Stop 4: Punta Arenas and the Penguins
CHILE | Friday, 4 April 2008 | Views [369]
Next stop after Puerto Natales was Punta Arenas to see the Magellanic penguins. The city was a mere three hour bus ride over paved road from Natales and is definitely more cosmopolitan than Natales. Punta Arenas has been around forever as an important port city in southern Chile and the city displays a sort of faded glory from the old shipping days.
We were only in Punta Arenas for two days and the first day was spent figuring out whether or not the little guys were still around. Penguin viewing season ends in early April, so we were a bit worried that they had already headed north to warmer waters. We heard several conflicting stories that there were only 20 penguins left versus 50,000 and that the weather was too windy for the boats to sail for the island.
Alas, we did set sail the next day late in the afternoon through the Strait of Magellan to Isla Magdalena to see the little guys, over 50,000 pairs. The island was incredible. The entire place is inhabited only with the penguins and a few sea birds. We were able to follow a very narrow path up to the lighthouse and observe the penguinos up close and in their burrows. All of the babies and adolescents had already swum north and most of the adults were molting feathers to get ready for the big swim. Penguins are pretty hilarious creatures and provided some great pics for us.
A note about the photo gallery for Punta Arenas--while we were in town, there was some sort of military ceremony. All of the service branches were in attendance and from the looks of it, some of the big wigs were present. A lot of pomp and circumstance but an interesting cultural observation. Ben particularly got a hoot out of the female officers' uniform handbags.
Tags: the great outdoors
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