Punta Arenas: Penguin Fest begins

Before ever stepping foot in Punta Arenas, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I wanted to get to Isla Magdalena, home to 150,000 Magellanic penguins. Then again, who couldn't want to do that? The problem was that there are only two ways to get to the island. The first is via a ferry that goes out there every day, which would have been great, but for the fact that the cruise ships reserve the entire ferry, making it impossible for the independent traveller to get on board.

The second was via zodiac boats, which although colder and wetter are also much faster and can get you there way before the ferry arrives. With that in mind, back in early November, I called Solo Expeditions, who were the only outfit running zodiac boats at that time, and was told that all the outings were sold out. I called again right before getting on the ship, hoping for cancellations, but to no avail. Yet, having seen the median age of my fellow passengers (let's be generous and go with 60-ish) I was sure that someone would cancel... bad hip, arthritis, whatever.

The glitch here was that, for the first time since the cruise began, when we arrived in Punta Arenas, we saw that we were not the only ship in town. Parked alongside us was the larger, and apparently non-AARP carrying Radiance of the Seas. I still ran to SE's office...twice, hoping something would open up on either of their two outings, but nothing ever did. This left me with Plan B, which was to take a cab out to Seno Otway, home to approx. 3000 Magellanic Penguin.

The owner of Solo Expedition, knowing that I was disappointed (the bitter pouting may have given it away), found out the local's rate for a cab and armed with that information, pointed me towards the nearest cab stand. Since I knew what I should be paying, there was minimal haggling and soon I was on my way to Otway. I napped through the 45 minute drive and awoke to find us parked before a field with a ticket office and nary a penguin in sight.

There was, however, a marked path and plenty of posted signs indicating a promise of penguins. It took about 10 minutes of walking before an actual penguin was spotted, but once there was one, there were a hundred. Magellanic Penguins tend to borrow, so there were literally penguins coming out of the ground. There were braying penguins, waddling penguins, sleeping penguins...it was Penguin-palooza. I snapped photo after photo, as they moved to and fro, looking like a pack of slightly inebriated nuns.

I could have stayed there all day, enjoying the quiet and watching their antics , but I am grateful that I left when I did, because going the opposite way on the dirt road that leads away from Otway were at least a dozen buses carrying two ships' worth of passengers. The penguin to person ratio was about to be seriously skewered and not in a good way. I heaved a sigh of relief and went back to sleep.

I spent the rest of my time in Punta Arenas wandering around the town, checking e-mail, visiting a cemetary, kissing the foot of a Native in the middle of the town square and trying to take a tour of a local brewery which, alas, was also booked by the cruise ships. In other words, the usual.

In the end, it is safe to say that any day spent amongst penguins is a good day, even if I did feel shorted out of approx. 147,000 penguins. I enjoyed myself, a lot, but it was the inability to get to Magdalena Isle that causes me to score this one as a point for NCL's excursions, leaving the score at NCL 1, Indie Traveller 2.

Look, no people, only penguins (and maybe a bunny or two)






Legend is if you kiss his foot, you will have good luck..either that or I got Punk'd Punta Arenas-style.