We tied up to the dock this morning for an easy exit from the ship after breakfast (no zodiacs needed!). Port Stanley is a thriving town of about 2000 people, by far and away the largest community in the Falklands. A variety of options was available this morning, beginning with a tour of the Stanley Growers Facility, an organic vegetable farm near the wharf. This was particularly interesting because the owner, Tim Miller, grows tons of cucumbers, green peppers and tomatoes all hydroponically, i.e, without any soil at all!
Church services were held at several of the churches in town and next to the St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church is the famous Whale Bone Arch you see pictured here. This arch is made of blue whale jaw bones and was presented to Port Stanley by Norwegian Whalers from South Georgia Island in honor of the community's centennial celebration in 1944. In sixty-one years (1904-1966) over 40,000 blue whales were taken for the commercial whaling industry at South Georgia Island alone. At least five other centers of whaling were located around the Antarctic peninsula also targeting the blue and fin whales, the largest cetaceans in the world.
Port Stanley served as an important port of call for supplies and men during the early days of Antarctic exploration and exploitation of marine resources.
