Canon Rebels.

[Mercruiser]

1 hour ago, SLVNEAF2 said:

Thanks for sharing!  We are going to be on a the Viking cruise around the horn and the only camera I currently have is my cellphone camera.  Your feedback is exactly what I needed to encourage me to invest in something with more capabilities.  I love the size of the Sony RX100 VII but the price is more than I am able to spend.  I am going to check out Canon Rebels.

 

I am quite surprised to see a Viking cruiser balk at the price of this camera. Ironically, every Viking cruise I've looked at is "more than I am able to spend." 😁 I'd like to try Viking, but every time I see a Viking itinerary of interest, I am stopped by the price ($400-$600 per night, per person).  Yet I am happy to spend $1000+ on a camera that I've had for many years and use on every trip. We all have different spending priorities.

 

Canon Rebels not manufactured anymore and they are bigger than my new R7. They were a great camera in their day (I have one I never use anymore.) I don't think a Rebel is what you want.

 

If you like the size of the Sony, I still think you should buy it. I've looked for more affordable compact cameras, but they all fall short on the zoom lens. I just cannot find another compact camera that I would want. The RX100 VII zoom is a 24 - 200mm optical zoom equivalent. You'll want the 200mm for wildlife pictures. The RX100 VII is extra expensive right now ($1300) because they are in high demand.

 

Excuse me while I rant a little here. This rant is for other travelers, not the OP who is looking to get a proper camera. I see so many people on expensive trips, like bear viewing at Brooks Falls,  whale watching, or Volunteer Point penguins, using their cell phones to take pictures that really require a good zoom lens (not the fake "digital zoom" advertised by cell phone companies.) They have paid thousands of dollars for the trip, and their cell-phone photos will be lousy compared to everyone else who brought a proper camera. End of rant.

 

 

Edited Tuesday at 04:33 PM by Mercruiser

[SLVNEAF2]

36 minutes ago, Mercruiser said:

59 minutes ago, Mercruiser said:

There is a first for everything.  😊 Maybe I should have said “more than I am comfortable spending”.  I am not a photographer;  my phone camera is more than adequate for my everyday life when I actually remember to pull it out and snap a picture.  But, I know I am going to want to have a camera with a quality zoom lens for this trip and my phone camera isn’t going to cut it.

I appreciate your feedback and the information regarding both cameras mentioned above.  It is going to be interesting to see what I end up with.

 

 

 

[Torquer]

3 hours ago, Mercruiser said:

Excuse me while I rant a little here. This rant is for other travelers, not the OP who is looking to get a proper camera. I see so many people on expensive trips, like bear viewing at Brooks Falls,  whale watching, or Volunteer Point penguins, using their cell phones to take pictures that really require a good zoom lens (not the fake "digital zoom" advertised by cell phone companies.) They have paid thousands of dollars for the trip, and their cell-phone photos will be lousy compared to everyone else who brought a proper camera. End of rant.

I fully agree with you about a good camera versus a cell phone...just no comparison (and don't get me started on people taking photos with their phones held vertically instead of horizontally).  The fake digital zoom on phones is not good for zooming in more than 2x.

 

This year we did a cruise to Antarctica, that included Volunteer Point in the Falklands.  I have so many great photos of wildlife.  I used a Canon Powershot SX60 (the older version of the current SX70).  You really need a long telephoto lens for Antarctica to capture the penguins and seals on icebergs.  Although it is bigger than a compact, it is smaller than an DSLR, and I would highly recommend it.  It is currently around $650.

[mswein]

As you probably know, the current versions of both the iPhone Pro and iPhone Pro Max contain 5x OPTICAL, not digital, zooms, which is equivalent to a 120mm lens on a 35mm camera.  That's not quite like the 300mm f2.8 Nikon lens that I own but can no longer carry due to its weight and which costs thousands of dollars.  I shot Nikon prime and zoom lenses for more than 50 years and am amazed at the quality of iPhone photos, particularly the 48 mp lenses.