More than five species of penguins can be found in the Falkland Islands. In the middle of Stanley isn’t the best place to see them but there’s a place nearby and I’ll get to that later. Last night I was so exhausted I slept in until 1:50 PM today, and the weather didn’t look great for doing much of anything: no geocaching, no drone flying, no walking. Tom would make me a hearty British breakfast of sausage, bacon, and beans.
A shipment of fruits and vegetables just arrived and islanders go in droves to the “gro” as it’s called for fresh strawberries (at ₤6 a punnet), carrots, and other fresh produce. People queue up for fresh vegetables and there's a funny sign to go with it.
Unlike on Norfolk Island, if you don’t see a fruit or vegetable at the market, there’s a good chance it isn’t around. To my surprise, finding a leg of lamb would be fruitless today as there’s a season for sheep giving birth. I figured I’d “pull a Norfolk” and ask around informally and see if they know someone whom I can buy a leg of lamb from. The lady at the visitor centre was confused and thought I was asking for mutton, and she also thought I was on the G Adventures ship that’s in and and bound for Antarctica in a few days. I nearly cried as I chatted to a few people from Australia who are bound for the White Continent. Will I get there in a few weeks? This side trip will make this journey justifiable in case I don’t make it to the Ice. It was a bit warmer today and the sun was out, hallelujah!
But not for long as the sky would be mostly grey and dreary throughout the day. The next place I stopped was Kay McCallum’s B&B. She didn’t remember sending me a postcard back in ’10 as part of my project to receive a card from every country in the world. My alternative option for when I can’t stay at Tom’s house is to camp at Kay’s B&B. Part of my mission for the Falklands is to find as many geocaches as possible…I have a geocaching addiction! If I can find 20 caches, I’ll be happy man but if I can 40, I’ll have done exceptionally well. I had to get creative with retrieving one I couldn’t get yesterday as it was deep within a pole. I needed a bent coat hanger or perhaps a strong magnet to get it out (it wasn’t supposed to be deep within but a previous cacher likely dropped it. I was able to get it and then I left my improvised tool for the next cacher in case it happened again.
At the gate to where the G Adventures ship would depart this evening, it’s the nearest I’ve ever been to Antarctica. I asked the security officer how long it’d take to walk to Gypsy Cove, and he said it would only take about 30-40 minutes as he pointed to where it is on my phone. Whilst I planned on Gypsy Cove for tomorrow, I made my way toward there with the hope of seeing penguins. It was a few degrees warmer today but still very windy, and with all my might I walked until my eyes were at a gorgeous beach with penguins and colourful views. I’m just like “WOW!” when I envision what I’ve seen so far. The Falklands are like that gorgeous bombshell (thinking of Alison) I’d dreamed of doing photoshoots of. Penguins were walking along the beach.
It’s absolutely beautiful here, and I managed to get some good photos of penguins from only a few metres away. Too bad I forgot my high-powered lens today, but with two weeks in the Falklands I’ll have plenty of opportunities to shoot photos of these exotic birds. The other day I hurt my knee at Faro San Isidro, and it’s been bothering me again tonight. Over the past several days I’ve been doing a lot of walking, and it’s been hurting after long days of walking. Even with my knee hurting, I made it all the way out to the Narrows. I was running out of usable daylight by then, my knee was very sore, traffic would be practically nonexistent this late on a Sunday evening, and I have no means of calling Tom to pick me up. I had to hobble my way more than 5 km back to the main road, and whilst a few vehicles would pass me by in the opposite direction, nothing came the other way and it was past 10 PM. I would feel bad if Lee and Tom were out driving round searching for me.
Tom is going away tomorrow evening, so I'll either be making a run for camp or I'll stay at Kay McCallum's B&B. When I asked someone earlier to point me out Kay's they just said "look for the gnome garden" and you'll find her. Sore knee and all, Gypsy Cove was magnificent today, and the weather held up! The Falkland Islands are a paradise if you love walking, and I'm sure to do much more...
