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| Paper Boy |
Talk about impulsive. I went out this morning with the full intension of buying a bus ticket. It turns out there are two bus companies that go from Punta Arenas to Ushuaia. I went to both to find out what when and how much. For some reason I didn’t buy a ticket. Then I went to Comapa, a tour company, to find out about going on a boat tour to see the penguins on Magdallena Island. The woman told me there was a boat tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. returning around 10:00 p.m. The boat ride is two hours each way and you spend one hour on the island. Sounded a bit weird to go so late but I guess I didn’t have much choice.
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| incredible yarn, sorry I can't carry any home |
I went and had churros and a cafe mocha at Chocolota, yummy. I noticed next to me a woman was on her computer typing in Hebrew. I turned to her and said “shalom”. She laughed and asked if I spoke Hebrew.
No, but I recognize it. Not many people type in Hebrew I said.
Then I told her that my daughter is in Israel. I spoke with her and husband for a while. They were on a cruise and had come from Ushuaia and spending the day in Punta Arenas ending in Valparaiso. It was nice to talk with them.
I walked back to the hotel thinking I would take the city tour that the hotel was advertising, given by locals, since the penguin tour was tomorrow. When I got back to the hotel I asked the lady to call about the tour for me. However, in the lobby was a Chilean family waiting to go on a penguin tour.
"Oh, I thought that only was tomorrow", I commented
"No, we are waiting to go today", the mom said.
Really.
I asked the woman from the hotel if I could join their tour and she said she would call and find out.
Sure enough there was a space for me and for 32,000 Chilean Pesos (about $70.00) off I went.
This was much better. Not only was this boat going earlier but the sun was out and there wasn’t any wind. In this part of the world the weather can and does change on a dime. So I was glad to grab this opportunity.
I had just enough time to get my coat and camera before the transfer arrived.
A van picked us up at 2:00. There were a few other people in the van and we made a few more stops before driving about 1/2 hour to where the boat was docked. The boat was not so big but seemed sea worthy enough and there were about 8 other people waiting for us.
The ride out to the island did take about 2 hours and there was a nice group of people on the boat. The Chilean family of five (from my hotel) 3 sons 16,13 and 5, the mom, who is a CNN Chile news anchor
and the dad (didn’t find out much about him). They all spoke excellent English because the boys go to a British school and the mom also attended a British school. I don’t know for sure but I imagine the dad probably did too. There was a nice couple from Britain (Anne & Neil)
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| Anne & Neil |
who I spoke to most of the time, a few French people and a couple from Mexico. Everyone was very sociable except for the three French people. When the oldest Chilean son discovered I came from California he wanted to know if I’d ever been to Mammoth. He is on a ski team and the team went to Mammoth for two months this summer (January and February) but he couldn’t go because it was too expensive.
It was a glorious day and the sea was quite smooth. The crew wanted us to stay below deck and if you wanted to go up on the deck you had to put a life vest on. I went up on the deck for a while and had a nice conversation with Neil, about Chilean and other worldly politics. He was hoping to see whales but I didn’t think it was the season for whales to be here. I’m no expert.
His wife Anne wasn’t as seafaring as we were and stayed down below. They are traveling for two months just in Chile and we compared notes. Part of the fun in traveling is meeting other travelers and discussing what’s good and what’s not. Everyone tells me Torre Del Paine and El Chalten are fabulous. I’m really looking forward to visiting both of these places.
When we went back down below there were cakes and coffee or tea. Other than the safety instruction we didn’t get much information from the crew.
As we approached Magdalen Island http://www.seabirds.org/study-chile.htm you could see hundreds, probably thousands of Magellan penguins. This island is a National Park so the penguins are protected.
Once we got to the island the crew had a hard time tying the boat to the dock. It was low tide and not in our favor. Eventually they were able to rig something and believe me it wasn’t easy getting off the boat.
The one bit of information we got was that there are 150,000 Magellan Penguins that live on this island. There can be as many as 200,000 but at this time of year the babies have left so there are only parents living here. The babies have gone somewhere else, not sure where that is.
Being on this island was incredible. I felt like I was in a movie and kept reminding myself I wasn’t in the zoo. The penguins were very well adjusted to having people walking around. They string are barriers so you can’t walk into the penguins space but they walk back and forth and you get very close. It was so funny to watch them walk and hear them bark. I don’t know what the sound is but I think it’s either a mating call or some territorial thing.
They point their head toward the sky, open their beaks and start howling.
I’d never heard anything like it. I was in Happy Feet, although I think that was a different type of penguin. There are 17 different kinds of penguins.
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| me and my new friend |
| Magellanic penguins are named after Ferdinand Magellan who first witnessed them in 1519 on his initial voyage around the tip of South America. The Magellanic penguin is the largest of the temperate climate penguins (genus Spheniscus), which include: the Humboldt, the Galapagos, and the African penguins. During the warmer weather of the breeding season Magellanics lose the feathers around their eyes. When it starts to get cold again the feathers grow back. In contrast to many penguin species who feed chicks preferentially both Magellanic chicks are given equal care and often both survive. |
We spent about an hour here, I took about 200 photos and couldn’t get enough of watching them. Definitely worth the trip and honestly can’t tell you what or if there was a name to the company that took us on this boat cruise.
The return trip was not as smooth and easy as getting to the island. The crew offered us some sandwiches and drink on the way back but the wind and waves picked up so it took twice as long to get back. When we approached the dock we left from it was apparent that the captain was having difficulty getting the boat close enough to stop. After trying to maybe 20 minutes he gave up and returned the boat to the sea. It was another 45 minutes before we finally stopped at another port. We didn’t get back to the hotel until nearly 10:00 p.m.
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| Love |
So much for a 5 hour tour. However, I was glad I went and couldn’t imagine beginning this journey at 5:00 p.m. in the afternoon. You may never get back.
Anyway we did arrive back to the hotel safe and sound. I just wanted to get into bed. I was so surprised when I saw the Chilean family of 5 go out for dinner. I was beat and went to my room.
Hope you enjoy the photos of the penguins.
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