Day Sixteen - Punta Arenas

 

It's 7:36 AM as the sun rises over the harbor at Punta Arenas.  (The name translates as Sand Point.)  Today we will be boarding a catamaran for a 90-minute ride to Magdalena Island, a penguin reserve.  The ride will cross the Strait of Magellan, one of the three routes around (or through) the tip of South America.  This strait is wide, 35 miles at some points, and quite rough because ocean currents from the Atlantic and Pacific meet in the middle.

Magdalena Island is the home of several thousand pair of magellanic penguins.  Larger than the gentoos we saw in Antarctica, they dig burros for nesting. The burros are as deep as three feet and provide protection from the 40 MPH wind which blows continuously. 

The island is approximately 1/2 mile across and has an unmanned lighthouse.  Notice there are no trees.  This is because of the continuous strong winds.

In addition to penguins, the island is home to thousands of kelp gulls.  These birds also nest on the open ground.  

Each fall, the penguins migrate north to warmer water.  Some travel west to the Pacific and others east to the Atlantic.  (The Strait of Magellan connects the oceans.)  If the mating pair came from opposite oceans, they return to their respective ocean each fall, returning and rejoining their mate  here in the spring.  Penguins mate for life.

After an hour ashore in the strong winds and 40 degree temperature, we were ready to reboard the catamaran for the 90-minute trip back to the Octantus.