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Round the Horn - and back - Part 1.We can hear you all saying; “Oh no – not another of Frank and Esme’s holiday stories”. Sorry folks, but this is the price you have to pay for being a member. This contribution keeps our editor busy and gives us a chance to reflect. January 26th saw us on our way by taxi to Gatwick, thought we would have a bit of luxury this year. A very pleasant and efficient young lady arrived as our driver. As it was her daily routine to take people to Gatwick, Heathrow, Dover or Southampton she knew all the quickest ways to use. We had a 16 hr. flight to Buenos Aires with the usual Economy Class seating restrictions. We arrived in glorious sunshine and were soon in our cabin on Fred Olsen’s Black Watch, with the flight just a memory. As on our previous cruises our cabin was excellent with a good sized balcony, a bottle of champagne, bottle of wine, plenty of fruit (replenished every day – the fruit not the drink). |
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We left Buenos Aires at 14.00 hrs and then had 3 days at sea to get to West Falklands islands, a distance of 1,194 nautical miles. At about 11 am on the morning of the 29th January we were asked to vacate the aft deck of deck 7 as a helicopter had been alerted to take a passenger who, in the opinion of the Captain and the Doctor needed hospital attention. The patient was brought on deck and in a very short time the helicopter arrived and a stretcher was dropped. After being secured to the stretcher, he was winched aboard, being closely watched by a crew man at the door of the helicopter. The Captain reported that the patient was in hospital within an hour of leaving the ship. It was a very efficient operation on the part of the helicopter crew and the Black Watch crew – full marks to them all. The first 2 days at sea were very warm so full advantage was taken of the pool. The 3rd day the temperature dropped 20deg with 400 miles to go to West Falklands. To our surprise and that of the Captain we saw icebergs on the horizon. We were told the environmentalists were concerned at the northern latitude of the icebergs; they are usually much further south. January 31st We saw the first Albatross. After this sighting they became like old friends as there were so many. Apparently they can soar for many miles without any significant wing movement. As we approached West Falklands the Captain decided that going ashore by tender was not a possibility as the sea had become very unfriendly. No tours had been organised ashore as conditions are known to be difficult. However, it was good to be able to sit in comfort and enjoy the scenery. The view of the sea from our balcony, nine decks up, could be very deceptive. If you go down to deck five it is quite a different picture with the wind blowing force 10.
We woke to a much different pattern of weather, blue skies and a calm sea. We were told the Captain had sore knees from praying all night that we may be able to go ashore. Somebody up there likes him as his efforts worked! At 8.15 am we were tendered ashore for our first tour, landing in Sparrow Cove where S S Great Britain lay beached as a breakwater from late 1930’s until 1970 when she came to Bristol. We were taken across country by 4 wheel drive vehicles for about an hour (should have been half an hour but our 4 x 4 got stuck in the peat 4 times and had to be towed our of the mire – all good fun). We stopped about 300 ft from the Gentoo penguin colony and then walked very slowly towards them. They were very tame and came to inspect us. There were two King Penguins with them, together with an egg. There are 4 pairs of King Penguins and it is hoped that numbers will increase. This was a very pleasant morning; the temperature was only 9 ° C and the wind quite strong. After a welcome drink we were back in the vehicles and across country to the waiting tenders, when they left porpoises followed us out to Black Watch and lunch, (not the porpoises). At 1 pm we were off again to Long Island farm to see a working farm. Long Island approximately 20 miles from Port Stanley and is a 22,000 acre sheep farm which is owned by a sixth generation Falkland family. The farmer and his wife were very friendly people and took great pride in their way of life. They farm using 5 sheep dogs and Falkland Island bred horses, are completely self sufficient making their own bread, butter, cream and cheese and using peat for heating and cooking fuel. When asked how they obtained necessities or the odd luxury other than food they said “no problem” they have the Internet and the Argos catalogue – makes you realise the world is not so big after all. We were given a good tea and also met 4 British Army servicemen, based in Stanley, who were helping out on the farm. If any of the farms need help the Army is pleased to assist. These fellows had been in Stanley for 3 months, and said although a long way from home, were enjoying the islands. On our way back to the tender we could see burnt out Argentine helicopters on the moor land, and large areas of land cordoned off because of mines. There are 117 mined areas on the islands, mostly near Stanley. It is thought approximately 25,000 were laid and to date only 6,000 have been destroyed. The cost of complete removal would be in the region of £50,000,000. Ironically these areas provide a unique haven for the wild life. As there is an extremely high fire risk due to the peaty ground and lack of rainfall; in summer and high winds there is a no smoking policy on some of the islands. All back on board at 5 pm with the next day cruising the Beagle Channel on course for Ushuaia, the southern most city of the world. (To be continued) Frank & Esme Webb
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January 28th. Morning of the saw us off on our first tour. We were taken to the very fashionable river side suburb in an area known as Tigre. The tour included a motor launch trip along the waterways of the delta; the delta is made up of 5,000 waterways. Islands in the delta are inhabited by 3,000 people, working mainly to supply the pulp, paper and plywood industries. All the houses along the waterways have their own landing stages; the only way to get from A to B is by boat. They have a “supermarket” boat which calls at the landing stages regularly with all supplies. The motor launches used for visitors are fitted with noise reducing equipment and speed is restricted. This tour was a good start to the holiday.
February 1st. Black Watch anchored off Port Stanley. The Falkland Islands are a group of 700 islands, they are 400 miles east of the South American coast, 1,000 miles north of Antarctica and 8,000 miles from Britain. At 2001 the population was 2379. Undiscovered and unpopulated until the 16th century, the first recorded landing was in 1690. 30 years ago few people were even aware of the islands existence. Today the bulk of the islands revenue comes from fishing and generates enough activity to result in full employment on good salaries; visiting cruise ships have now added tourism to that income source. The islanders lived in comfortable obscurity until 1982 when they suddenly found themselves in a war zone. 20 years on and life carries on as much as it did before.