Los Pengüinos

We got perfect weather for a day trip out to Isla Magdalena to see the island of penguins. It was smooth sailing for the hour long boat ride through the Strait of Magellan.

We were told on the way out there, in 2007 it was reported there were 65,000 pairs of penguins! The population has decreased but there should still be thousands on the small island. So once we arrived, I saw black and white creatures dotting the land and thought it was a swarm of penguins. No, nearly all of them were seagulls. I think the better nickname for the island should be Seagull Island with a Handful of Penguins.

Nonetheless we did see quite a few penguins, most of whom were inside their little burrows keeping their eggs warm or were plucking grass for better insulation underground. They were cute and funny as always when waddling to shore, and made the weirdest noises when encountering another penguin.

On the way back we swam a few pods of dolphins to keep those of us who weren’t napping entertained.

Not the most exciting of tours ever but still a fun afternoon.

One of the best parts of the day was chatting with an older couple from Spain - all in Spanish! I’m sure we didn’t sound great and it wasn’t the longest of conversations due to our limited vocabulary but it was nice to know we haven’t lost that much Spanish since our last time in South America.Read more