Blog No. 348 – Volunteer Point, Falkland Islands – 20 March 2026

I took this photo of a group of King Penguins at Volunteer Point, Falkland Islands on the 9th of February 2026.  The noise they made was deafening and the wind screamed.  I had left Adelaide on Sunday the 25th of January when the maximum temperature was 42 Celsius.  A few days later, the maximum daily temperatures were 11 Celsius.

****

Two King penguins facing each other at Volunteer Point on the 9th of February 2026.

****

I arrived in the Falkland Islands late in the afternoon of Sunday the 2nd of February 2026.  I was very sorry to leave the Falklands after spending only two weeks there..  The Falkland Islands is a self governing Territory of the United Kingdom.  The human population of 3,400 people is vastly outnumbered by the thousands and thousands of penguins.  When in the Falklands, I wrote daily diary entries and poems.  

This blog relates to a trip I took on 9th of February to an isolated beach called Volunteer Point, where there were thousands of penguins.  Volunteer Point is accessible only in a 4 wheel drive and it is about 2 hours’ drive from Stanley.  Stanley is the only “city” in the Falkland Islands.  Perhaps 3,000 people live in Stanley.

Stanley was proclaimed as a city on 14 June 2022, but it was unofficially called a city before the official proclamation.  Stanley is home to Christ Church Cathedral, a church of the Anglican Church.  The theory is that cathedrals are only ever located in cities, so therefore Stanley was already a “city” before the proclamation was made.

7.32 am Tuesday 10 February 2026 Yesterday Knobby drove us to Volunteer Point in his 4 wheel drive.  The last few kilometres were over boggy, rocky terrain.  There are magnificent beaches at Volunteer Point and they are filled with penguins – King Penguins and Magellanic Penguins.  We saw a sea lion patrolling shallow water near the beach.  I got footage of the patrol.  Further up the beach, it spotted an inattentive penguin, dashed ashore and caught it.  The penguin became lunch.  Sam got footage of the chase and the kill The wind howled all the time.  Knobby drove us back at 4.00 pm, stopping on the way so we could look at burnt out wreckage of two Argentine helicopters destroyed in the 1982 war. Today is a rest and relaxation day in Stanley, as is tomorrow. Penguins Wind howling at my face, I am prone, Filming the King Penguin. It waddles straight towards me, Swerving at the last moment when it finally sees me. I keep filming, Ignoring the damp and the bird poo on the grass. The penguin joins the great mass of other penguins, All huddled together, Yelling at each other, Tiny baby penguins at their feet. They ignore the howling wind, they have serious business to transact. When the eggs hatch, The babies begin yelling immediately. One parent goes shopping in the sea. The other stays to protect the baby. Because the parents work so hard, Some babies, Enough babies, Survive. While the wind screams, The sea lion patrols. All this abundant life depends on other life. As one dies, It feeds another. I was not needed. The penguins had enough to do. I had taken my photos. I walked away Clutching my pale reproductions of the real thing. How can a photo capture the taste of sand smashing into your face. It cannot, But something is surely better that faulty memory

****

Small portion of the huge gathering of penguins at Volunteer Point on 9 February 2026.

****

Remains of one of the two destroyed Argentine helicopters I saw on the road back to Stanley after visiting the penguins at Volunteer Point.  For the sake of the penguins as well as the people who lived in the Falkland Islands, I was glad the United Kingdom threw the Argentine army out of the Falklands in 1982.  Given the Argentine government had such little interest in the wishes of the humans who lived in the Falklands, it is difficult to imagine the Argentine dictatorship would have permitted the penguins to survive for very long.  When the war was over, it was revealed that the Argentine dictatorship had plans to exterminate the inhabitants of the Falkland Islands.  The Argentine dictatorships murdered at least 30,000 Argentines when the army ruled Argentine from 1976 to 1983.

****

Another photo of the wrecked Argentine helicopter.  The helicopters were destroyed during the war that saw the liberation of the Falkland Islands from Argentina in 1982.

****

Christ Church Cathedral, in Stanley, Falkland Islands, is the southernmost Anglican cathedral in the world. It is the parish church of the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the British Antarctic Territories. The Parish of the Falkland Islands is part of the Anglican Communion. The rector of the cathedral is under the ordinary jurisdiction of the Bishop of the Falkland Islands; since 1978, this office has been held ex officio by the Archbishop of Canterbury, who is both ordinary and metropolitan for the small autonomous diocese. In practice, authority is exercised through a bishop-commissary appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, and known as the Bishop for the Falkland Islands.

Christ Church Cathedral, Stanley, in the Falkland Islands.  Because Christ Church is a cathedral, the tiny town of Stanley officially had to be a city too!  The inside is just as inspiring as the outside.