The Falkland Islands are amazing. We truly loved it there. Here are some things that I learned and would like to pass on.
Plan Early. We were traveling there in early October. Definitely not high season. We started contacting various locals 9 months ahead of time. Two of the four places we were interested in visiting could not accommodate us. The photographer/guide I was interested in using was already booked. Her name, by the way is Georgina Strange. She is an amazing photographer.
FIGUS (Falkland Island Government Air Service) is how you move about within the islands. They were easy to work with. We emailed them telling them which islands we wanted to fly to on what days. They had 4 or 5 simple questions and that was it. The hotel we were staying at let us know when to be at the airport and arranged a taxi for us. We paid for our flights with credit card when we arrived at the airport.
New Island was fantastic. We shared the island with the 2 host/care takers and 3 scientists. The Island is a wildlife sanctuary that is loaded with subjects and amazing backgrounds. We spent 12 days here and it was not enough. Keep your schedule flexible if you plan to go here. FIGUS will only land if the wind is from the right direction and strong enough. It is the shortest of all the official runways in the Falklands. Our arrival was delayed by 1 day and our departure was as scheduled. We considered ourselves very lucky. Delays can be much worse. The north hut was wonderful. We spent 6 days here. A Caribbean like beach, visually, NOT thermally, with dolphins, southern sea lions, leopard seals, 3 specious of penguins, albatross, …. It’s a little rough (no heat, no shower), but comfortable. If they don’t have the solar panels up yet, pay the extra for the generator. At the main settlement we stayed at the cormorant house. Very comfortable. It’s about a 1 mile hike to the west coast where there are albatross, cormorant and rock hoper colonies. One of the hosts, Jenni, was extremely helpful in giving advice on our stay at new island and our trip in general.
Bleaker Island is where we went to be pampered. This was full board. We had a talented chef cooking our meals and fresh vegetables and greens form their garden. Its a working farm. We stayed here 5 days. They have a large runway so flights to and from Stanley are rarely canceled. A long beach (called long beach), which penguins use for entry and exit, is about a 30-minute walk. The huge cormorant colony was about a 5-minute stroll. The rock hopper rookery was maybe 10 to 15 minutes and the sea lion colony was about 20 minutes. The Island is flat, so walking is easy. We did rent a vehicle for a couple of days to explore the north and south ends of the island. We could have walked, but remember, we were pampering ourselves.
If you get sick, say bronchitis, talk to your host. For me, they arranged a call with the doctor at the hospital. He prescribed an antibiotic that the host already had in their medical kit, but could now give me without the doctors prescription. Then, when you get back to Stanley, you go to the hospital and pay your bill.
In Stanley, we stayed at the Malvina house. We were well taken care of! Make reservations early for the restaurant. It’s full every night. The lamb and the toothfish were wonderful. When we left, one of the managers came running out for a hug goodbye!
The people here, ALL of them, were wonderful to us.