The island of South Georgia lies about 870 miles off the Antarctic Peninsula and supports the largest King Penguin population in the world, exceeding a million during the breeding season. It also contains the grave of British explorer Ernest Shackleton, who in 1916 famously saved his entire crew after their ship, the Endurance, was trapped in the ice in Antarctica and sunk. Caroline Alexander’s The Endurance: Shackleton’s Legendary Antarctic Expedition, illustrated with expedition photographer Frank Hurley’s riveting photos, brings the amazing story to life.

The Endurance captivated Jennifer back in the early 1990s, and our cruising plans for Dirona long included a visit to Shackleton’s grave, but we just didn’t get that far south. We filled that gap with a cruise aboard Silversea’s Silver Endeavour to the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the Antarctic Peninsula.

After overnighting in Santiago, we flew to Puerto Williams, Chile, where we boarded the Silver Endeavour and set off on a 36-hour run east to Stanley, the main settlement in the Falkland Islands. We spent the morning of our arrival on a walk through the Gypsy Cove Nature Reserve, known for its colony of Magellanic penguins who nest in burrows off the beach.

In Stanley, we had an enjoyable lunch over Falklands Beerworks local craft beer at Groovy’s, then spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the town. A waterfront path leads past several of the town’s memorials, including the Battle of the Falklands Memorial; a memorial to former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who took the UK to war with Argentina to defend the islander’s desire to remain under British rule; and the Southern Antarctic Monument, in memory of the 29 people who have died serving Britain’s scientific interests in Antarctica. On a lighter note, the solar system sculpture walk depicts the solar system in 1:1 billion scale, using recycled materials. And the Whale Bone Arch outside Christ Church Cathedral, erected in 1933, celebrates 100 years of British Rule. The bicentenary is not far off.

From Stanley, at the eastern edge of the Falklands, we traveled to the New Island wildlife sanctuary at the southwestern edge of the islands. Here we walked across the island to the exposed outer coast, where thousands of rockhopper penguins, black-browed albatross and imperial shag tended their young. The small Barnard Museum at our landing site detailed the island’s whaling and sealing history. Just offshore is the the wreck of the Protector III, a 1940s minesweeper that was converted to a sealer and abandoned here in 1969.

Our final stop in the Falklands was at West Point Island in the northwest corner of the archipelago. A a scenic walk across the island under sunny skies brought us to another cliffside rookery packed with rockhopper penguins and black-browed albatross and their chicks.

We’ll cover the South Georgia portion of the trip in the next post.

Our routes around the Falkland Islands are shown on the interactive map below. Click here for a full-page map.