Day Four - Christmas Eve

When we woke on Day Four we were steaming through the narrows into Port Stanley to moor alongside the FIPASS jetty which was built from barges brought down here in 1982/3 to form a landing jetty for the British forces – I’m sure Bernie will remember

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Our turn to be first off the ship and a short bus ride into town – hoping to get there before the bulk of the passengers were tendered in from the two cruise ships anchored outside - Coral Princess and Zaandam. We reckoned that with our group there would be more than 3000 visitors ashore in a town that has a total population of 2,500!

We spent a very enjoyable couple of hours in the museum which has a variety of excellent displays on the history of the islands and the fishing, farming and wildlife in addition to the military history – including the first world war naval battles and of course the Argentine invasion.

We wandered round most of the town – which was now packed with visitors of all shapes, sizes and nationalities but ended up – of course – in the Victory Pub for a pint of Falklands Brewery Mt Longdon Ale. Bit of a queue at the bar but a decent pint – avoided the temptation of the fish and chips but they were doing a roaring trade.

A poster in the gents toilet with a picture of General Galtieri with the caption ‘Rot in hell you Bastard’ was a good indication of how they feel here – with a 92.5% turnout, 98.5% voted to remain a British Overseas Territory in their recent referendum – sort of result the wee sweetie wife can only dream about.

Gave us the chance to make an early Christmas call to both mothers and even to get a little internet access  before the walk back along the shore line- where we saw a juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron, a South American Sea Lion and Hourglass Dolphin- on our way to the ship.

A celebration dinner on board to challenge waist line again – really glad I passed on the lunchtime fish and chips!