Here I am in Punta Arenas. Almost in the most Southern part of Chile. I arrived by plane and had to go through all the taxi offers. There is no bus or group shuttle, so I found a shared taxi. After dropping off my bag I went for a walk through a silent town. Most places were closed and the streets were empty. Sunday is family day. But Punta Arenas doesn’t seem like a big tourist destination to me in general. It’s more just a big city on the way to Puerto Natales. Yet there was one thing on my to do list: isla Magdalena.
I opted to go with the TABSA ferry, rather than the catamaran tours. The ferry doesn’t go past isla Marta to see the sea lions, but otherwise the experience was great. There were a bunch of passengers, but it didn’t feel overly busy. Everyone found a seat in the two small passenger rooms and after the intro and safety briefing we were allowed on the deck outside. It was very windy and this chilly so I pulled up my hood and neckwarmer. It was nice to be on a boat again.
At 10.30 we got some information inside. We were on our way to see the colony of Magellanic penguins, who nest on the island. They arrive in September and leave in late March. They live off the fish and squid in the sea and return to the holes they’ve dug every year. So they remember their home. When the ferry arrived we all got excited. We could already see dozens of penguins right where the ferry landed. So as you can inagine, it was hard to get the walk started. One of our guides went in front, the other at the back, and two park ranger joined as well. Obviously we couldn’t touch the wildlife and penguins had right of way. At times we had to let them cross the path that was made for us to walk on. We had an hour to take pictures and stare at the birds.
The penguins live between 20 and 24 years. We could clearly recognise the younger ones, because they were more grey and somewhat fluffier, even after one or two years. This type of pinguin has a salmon colored stripe by their eyes, almost like they’re wearing eye shadow. I only saw one baby, so most eggs must not have hatched yet. Many of the penguins were waddling around, some took a dive in the sea, and others sat in their holes. At times you heard them screaming, kind of like a funny car horn. They’d stretch their neck, look up, open their mouth and start the concert. I saw one bird that was gathering grass and bringing it to his house. They were all marvelous.
But the penguins weren’t the only birds guarding their eggs. The island was full of seagulls that, according to the park rangers, were slightly aggressive at this time. We were advised to even keep our hands and cameras on the path. One of the seagulls got up from her nest and showed not only eggs, but also a chick that had recently hatched! I usually don’t really like these ice cream stealing birds, but when they’re that small, they’re pretty cute! Yet the bigger ones got into some fights and I also saw some dead seagulls lying around. A woman in front of me described a section of the trail as a bird cemetery!
Of course an hour was too short, but the birds needed their peace and quiet back. Enough posing for the tourists. On the way back most people sat inside, but I stayed on the deck with a couple of other hopeful passengers. We were rewarded! First I saw a bunch of sea lions swimming, occasionally sticking their head above the water. Later their was a pod of about 10 dolphins. They came right next to the ship after a while and jumped right beside us. They swam super fast, but kept returning to swim with the ship. What a treat at the end of the trip! It was another expensive activity I had to think hard about, but I wouldn’t have want to miss it!
