Sunny skies at last! We arrived this morning in Punta Arenas, the largest Chilean city in southern Chile. It has a population of around 120,000 with colorful buildings in the city. Even though it was sunny today it was very cold because of the wind. The wind is ALWAYS blowing strong down here and can be 100mph. Today was probably about 25mph with temperature of 52F.
Our tour, "Otway Sound & Penguin Reserve", left the dock at 8:30 for an hour bus ride to the penguin reserve. Most of the ride was on a gravel road through the pampa, flat plain where sheep and some cattle are raised. In this region of southern Chile there are 2 million sheep and 400,000 head of cattle being raised and the farms are huge because it takes 2.5 acres to support 1 sheep. Near the penguin reserve was an abandoned open pit coal mine with a conveyor that ran out into Otway Sound so ships could be loaded with the coal. The mine closed in 1997.
We finally arrived on the coastal area on the Otway Sound where the Otway penguins had come to raise their young. They spend 6 months here during the long summer days (16 hours of daylight) as they need the light so they can feed in the ocean. During the rest of the year, they swim as far north as Brazil where, once again, the days are longer for feeding. It's during those 6 months that they live totally in the water. Penguins can dive 100 feet or more under the water to feed on fish & crustaceans. In September (beginning of summer here) the male penguins arrive first and dig burrows underground big enough for mom, dad, and two offspring. The females arrive a couple of weeks later and hook up with their mate. The female will lay two eggs and they will hatch 39 to 42 days later. Both parents go to the ocean to get food for the little ones. They actually eat in the ocean, come back to the burrow, and throw up. This is what the young eat until old enough (about 3 months after hatching) to go into the ocean. I took some photos of signs explaining all about the penguins.
The wind was blowing strong off of the ocean so it was very cold for us even though we had lots of clothes on. The wind is always blowing from one direction so some of the trees are leaning from the wind. We walked a couple of miles through the reserve on roped off paths. The penguins did not seem to mind us and seemed just as curious of us as we were of them. They were making some noise as they could communicate with their mates. Despite the cold it was well worth it to see these beautiful creatures. I hope you enjoy the photos of them.
On the ride back to the ship we saw some rheas (small ostrich-like birds), condors, llamas, a hare, and numerous birds in addition to the sheep and cattle. We also passed by a replica of the small wooden ship like the explorer, Fernando Magellan, used to discover this area and the Strait of Magellan. Our guide said there were two military bases here to protect them from the Argentines???
After lunch back on the Mariner, we took the shuttle bus to the main square in downtown Punta Arenas. Because of the 2 cruise ships in port today, the square was full of souvenir stands. After a few photos and looking at the stuff we went back to the ship 30 minutes later.
I guess the Captain will tell us as we depart here whether we will go out in the ocean and sail around Cape Horn tomorrow or whether we will sail the protected Beagle Channel on our way to Ushuaia, our next port. Remember I said rounding Cape Horn can be the roughest sailing in the world. I vote for the channel!
