Monday, January 18, 2010


Sunday, January 17, 2010




Tina and I spent the day at the Penguin rookery at Punta Tonbo south of Pueto Madyrn…
We expected to see penguins… we didn’t expect one million penguins… we didn’t expect it to be so dry, so desert like… The colony was 2.5 hours south, mostly on a 2 lane highway, but the last 20 kilometers on good gravel road. You hike (walk) from the parking area (with restrooms and a gift shop) about a mile along the coast… we expected a mile to get to the penguins, but two were waiting at the entrance of the parking lot to greet the visitors…

It was hot… not unbearably so, but hot… we were carrying jackets and wind breakers… after all everyone knows penguins like cold… except for Magellanic penguins who summer in Argentina and winter in Brazil…

At first the path is a wooden walkway… then gravel marked by white stones… it soon becomes obvious that there are penguins everywhere. This is a desert coast, with low drought adapted bushes… and under each bush was a penguin burrow, with anywhere from 1-3 penguins in residence…

I had assumed we wound see penguins, I didn’t assume we would need to be careful not to step on them… at several points there were long low bridges to allow the penguins an easy path across the walkway… the penguins used them as shady spots to gather… As we worked our way into the site, there were penguins headed from the burrows high on the hills to the water… We found a beach covered with penguins… penguins wading in the surf, penguins in the water playing, penguins well out at sea… penguins, and more penguins, and yes, more penguins…

We spent an hour and a half or so with the penguins… then back on the bus for the two and a half our ride back to the ship… When we returned, it was departure time… so we didn’t get a chance to explore the town… I suspect this port is a water shed… until now the trip has been about the Cities we have visited, Rio, Buenos Aries and Montevideo… now it will be about the natural world… the penguins, the whales, the ice and the southern cross…

Tina, Sig, and I went topside just before bed… we looked at the stars, lots of stars… we were looking for the fabled “Southern Cross”… we realized that we didn’t know the southern skies… We need to look at star charts and talk to the people aboard… but that will wait until tomorrow.

Now Monday, January 18th, 2010

In the South Atlantic, headed for Stanley, the Falkland Islands…
Once again it’s a sea day… The weather is changing… its still clear, but its getting colder… there are whisps of clouds to the west, likely the leading edge of a front..

We continue to stare at the ocean, looking for whales, so far without success.

1 comment:

  1. Sounds like you, Tina and family are having a wonderful trip! Great photos, especially the penguins. You are missing a wild storm here in Northern California. Good day to stay inside. I will stay tuned to your posts!

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