Punta Arenas, Chile, 1/24/16

The announced plan was to arrive very early in Punta Arenas so the 42 people who coughed up the big bucks to fly to Antarctica could set off at 6 am. The standard practice is no ship wide announcements before 8 am, so imagine our surprise when the captain 's voice was heard at 6 am. He had been trying to dock for the past hour but the winds were against him. He said if we couldn't dock by 11 am (!) we would be moving on. That got our attention! Finally they went old school and a couple of tugs were used to nudge the ship dockside a little after 7. The Anatrctic-bound folks were quickly rounded up and off they went.

At 7:30 we were supposed to go by ferry 20 nautical miles north to Monumento Natural Los Pinguinos, a 97-hectare island home to 60,000 breeding pairs of Magellanic penguins. This excursion was also available by speed boat (45 minutes travel time as opposed to the two hours each way by ferry) but the winds were near gale force and the seas were as fierce as you would expect so all the speed boat excursions were cancelled. Much to our surprise the ferry trip was a go.

The Melinka makes the trip from Punta Arenas to Isla Magdalena daily between October and March. I'm guessing it could hold two or three cars but it really is just for people, about 200 of us sitting shoulder to shoulder, knees to knees for quite the two hour ride. Once again I am ever so grateful that I no longer get seasick!

The island is wind-swept with no vegetation or fresh water. It does have a still-functioning lighthouse manned during the summer otherwise it's jus penguins! Tens of thousands of penguins. Magellanic penguins are 24" tall, weigh about ten pounds and have absolutely no fear of or curiosity about humans. We were asked to respect the marked path that runs along the shore between the sea and the penguin nests, which are, like the Gentoos', burrows in the earth. The birds, however, are going here, there and everywhere but mostly into the sea to feed and then back to their chicks. They practically walked across our toes. The chicks are nearly as large as the adults and many were almost through molting. As soon as the fluff is gone, replaced by waterproof feathers, they will also go into the sea.

It's such fun to watch the adults raise their wings and then waddle like mad; so clumsy on shore, so graceful at sea. They didn't have to go far into the water to feed. Dozens of them swimming together in packs. That ever-present wind didn't seem to bother them in the slightest. We were given an hour on shore. Jim and I lasted maybe half that long before we returned to the Melinka.

(Wow! I'm writing this 24 hours later on Monday afternoon as we sail up through the islands of southern Chile. We're heading towards the Brujo Glacier. I just looked out the window to discover we're in the midst of thousands of chunks of ice. Not giant bergs, but a zillion baby bergs nonetheless. Wow!)

The wind was at our back going back to Punta Arenas but it still took two hours. There was time to go into town after we got back to the ship but we were cold, not much would be open on Sunday and we didn't have any Chilean pesos. Besides, what could top our visit with the Pinguinos?