Sat, Oct 21 –Strait of Magellan, Punta Arenas, Chile Penguin Tour - The Strait of Magellan is a navigable sea route separating mainland South America to the north and Tierra del Fuego to the south.  It is considered a difficult route to navigate due to the narrowness of the passage and unpredictable winds and currents. It is shorter and more sheltered than the often stormy Drake Passage. Along with the narrow and sometimes treacherous Beagle Channel, these were the only three sea routes between these two oceans until the construction of the Panama Canal. 

Ferdinand Magellan a Portuguese explorer and navigator in the service of  Spain, became the first European to navigate the strait in 1520 during his global voyage.  Magellan entered the strait on November 1, 1520, All Saints' Day, and it was initially called Strait of All Saints.  The first Spanish colony was established in 1584 on the northern shore of the strait. These towns suffered severe food shortages, and when the English navigator Sir Thomas Cavendish landed at the site in 1587, he found only ruins of the settlement. He renamed the place Port Famine.

Until the Panama Canal opened in 1914, the Strait of Magellan was the main route for steamships traveling from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific. It was often considered the only safe way to move between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, as the Drake Passage separating Cape Horn (the southern tip of South America) from Antarctica is known for its turbulent and unpredictable weather. Ships in the strait, protected by Tierra del Fuego to the south and the coast of continental South America to the north crossed with relative ease, and Punta Arenas became a primary refueling port providing coal for steam ships in transit. Sailing ships, however, partly because of variable winds and currents in the strait, generally preferred the Drake Passage, as they had more room to maneuver there.

Punta Arenas is the capital city of Chile's southernmost region.   It is the largest city south of the 46th parallel.   Punta Arenas was originally established by the Chilean government in 1848 as a tiny penal colony to assert control over the Strait. During the remainder of the 1800s, Punta Arenas grew in size and importance due to the increasing maritime traffic and trade traveling to the west coasts of South and North America. This period of growth also resulted from the waves of European immigrants, mainly from Croatia and Russia, attracted to the gold rush and sheep farming boom in the 1880s and early 1900s.

We did another tour put together by Kim to Magdalena Island to see the penguins.  The tour, like the Puerto Montt tour is through GV Tours of Chile.  We definitely wanted to see the penguins because there is a very good chance that we won't make it into the Falkland Islands, where we are hoping to see the King Penguins.  We have been told that there is a 30-50% chance that we WILL be able to get into the island, so we have decided that we will do this trip to guarantee that we get to see penguins on this cruise.

This was not a tender port, so we were able to get off the ship and meet our tour without any hassle.  We did have to be shuttled from the port itself to outside the port entrance.  As stated before, in the cargo ports we are not allowed to walk around at all.  We got to our mini bus, there is only 15 of us, and were taken to the small pier (and I do mean small and rickity looking).  The speed boat was tied up to it and once we all safely made in down into the boat we hauled butt for Magdelena Island, which is a 45 minute trip across the Strait of Magellan.

We arrived at the island ahead of the Ship's shore excursion, but there was another boat docked at the only pier.  So, we tied up next to the boat.  To get on shore we had to carefully get off our boat, onto the other boat, carefully walk through it (it had a very low ceiling, so we were ducking our heads as we walked through) and then out onto another rickity looking dock and onto the island.  That in itself was an adventure.  

We were allowed on the island for an hour and our guide kept us moving along.  But Russ, Kim and I seemed to be at the end of the line always taking photos, so we heard very little of what the guide had to say.  I'm thinking that even the people up front probably didn't hear as it was an extremely windy day.  The Magellan penguins were absolutely adorable.  They were nesting at this time of year, and we did get to see one egg - couldn't believe how big the eggs are. 

Our guide also pointed to us some white cormorants.  When you see them from a distance they really looked like penguins.  Also the seagulls were quite large, they are the Domican seagulls.  All we saw was white and black.  We couldn't believe how many penguins there were on this little island.  We were kept to the path, no wandering off of it.  There is a pretty lighthouse on this island, but we weren't able to see much of it in that they are refurbishing the inside for the tourist season.  I guess we aren't tourists.  We were allowed to utilize the bathrooms which was nice because you could warm up inside for a few minutes.

We were actually on the island for about a half hour before the ferry showed up with our ship's excursion.  So this was an indication to our tour guide to start moving us along.  However, we weren't being moved along.  They told us we had an hour on the island and we planned on taking it.  This was the first time many of us had ever seen penguins in their real life habitat, so it was just an awesome experience that we didn't want to rush through.  As we were approaching the end of the walk we saw several penguins running into the water.  To watch them waddle, slowly or fast, and then to see them swim like a racer, was just an experience not to be missed.   I felt sorry for the people from the ship's shore excursion - they were loading back on their boat just as we were leaving, so apparently they only had about 20 minutes there - that would have been a major bummer!

Our trip was to also take us over to Marta Island, which is where all the sea lions and elephant seals hang out; however, it was not be.  Our boat pilot told us the waves were just to high and we couldn't even get close to the island (which is all we would be allowed to do - Marta Island is a closed refuge for the wildlife).  So we headed back to that rickity pier and back on to the bus. 

We were dropped of in downtown, and had most of the day to wandered around.  We were also told that the shops closed between 1 and 3 p.m. for siesta, and we were dropped off shortly after 12 so we were hustling.  There is a statue in the middle of the plaza and it is said if you rub your hand on the toe you will return. We did but only because it made a great photo.  Kim joined Russ and me, as we wandered the vendors in the Plaza and then she wanted to get some t-shirts (which we are discovering are very hard to find in South America).  We barely got into the store before 1:00 and the owner was a very sweet man who didn't kick us out, but let us take our time shopping.  We found some things, but no picture books telling about the local penguins or anything about the area.  I am having a very difficult time with this because everywhere we have ever toured we have been able to pick up some books or postcards or something, but obviously this is not what the tourists want, or they just haven't figured it out.  We did our shopping and then wandered around the area.  We did get some earrings from the local vendor - I found some really cute penguin earrings, but Kim told me we couldn't wear them until after the Falklands - don't want to jinx our chance of getting into there.

We wandered around for a bit, enjoying the architecture of the city.  There is a lot of old and new and you could almost feel yourself back in the 1800s around the turn of the century.  We found a coffee shop open and spent about an hour drinking coffee, checking out the wifi and just warming ourselves up.  I went back to the bathroom and found a poster on the wall about Route 66, but I never got a picture of it.  That would have been a kick.   The stores were open again so I went in search of some hair clips - my hair keeps falling into my face, and I have lost the clips I had - found some at a walgren's type store - have no idea how much they were, but I gave the clerk a dollar and she gave me back a ton of change which I put into the donation jar - there was some sort of charity drive going that weekend - so we donated.

We have run out of energy so we are catching the shuttle back to the port which is about 3.5 miles out of the city.  We were to have docked at the piers in the city, but the wind was too strong and we couldn't get in.  Oh well, a most enjoyable day!