Ian Doherty in the Falklands - Any info?

[Troy86]

Hi there,

 

We are thinking about using Ian Doherty for a private penguin tour in the Falklands next December. I know that several people that cruised last winter used him. I would greatly appreciate any info about your experience with him.

 

Thanks,

 

Noel

[sancarlos2]

Which boat are your cruising on? We will be on Oceania, scheduled for Falkland Islands on Dec. 27th. Do you have contact information for this guide. I am finding tour groups I have found contract directly with the ships. barb@casadeamigos.net

BARB

[Keith1010]

I was just wondering what the advantage is to using a private guide to see the Penguins. The only reason I ask is that there is one large area where you will see them and there will be lots of people from the cruise ship there anyway so I was just wondering what the benefits are of a private tour for this particular area?

 

Keith

[Troy86]

Hi there,

 

Barb, you can contact Ian Doherty via email: idoherty@horizon.co.fk He got back to me in about 24 hours. We went on a smilar cruise back in 2004. At that time, all tour operators had been reserved by the cruise line and we had to take a cruise excursion to see the penguins. We signed up for our cruise in December about 6 months ago, and kept an eye on the cc boards to see if there were any independent operators - that were I got Ian's info. We are on Celebrity's Infinity, and his price is about 40% cheaper than a similar cruise excursion.

 

Keith, as noted above, we went to the Falklands about 3.5 years ago. There are several places were you can see penguins at this port, just not one. Each rookery might have different penguin species, and the size of the rookery might be different. The farther and more difficult to reach the rookery (and more $$), the less people you are bound to see. On our last trip, I believe that we went to the Bluff Cove rookery and it was not crowded at all. During the trip over there, we got to see some of the most desolate terrain I have ever seen. On a private tour, you are not on a bus with 40 other people, and typically can get to you destination before the buses do. Many times they are cheaper than the bus tour.

 

Noel

[Keith1010]

Hi there,

 

Barb, you can contact Ian Doherty via email: idoherty@horizon.co.fk He got back to me in about 24 hours. We went on a smilar cruise back in 2004. At that time, all tour operators had been reserved by the cruise line and we had to take a cruise excursion to see the penguins. We signed up for our cruise in December about 6 months ago, and kept an eye on the cc boards to see if there were any independent operators - that were I got Ian's info. We are on Celebrity's Infinity, and his price is about 40% cheaper than a similar cruise excursion.

 

Keith, as noted above, we went to the Falklands about 3.5 years ago. There are several places were you can see penguins at this port, just not one. Each rookery might have different penguin species, and the size of the rookery might be different. The farther and more difficult to reach the rookery (and more $$), the less people you are bound to see. On our last trip, I believe that we went to the Bluff Cove rookery and it was not crowded at all. During the trip over there, we got to see some of the most desolate terrain I have ever seen. On a private tour, you are not on a bus with 40 other people, and typically can get to you destination before the buses do. Many times they are cheaper than the bus tour.

 

Noel

 

Thanks Noel. I had not realized there were more than one place to see the Penguins at the Falkland Islands. And I didn't realize that they normally take you on a bus on the cruise ship that you were on.

 

We were on Crystal Cruises and were in the Falkland Islands in February of this past year. Our excursion which was offered by the cruise line was the opportunity to see the penguins. We traveled to them in 4x4's so there were only four of us in the 4x4 plus the driver/tour guide. And, where we went no bus could have made it.

 

So, thus my question about this since to me being in a 4X4 with only the four of us was similar to being in a private tour if you know what I mean.

 

Keith

[Troy86]

Hi Keith,

 

For many of the penguin tours on the Faklands, the buses will take you part of the way and then transfer you to the 4x4's. That way they can accomodate more people throughout the day. If I remember correctly, there is one tour will take you by boat to a nearby rookery.

 

In my case, doing the the tour privately rather than thru the cruise line will save me over $800 for my group.

 

Noel

[Keith1010]

Thanks Noel that makes sense. I was thinking through our tour again and realize why we had no buses. What Crystal did for us was arrange a special tender for those of us on this tour. So instead of the tender dropping us off with the rest of the folks (near the town) it dropped us off in a special area so all we had to do when we got off the tender was walk a few feet where all of the 4X4's were waiting for us. So, we had no buses, and just the 4x4's.

 

Keith

[englishmum]

We were on Infinity in Feb and the ship used buses to transport passengers to a certain point where 4x4 were waiting to drive the rest of the way to Bluff Cove.The terrain makes it impossible for buses to go all the way.We did a private tour with Graham France who can be contacted at france@horizon.co.fk,although we did not go to Bluff Cove we were taken to see penguins,also a tour of Port Stanley,and then a drive out to see various points that my husband was interested in with regards to the Falklands war,as we are from the UK this was most interesting for us.Graham told us that Bluff Cove is on private property so the cruise lines make arrangements with the landowner to do the trips to Bluff Cove.Whatever you decide to do I would book quite early as I believe all the local people use their own vehicles to escort cruise passengers around the island,and as there are not too many of them they get booked up quite quickly.It appears everyone on the island uses a 4x4 and when you see the terrain you will understand why.We had a great time there and I am sure whatever you do you will thoroughly enjoy yourselves.