Volunteer Point- The Falklands

For those who have been on the tour to Volunteer Point, how rough is the 4WD trip to get there and back?

We are currently signed up for the Patrick Watts tour but I am questioning how rough this trip is due to my back.

Going with a guide in the Outback off road really jammed my spine and I am wondering how rough this would be.

Thank you for any responses. :)

Talk to the company who is taking you there. You are going over pasture ground but there is a smoother way to get there but it takes longer. We took that way on the way back. Lots of up and down and some deep ruts where you have to go through fences. My back can get sore but I was okay on this one as the seat belt held you securely and I held onto the door handle too.

I sat in the middle back seat on the way out to Volunteer Point. The next day I had a kidney stone!

If you can wrangle the front seat both ways, you probably will be fine. But if you have serious back issues, give it some extra thought. It was a great tour.

It is rough!

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Thank you for your responses. :)

I had the front seat and it was not to bad but you going about one hour through somewhat rough terrain. The first part is on gravel roads. If you can make it, you will be rewarded.

We are currently signed up with Patrick Watts so I doubt any special request pertaining to the roughness of the ride would be considered.

We spent all day off road with a guide in the Outback, out of Coober Pedy, and I thought my spine was going to jam through the top of my head (exaggerating a bit here :D).

So... don't know, still have a few months to decide. :)

Just make sure you have the front passenger seat. Smoother ride than the back seat.

Thank you. :)

I think the driver makes a difference as well. We had a lady named Tony and overall she did a great job making it as smooth as possible.

For those who have mentioned having a front seat, how would I be able to be sure that I got a front seat?

It's a great suggestion if it will work for me. :)

You could book a car of 4 people and agree that you will have the front seat (maybe offer to pay part of their fare?). You could book a private car (but this will cost you a lot more). If you book a car and ask for two others to join you from roll call, you can make that an understanding and condition of their joining you. If there are just two of you and you are placed in a car with another two people, you can try, but expect that someone may want that seat on the way back!

Our driver really tried to minimize the bumps compared to some of the other cars in the caravan, but I strongly recommend that you not be in the center rear seat. On the side seats you can use the hand strap but in the center, you have to reach across the other passengers to grab something to hold onto. It's an awkward position to be in for a rather long ride.

We were paired with another couple who we did not know prior to this excursion. I think Patrick had something llike 48 people spread out over a dozen trucks. I just lucked out and got the front seat because they said I was tall. I offered it to the others on the way back but everyone was happy.

Unfortunately we have no real good pictures of the terrain. The roads starts out paved - turns to gravel - and then no road at all. We rode with a man called Derek. He And his wife live at Volunteer

Point during the summer month, run the B & B at the point. He has privileges that other drivers do not have. Our ride back was on a route not as rutted, still no great. Going out our friend from WI who sat in the front. He stated after our trip that he thought the SUV was going over on several occasions.

You will totally be at the mercy of the other couple you are riding with if you get the front seat. If you have a history of severe back problems, I would not take this excursion. The last part with no road is very rough.

I know this is not what you want to hear, however it would be horrible to foul up your entire trip.

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To my knowledge you can not hire a private car. I know the a large part of the excursion is on private land. Several gates in the middle of NO MAN LAND had to be opened and closed. The 4 wheel drive vehicles are private autos that join up with Patrick for the excursion. We had 68 to go because our ship changed itineraries and there was another ship in port. Patrick could only find enough vehicles to take 18 of us. Many on the ships excursion were also canceled. Derek normally does not drive but drove to help Patrick out.

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We were due to go with Patrick a couple of years ago, but after reading several reports on the trip and the rough terrain we cancelled as OH has a back problem which can flare up on a whim. We didn´t want the rest of our holiday spoiled. We tookl the tender over and just at the jetty there is a tourist office where there are excursions to see the smaller penguins using tarmac roads. We spent the morning doing that and then the afternoon walking round the town in all we had an enjoyablel day

Sandy in Spain

We were due to go with Patrick a couple of years ago, but after reading several reports on the trip and the rough terrain we cancelled as OH has a back problem which can flare up on a whim. We didn´t want the rest of our holiday spoiled. We tookl the tender over and just at the jetty there is a tourist office where there are excursions to see the smaller penguins using tarmac roads. We spent the morning doing that and then the afternoon walking round the town in all we had an enjoyablel day

 

Sandy in Spain

Thank you. This sounds like the best option. :)

Unfortunately we have no real good pictures of the terrain. The roads starts out paved - turns to gravel - and then no road at all....

We have photos of the off-road trip to Bluff Cove on a very rainy day. Others should be able to tell you whether the terrain is similar en route to/from Volunteer Pt. One of these photos shows a more or less typical part of the transit across the wet terrain. The other shows a bad area where one vehicle is bogged and being winched out by another vehicle. (Not sure if the resolution on screen will be adequate to really show what is on the original photo.) The boggy terrain is one reason why the vehicles go in groups, able to help one another out of such predicaments.

The trip was an adventure and seeing the Gentoo & King penguins and other birds was great -- we had a good time and would do it again in an instant, despite my minor back and neck issues. I concur with the advice to try for the front passenger seat, or a window seat in the back -- not the middle seat in back where it is difficult to find a hand-hold.

John

Too smooth, while parts of the ride was like that there were spots that had anywhere from 2-6 ft change of height. I will say, I have occasional back problems but had not problems on this tour (again I was in the front seat). The areas that are the roughest are taken pretty slowly. Beyond that, at least for us it was more like jostling.

I do have a couple pictures, I will post them later.

Patrick Watts does an alternative tour which IMHO is better and which involves much less off road, to Bertha's Beach and Gypsy Cove. He is the only person with permission from the private land owner to visit Bertha's Beach so you see the Gentoo penguins in a much more natural setting. The only drawback is that you may or not see any King penguins (we did, and also a basking seal). Highly recommended - and a fraction of the price the cruise lines charge for similar but inferior excursions to Bluff Cove.

I'm surprised to hear Patrick Watts is the only person to have access to Bertha's Beach. That didn't used to be the case. The other main tour for penguins is Bluff Cove, where there are some Kings and many Gentoos.

Gypsy Cove is common land, government-owned, so no access issues, and only 15 minutes by road from Stanley, or a 2 hour walk.