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Which Port Of Call is Better for Penguins ?


tncaec
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Going on the Zaandam, November 8 .... will be stopping in Falklands, Punta Arenas and Ushuaia ... all have penguins although some different types. The Falklands looks like the best option; however, it also seems to be the port landing most likely to be affected by weather and landing and/or excursion cancellations.

 

I don't want to chance it and find out we can't do the excursion .... fortunately, Falklands is first so I could have a later opportunity assuming we haven't booked other tours.

 

What have past cruisers experienced in this regard ? Booked multiple penguin excursions ?

 

Thanks in advance.

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I have only seen the penguins from Ushuaia (and Antarctica). We really enjoyed our Piratour to see the penguins from Ushuaia. It takes most of your day. We walked among magellanic and gentoo penquins and there were two stray king penquins there too.

Here are two email addresses to try. They are slow to respond but they did when I said I definitely wanted to make a booking. operaciones@piratour.net info@piratour.net

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We did a B2B2B series in South America in 2015. The itinerary included the three port calls mentioned by tncaec, however we were not able to reach Punta Arenas as the port was closed due to e very high winds.

 

At Port Stanley (Falklands) we did the Patrick Watts tour to Volunteer Point. We had port calls at Ushuaia twice (on legs one and two), and both times used Pira Tours to visit Harberton Ranch. The Pira Tours experiences, both times, were simply excellent and we felt much better than the Volunteer Point experience.

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We did a B2B2B series in South America in 2015. The itinerary included the three port calls mentioned by tncaec, however we were not able to reach Punta Arenas as the port was closed due to e very high winds.

 

At Port Stanley (Falklands) we did the Patrick Watts tour to Volunteer Point. We had port calls at Ushuaia twice (on legs one and two), and both times used Pira Tours to visit Harberton Ranch. The Pira Tours experiences, both times, were simply excellent and we felt much better than the Volunteer Point experience.

 

What did you feel was a better experience in Ushuaia over Port Stanley? We are booked with Patrick Watts and also a penguin tour in Punta Arenas.

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When we arrived it was not too windy. We went to see the penguins on Magdalena Island, which was so windy we could not walk up to the lighthouse. When we returned to the ship, not only was she well tied up, but there was a tug pushing on her center ship side to keep her from ripping away from the dock since she was broadside to the wind. The tug cost $5K/hour and was there for several hours. Definitely a windy port. :)

 

Tina

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hola Ambelina ... will be interesting to hear Northern Aurora's answer. Why have you chosen the Volunteer Point trip over others in the Falklands ? In PA ... are you visiting Seno Otway or Isla Magdalena ? Why have you chosen PA over Ushuaia for penguin viewing. Thank you for your help.

Edited by tncaec
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hola Ambelina ... will be interesting to hear Northern Aurora's answer. Why have you chosen the Volunteer Point trip over others in the Falklands ? In PA ... are you visiting Seno Otway or Isla Magdalena ? Why have you chosen PA over Ushuaia for penguin viewing. Thank you for your help.

 

We chose Volunteer Point because we have heard many good thing about the tour with Patrick Watts and that is why I wondered about Northern Aurora's experiences. We are going to Magdalena Island from Punta Arenas and we are on a tour with our roll call group. Still would like to hear from Northern Aurora.

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From my understanding there are more penguins in Ushuaia and that maybe due to its lower latitude. We know the penguin population in the Falklands is seasonal and when we were there in March numbers were very low. There have also been reports on CC earlier this year about the penguin colony in Punta Arenas being decimated.

 

 

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ambelina .... I went ahead and booked a Volunteer Pt trip ... certainly kings will be a highlight and won't be seen in such numbers anywhere else on cruise. still thinking about PA vs Ushuaia. happy cruising!

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How bumpy is the road to the penguins at Volunteer Point in the Falklands? The tour sounds wonderful for penguin viewing, but we'd like to get an idea of how much lurching will be required to get there.

 

The ship's descriptions of Falklands penguin excursions say the 4x4 portion may cause issues for pregnant women and those with neck or back problems. Sometimes they say that for legal reasons, and unless you've recently had back or neck surgery you'd be fine, but at other times they really mean it.

 

My DH and I are adventurous, but have had some neck/shoulder muscle strains in the past which required physical therapy (fully healed from them now).

  • Do they really mean it, so we'd need to worry about bouncing severe enough to potentially wrench something on the trip to Volunteer Point?
  • If so, would we see almost as many penguins in Punta Tombo in Puerto Madryn and/or on Isla Magdalena in Puenta Arenas instead in February? (I know they won't be kings). Are those smoother trips?

Thanks for help with any firsthand comparisons of Falklands vs. Punta Tombo/Isla Magdalena!

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What did you feel was a better experience in Ushuaia over Port Stanley? We are booked with Patrick Watts and also a penguin tour in Punta Arenas.

 

We chose Volunteer Point because we have heard many good thing about the tour with Patrick Watts and that is why I wondered about Northern Aurora's experiences. We are going to Magdalena Island from Punta Arenas and we are on a tour with our roll call group. Still would like to hear from Northern Aurora.

 

I was somewhat reluctant to post much about our Patrick Watts experience as someone was really upset with me about a year ago when I posted details contrasting our Pira Tours and our Patrick Watts experiences. That particular poster had done the Patrick Watts Volunteer Point tour but had not done the Pira Tour trip to Harberton Ranch; she felt that the Volunteer Point tour had been one of the best of her life (or something to that effect).

 

My husband is an avid birder, but not an obsessive birder. Penguins were important for us to see. Given the order of the port calls on that B2B2B we were in Ushuaia, Port Stanley, and then again in Ushuaia.

 

In Ushuaia the trip out to Harberton Ranch takes about 90 minutes. One of the bird guides provides commentary as you drive through the national park. The road is on both paved and then on gravel. At Harberton Ranch the group may be divided into two groups (depending on how many folks are booked). One group goes over to the island while the other visits the small bone museum on the property.

 

The number of folks going to the island is limited as you go over on an enclosed zodiak, and we had less than 25 both times we did this tour. You are briefed on expected behavior (not to talk loud, don't walk up to the penguins but let them approach you, absolutely no trash including any food crumbs so a lady who was finishing a little package of chips was asked to leave the chip package on the zodiak). Once you are dropped off, right among the birds, the bird guide lets the shock wear off a little regarding how close you are to the birds and the sheer number of birds (about 20,000 on the entire small island), and then they began to quietly talk about the birds in a casual question and answer manner. They lead a slow walk over a route and up a little set of stairs. The penguins are so unbothered about this little group of humans visiting them that at times you had to be careful not to step on one. The zodiak returns at a slightly different point.

 

The bone museum is also quite interesting as this area is where a number of marine skeleton specimens are found. So many of those marine skeletons in the Smithsonian, the British Museum of Natural History and so forth were collected in this area.

 

Patrick Watts is not the only company at Port Stanley which goes out to Volunteer Point, so the number of people visiting will be greater than the number he can accommodate. The drive is initially over a paved road but then off road. The small 4-wheel drive vehicles race off road through bogs and so forth, and it is quite bumpy. At Volunteer Point we were dropped off in a parking lot and pointed toward the birds. The only information we saw was a plywood signboard mounted on the side of the woman's restroom facilities, and we also saw two round wood disks on the ground; we suspect that the round disks had been mounted on a post which had fallen down. We saw some small kids (who were from our ship) running on the beach while some of the penguins were trying to walk from the beach area more inland; they were not intentionally harassing the birds but just doing what energetic little kids do after being asked to sit for so long, but it still wasn't the best behavior around penguins. Another guy was calling over the wind to his wife as he needed either a new memory card or camera battery; again, the volume wasn't the best around the birds. The tours to Volunteer Point include boxed lunches, and since it is quite windy there we saw some trash, such as empty chip bags, on the ground. If there were any bird guides we didn't meet one. The drivers take turns being the "warden" for the day; that person wears a safely vest and is to stop over-eager tourists trying to cross a large circle of white rocks enclosing the area where the King penguins congregate, but we saw several folks doing so. Our assigned driver, who was an affable guy, seemed to be doing this as he had to pay child support to his ex-wife; this extra job helped him make his child support obligations and we heard way too much about his problems with his ex-wife.

 

We were in Puerto Madryn twice on that B2B2B but didn't go out to Punta Tombo. Instead we went to the Peninsula Valdes. Wildlife viewing is always the luck of the draw, but on one of those Puerto Madryn stops friends weren't that impressed with Punta Tombo, but did the Pira Tour (with us) and were pleased.

 

So much rambling for now. I am posting from a hotel as we prepare to board a ship tomorrow, and I suspect from the length of this post it is clear that I am "killing time."

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Thank you Northern Aurora for your thoughts and experiences on the penguin tours. It gives us alot to think about. I'm not sure why anyone would be upset over someone giving their opinion of a tour because it differs from their experience. Every experience can be different and everyone's expectations are different. Thanks again.

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northern aurora .. thanks for the detailed info. My ship (HA Zaandam) isn't showing any penguin excursions in Ushuaia so I checked out the Piratours website. They show a 6-hour duration for their tour and unfortunately, we are only in port for 6 hours (2-8 pm). I went ahead and booked a Volunteer Pt trip and if weather keeps us from landing, I will try to find a last minute penguin trip out of Punta Arenas. happy sailing.

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We were in the Falklands this past February. We took the Bluff Cove tour which we thought was very good and had perfect weather. There were hundreds of Penguins, including some King's. You can check it out on TripAdvisor. In Port Madryn, we did the tour to the Valdes Peninsula. Also saw a lot of wildlife, but it was 2.5 hours each way from the ship.

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We did the Patrick Watts tour in the Falklands, then the ship tour to Magdelena Island in Punta Arenas. Haven't done the tour in Ushuaia, so can't comments about that one. Our Patrick Watts tour we found very good, although I will agree that the drivers didn't really do much of any guiding us through the birds once we were there. (Personally, that wasn't a problem for me.) I didn't really find that we had problems that day with people misbehaving either. I can definitely understand listening to a driver that did a lot of talking about having to do it for their child support payments would be something of a downer (and quite frankly, depending on how it went I'd probably have considered following up with Patrick about it so at least he'd know). We had a younger girl driving us that did a lot of talking about life on the Falklands, so we found that pretty interesting. Penguin population was pretty good late december, so I felt it was a pretty good tour.

 

The Magdelena island trip was also pretty impressive. The sheer number of penguins that were there were amazing, and while you kept to a path there, the penguins had absolutely no care at all about wandering around people. It's been a few years since we went, so I don't know about reports of the population there being down significantly, but if it is, that'd be a real shame. At the time we were there they were saying something like 50k+ breeding pairs, and from what I saw I'd believe it. Again, no real guide here telling you about things, I didn't really feel it was necessary either.

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Definitely the Falklands. I went with Estancia as they went to Voluntary Point. Patrick Watts didn't go there. Voluntary point you are put in 4 wheel drives by locals. There are large colonies of King, Gentoo and Magenallic Penguins and I loved hearing about the Falklands from a locals viewpoint. Wonderful tour! My favourite of the whole cruise.

 

 

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I have gone to Volunteer Point 6 times, once with Patrick Watts, who doesn't not offer the tour all the time. My preferred vendor is Estancia, who, I've used all the other times. For me, it's a top area, and I don't find the negative elements. There are docents, I've noted spread all around the area, keeping visitors in check, areas roped off etc. Yes there are stupid people seen on tours. I find it interesting to link that negative with a specific location- those kids could just as well have been on ANY tour. (and they aren't there now). Put the blame where it needs to be- with those individuals, not the location.

 

Volunteer Point is NOT recommended for anyone, who can't tolerate bumpy off roading.

 

I've driven to Punta Tombo, a few times, which I also find excellent.

 

Magdelena island is good, and my first trip, I went to another area out of Punta Arenas that was drive up, had a park entrance fee area? Of course windy but a very nice loop walk past Magellanic penguins. (cheapest option)

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  • 2 weeks later...

I did Volunteer Point with Patrick Watts and it is my favorite tour anywhere. Ride can be very bumpy for the last hour, our driver Val was a hoot to listen to. He wasn't the fastest but everywhere we stopped we were the 1st or 2nd to arrive. He knew how many gates were ahead and would position us so we could just drive thru while other drivers had to wait to close them after us. Several times vehicles got stuck and the drivers would work together to get around and pull them out. Val would sit quietly and then would get tired of waiting and then just drive around on a slightly different route. He was the local ambulance driver so I guess had tons of experience.

 

Once at Volunteer point there really were no guides but I didn't want any personally. We were told when to be back at the vehicles and left to our own. I could have spend twice the time we had taking photos. Followed a group of penguins all the way down to the beach and got some great photos.

 

Hired a driver with another couple at one of the other ports for a visit to the penguin colony, it was nice but no where near the experience at Volunteer point. I would book several tours in case you do miss a port along the line.

 

I've been on 65+ cruises and travelled many places in my life as my Dad worked for the airlines for 40+ years and Mom was a TA for 50+. Volunteer Point was my favorite tour anywhere.

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  • 10 months later...
I have gone to Volunteer Point 6 times, once with Patrick Watts, who doesn't not offer the tour all the time. My preferred vendor is Estancia,

 

 

 

I've driven to Punta Tombo, a few times, which I also find excellent.

 

 

 

Magdelena island is good, and my first trip, I went to another area out of Punta Arenas that was drive up, had a park entrance fee area? Of course windy but a very nice loop walk past Magellanic penguins. (cheapest option)

 

 

 

Ah, the person I am looking for - you have done all 3 penguin tours I am considering. Our cruise will be going to west to east so the order of these stops will be Punta Arenas, Falkland Islands, Puerto Madryn (with some in between). I am concerned about getting getting tired of seeing penguins...if that is possible! I definitely want to see Volunteer Point in the Falklands, but am wondering if we need to see penguins at both Magdalena Island and Punta Tombo. Would you recommend both or one over the other and why?

 

 

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We haven't been to Punta Tombo but we have been to Volunteer Point and Magdalena Island. The only similarity - aside from being excellent experiences - is that they are both home to large colonies of penguins but the penguins are very different in size, appearance, behavior and nesting habits as are the habitats. I would not have wanted to miss either.

 

One thing to consider when making multiple penguin excursions is that they obviously can be cancelled due to seas and weather (as happened to us in Ushuaia and why we missed a 'sail by' in Punta Arenas after visiting Magdalena Island and why some Volunteer Point excursion companies cancelled their excursions when the boggy grounds resulted in multiple stuck vehicles). Should you be visiting a port that requires a tender (Punta Arenas and the Falklands on our cruise) your entire stop could be cancelled due to seas and weather.

 

Our reaction after our South American cruise was that you can't see too many penguins!

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This is an old thread but for someone in a similar circumstance I would book two tours and they would be in the Falkland Islands and Punta Arenas. Two different experiences and sometimes a ship cannot run tender service in the Falkland Islands due to high winds and if a ship is not docking in Punta Arenas but running tender service the same can be true.

 

Keith

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I visited all 3 penguin sites earlier this year. Must say that each was unique and different. Yes all had penguins but each location had different species or species combinations or different quantities or different geography. Enjoyed each and in retrospect really enjoy the memory of the contrast and comparison of the different locations.

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I have only seen the penguins from Ushuaia (and Antarctica). We really enjoyed our Piratour to see the penguins from Ushuaia. It takes most of your day. We walked among magellanic and gentoo penquins and there were two stray king penquins there too.

Here are two email addresses to try. They are slow to respond but they did when I said I definitely wanted to make a booking. operaciones@piratour.net info@piratour.net

 

I have used both emails listed above and contacted them through their website with no luck yet! I was wondering what the cost of the tour was, since it is not listed on their website. While doing our planning, it would be nice to have a figure close to the cost. Thanks in advance!

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I have used both emails listed above and contacted them through their website with no luck yet! I was wondering what the cost of the tour was, since it is not listed on their website. While doing our planning, it would be nice to have a figure close to the cost. Thanks in advance!

I too have sent quite a few emails with no response. I have now decided not to do their tour as there is a lot of time spent on the road then 'hanging around' in the small museum due to having to split into 2 groups. The time spent with penguins I think was approx 1 hr and the tour actually was a full day. I have read cost $160 USD. We are now opting for another tour in Ushuaia for 1/2 day as I would love to wander around on foot for a few hours. We have Patrick Watts booked for Pt Stanley which is up close and personal with the penguins and also looking at Puerto Madryn for more penguins, On all accounts Pira has fantastic reviews and would be well worth the $$$. Who knows if they bother to contact me I may change my mind. I do think that whatever tours we do will all be very special and such a wonderful experience. I feel very lucky to be able to do such wonderful holidays. Happy sailing :D

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