We arrived hungry and tired in Santiago, Chile after an overnight flight. Going through immigration and purchasing the necessary entry visa took a little longer than expected. When that was finished and we were officially in South America, the first order of business was lunch. We decided to eat in our hotel and Greg, the adventurous eater, he …

Today we were supposed to fly directly to the Sea Lion Lodge, but due to an unfortunate accident with one of the flight attendants on the last leg of our journey to Stanley, we were diverted back to Puntas Arenas, Chile. By the time we arrived in The Falklands later that day, the local pilots could no longer take us to Sea Lion Lodge. Of course, …

When we arrived on Sea Lion Island, we immediately received first class hotel treatment - help with our bags, offers of tea and cookies and then a tour of the Island by Land Rover (which is what everyone drove on the outer islands, as there aren't any roads to speak of).

The rooms at the lodge we were wonderful and en-suite, really first-class, …

After we arrived on Saunders Island and got settled in, our host Susan drove five of us to The Rookery. This was our first time seeing the black-browed albatross. They were such neat birds, and made really beautiful sounds too. Many were sitting on eggs or brand-new hatchlings that we would occasionally get a glimpse of, if we were patient.

A …

As luck would have it, someone canceled their reservation on the Neck tonight and we were able to spend the night in their very comfortable portacabin with only one other visitor, a nice young girl from the UK. She warned us that the local birds of prey, called interchangeably either Caracaras or Johnny Rooks, would be waking us up early the next …

We had another half day at the neck before our obliging hosts returned us to the Settlement where we would spend our last night. No view of the penguins here, but the accommodations are nearer to the airstrip and so more convenient as we were leaving early the next day. We decided to take a walk around the settlement area and up near the airstrip …

Today we left Saunders Island and returned to Stanley. We were hoping to fit in some more time with the wildlife today but it didn't quite work out. We did enjoy our arranged tour and visit to the museum, as well as some souvenir shopping later in the day and a lovely dinner, which included local squid, at The Malvina House Hotel.

Today was an all day trip to Volunteer Point, a little beach situated probably only twenty miles from Stanley as the crow flies. However, the only overland route has very little in the way of marked paths, it was mostly driving though fields and rocks at a very slow pace. This meant it took a two and half journey to arrive there. I had expected to …

Sadly, this was our last day in the Falklands. Our excellent driver picked us up and took us to Mount Pleasant airport, about an hour from Stanley and the Malvina House. He even stopped along the way so we could take some photos at Boot Hill - an impromptu place where locals leave single shoes.