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Volunteer Point status


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Does anyone know what the status of Volunteer Point is this year? And what has the weather been like recently (in regards to rain/mud).

 

Last year access was closed in March due to lots of rain and the damage that could be caused by vehicles.

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Does anyone know what the status of Volunteer Point is this year? And what has the weather been like recently (in regards to rain/mud).

 

 

 

Last year access was closed in March due to lots of rain and the damage that could be caused by vehicles.

 

 

 

Hi

 

We were there on December 28th. It was a warm 23 degrees celcius, dry and not a cloudy in the sky. ed30ceeabcc0174679c46ed10a0fc50e.jpgThe peat bogs were dry. We travelled with Estancia and they were great. Vincent was our driver and he was excellent. Hope you have great weather too.

 

 

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We were there a couple weeks ago with Estancia. Just an absolutely gorgeous day. The drive was an adventure and we saw thousands of King penguins in a group. A once in a lifetime unforgettable experience for us. Just amazing. The bogs had there wet spots; but Estancia knows how to avoid those. I you can possibly go, you should. You will be glad you did.

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How bumpy was the ride over the bogs?

 

If you asked my wife it was horrible. I thought it was better than I expected. Our driver was not speeding, so they weren't bad at all, in my opinion. My wife doesn't like any bumps, even on a highway, so her opinion is tainted. She has a bad back and many other physical complaints and had no issues after the tour, plus she loved the seeing the king penguins. Do not miss doing the tour due to the off roading. The experience was amazing!

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We were there about 3 weeks ago. The weather was good--maybe about 60, some clouds and wind but not bad. I was fine with a light jacket.

 

The drive, once we got to the off road part, was very challenging. We went with Estancia and our driver was amazing. The bogs were quite wet and muddy in places; the jeeps or vans go in convoys of 5 or 6 because someone often needed to be pulled out.

 

We did not get stuck, but saw quite a few who did need to be helped. I thought the ride was extremely bumpy, much worse than I expected. It was not muddy at the site and the penguin messes and odor was really not very bad. I brought an extra pair of old shoes just in case it was, but did not need them there or at Puerto Tombo, the other place we saw penguins. That could change, I suppose, if it was rainy/muddy at the sites.

 

It was an amazing experience--I might not ever do it again, due to the extreme roughness of the ride, but I'm glad we got to do it once.

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Thank you all.

 

I’m more interested in the mud/water saturation on the way to the site. To prevent damage the farm owner closed it last year. I noticed they have been getting rain.....

 

And sometimes even when the land owner doesn't close it excursions can still be cancelled. We were on an excursion to Volunteer Point in December 2016 with Patrick Watts. It was a rather hair raising ride following about 3 days of rain and it was immediately obvious why you caravan. On the way to Volunteer Point we must have helped at least 4 vehicles get free of the bog and on the way back we got stuck (and of course others in the caravan offered immediate assistance). And while the ride was hair raising, all 4 of us had a great time. On that day Patrick Watts, Estancia and some other smaller outfits made it to Volunteer Point but Princess cancelled their excursion.

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I can't imagine how horrible it would be to get to visit the Falklands and not be able to get to Volunteer Point to see the beautiful King penguins. It has to be one of the most wonderful things I have seen in my life; and we have seen a lot. I hope that everyone is able to make it there. You will be so glad you did.

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The boggy areas were indeed very wet the day we were there. I can see that just a little more rain might have made it impassable. It certainly was damaging to the land.

 

I am so glad that: 1. We were able to actually tender in to the Falklands, 2. That the weather was really pretty decent, and 3. That we go to go to Volunteer Point, an amazing experience in spite of the terrible ride.

 

I can't imagine how the tour drivers do that day after day. Our driver, who was older, said he was thinking of giving it up.

 

The whole cruise was great; probably not something we will ever repeat, but wow, beautiful sights and we were very lucky in the weather and the seas.

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  • 1 month later...

This was one of the best excursions that I have ever taken. I booked with Patrick Watts about 13 months prior. There were four of us in the 4 x 4 plus the driver. The last 11 miles take about an hour and you think you will never get there. It was bumpy but not horrible - I was even able to do some knitting in the car. There is a potty stop about an hour after the ride begins and there are restrooms at Volunteer Point.

 

The ground was fine the third week of February, just a lot of penguin poop. You do get used to the penguin odor.

 

We were given a good bagged lunch consisting of a sandwich, cookie, bottle of water and granola bar. We had about 30 minutes when we got back to Stanley to do some power shopping. The tender lines are long and the last tender was not at 5:30 as Princess claimed (and our driver knew that sometime the last tender isn't until 7:00 because of all the people trying to get back on the ship. That gave me some leeway if I wanted to go into a store so don't feel too rushed.

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This was one of the best excursions that I have ever taken. I booked with Patrick Watts about 13 months prior. There were four of us in the 4 x 4 plus the driver. The last 11 miles take about an hour and you think you will never get there. It was bumpy but not horrible - I was even able to do some knitting in the car. There is a potty stop about an hour after the ride begins and there are restrooms at Volunteer Point.

 

The ground was fine the third week of February, just a lot of penguin poop. You do get used to the penguin odor.

 

We were given a good bagged lunch consisting of a sandwich, cookie, bottle of water and granola bar. We had about 30 minutes when we got back to Stanley to do some power shopping. The tender lines are long and the last tender was not at 5:30 as Princess claimed (and our driver knew that sometime the last tender isn't until 7:00 because of all the people trying to get back on the ship. That gave me some leeway if I wanted to go into a store so don't feel too rushed.

 

Thanks fo all the details. Looking forward to this.

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POSting a follow up: Zaandam got in yesterday and we got through to VP. I echo what others have already said about how spectacular it was. Today they were expecting 40+ winds, so I’m not so sure Infinity got in, if that was their plan. I believe they are a day behind us???

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  • 4 weeks later...

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