Penguins - best shore excursion to see them?

[Toots]

We're on the 2/26 Amsterdam and want to see a penguin colony. Our possibilities are Falkland Islands, Ushuaia or Punta Arenas. Anyone recently back from this trip to tell about their experiences with penguins? Is early March still a good time to see them?

[ALadyNCal]

If you do a search on this board, there are a lot of previous discussions on these ports and the penguin options.

 

Otherwise.....I'll return home on March 2nd and tell you my experience ;)

[lwnbwlr]

We got off the Amsterdam in early January andt ook the Isle Margarita shore excursion and were very pleased with the whole trip. It was a two hour ferry ride to the island and you spend another two hours on the island. There were 10's of thousands of penquins on the island. You walk a roped in path for about a mile to the light house on the summit of the island around which the penquins scurry this way and that doing their thing. The tour operator gave everyone a box lunch on the "ferry" which contained a very moist ham & cheese sandwich, juice and some wafer cookies. Our weather was perfect, albeit a little cool, and the seas were calm and those factors might have influenced a bit of this positive report. Enjoy!

[Smooth Sailing]

We just returned from our South American Cruise yesterday. In Punta Arenas you have two choices - Otway Sound and Magdalena Island - We did Otway Sound - About a 1-1/2 hour drive from the port - you walk on an elevated wooden path - roped off from the penguins - you do however get very close to them - I would say this is a small colony of several hundred penguins - It was a nice tour. The Magdalena Island colony is much larger - you have already received a report on this tour - be advised this tour is only offered on a couple of days each week - Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. (Isla Margarita is located off the coast of Venezuela - nice place but no penguins). In Ushuaia the penguins are on an island in the Beagle channel - a catamaran takes you very close to the island but you do not land.

In the Falklands you also have two choices - Sparrow Cove and Bluff Cove - We did Sparrow Cove - We took a Tender to the Island - got on a 4 wheel drive jeep - went over some hilly and rough terrain to the Penguin colony - this is also a fairly small colony of several hundred penguins - maybe a bit larger than Otway sound - the advantage of this tour is you can walk right up to the Penguins or they will walk right up to you - also a few King Penguins at this site - Katie prefered this tour to Otway Sound - be advised the Cruise Ship often can not tender at this destination due to severe weather and stong winds. Bluff Cove is said to be very similar.

You have one other choice - the colony at Punta Tomba near Puerto Madryn - this tour requires a very long 3 hour bus ride each way - very bumpy and dusty - this colony of Penguins numbers over 1 million individuals - I heard that it was very impressive - We did not go because of the long bus ride.

In early March the Penquins are starting to leave most of these colonies - but there should still be plenty of them around to see.

Hope this all helps.

[juliejoe]

Smooth Sailing

Thank you for sharing your experiences! :) I think we are going to tough it and take the bumpy dusty ride to Punta Tomba (may pack a pillow along for the bottom!). Will sign up for and would like the Falkand Islands, but as you said - it's iffy whether we can get in there. We don't go till next January but I'm soaking up all the info I can find.

Julie

[buffetking]

We just returned home today from the 1/17 Celebrity Infinity cruise. There are lots of penguins! The best viewing was at Punta Arenas' Magdalena Island. It is a 2 hr. ferry ride, but well worth every moment! They have 150,000 Magellan Penguins and lots and lots of babies. The babies have lots of fur and are so curious. They love to pose for pictures!!!

 

Also, we went to Bluff Cove in the Falkland Islands. You need to go by 4x4 jeep. There they had Gentoo and some King Penguins. Was a great tour, but you might get dirty. It rained off and on again the day we were there, so we wore our hiking boots and rain pants. Kept us cleaner than our friends who got covered in grasslands.

 

You didn't ask about elephant seals, but we went on a visit to the Valdez Peninsuala. It is about 2 hrs. by bus. Not much is going on. It was mostly females and they just slept. However, the sea lion cololny was in breeding season and there was a baby born during the 15 minutes that we were there. That was really nice.

[MisVic]

We have just returned from a trip around the horn on Royal Princess. We saw plenty of Magellenic penguins on a tour of the Peninsula Valdez at Puerto Madryn. Another very bumpy ride but well worth it.

 

We booked our tour at an excursion desk just off the gangplank as we exited the ship. It was a wonderful way to see what Patagonia is all about. What we liked about this trip was seeing colonies of many animals including elephant seals and sea lions. We also spotted lots of other animals including armadillos, rheas, silver fox, hare, and gaunacos. We were told that we would be lucky to spot orca - we didn't but it didn't detract from all of the other wonderful things we saw.

 

The trip was $60 pp and we were luck to have a very comfortable van with four tourists, guide, guide/translator, and driver.

 

We saw hundreds of penguins up close and personal.

 

Vicky

[travelynn]

We were hesitant to try the trip to Punta Tombo because we had heard about the long, bumpy dusty road to get there. We had also heard, however, that the 500,000 penguins there made the trip worthwhile, so we opted to go anyway. We were very pleasantly sursprised that the ride there was much less bumpy than we had expected. Although the road is not paved much of the way, it has been graded and isn't too bad. There is a place called Trelew part way where one can stop for a bathroom break and a stretch. We were in a van which managed to get ahead of the tour busses, so that may have helped to reduce the dust factor as well.

 

The ride was well worth it, as when we arrived at Punta Tombo there were penguins everywhere. We were able to walk right up to the nesting areas and to see babies, moms and dads performing for us. The babies were starting to lose their feathers and were beginning to get their swimming lessons from parents. Visitors are asked to stay on the paths and not to venture into penguin territory beyond the paths. Penguins have no such rules, however, and freely wandered the paths directly in front of us. We learned that the parents eat food for their babies, bring it back to the young ones and regurgitate to feed them. Some of the young ones must have been hungry and demanding food while we were there as there were some amazing sounds coming from the little ones - a croaking, whining, screaching all rolled into one sound.

 

There was also one walking bridge which spanned the main path from the breeding grounds down to the water, and we could stand there and watch a constant parade of penguins waddling their way to and from the sea. We considered this a not to be missed excursion and would do it again in a heatbeat.

 

The road to and from Punta Tombo is pretty devoid of any scenery to speak of, but our driver did spot macas (rabbits), rheas and guanacas along the way and stopped to show us.

 

Lynn

[juliejoe]

Thanks Lynn! We had already decided to brave the bumps and dust, but it is good to have our decision validated by your experience! Did you take a cruiseline excursion and just happen to be fortunate to end up in a van instead of a bus, or did you book a private excursion? If private tour - who?

Julie

[Toots]

travelynn - is Punta Tombo near Puerto Madryn? If so, we're not stopping there. We're at Punta Arenas, Ushuaia, Falklands.

 

Thanks to all for your helpful comments. It sounds like Magdalena Island will be our best bet from Punta Arenas. I hope the penguins aren't gone by March 9th.

[relevart]

Travelynn,

 

Thank you so much for the Punta Tumbo review, when did you go there? We made reservations through Port Compass that we are going to use in a couple of weeks. Your review really made me glad we reserved the tour.

[travelynn]

Hi all,

 

Punta Tombo is near Puerto Madryn, Toots. Sorry you will not be able to see the penguins as that is the biggest penguin rookery in the world. I'm sure that penguins are as entertaining wherever they are found, however. There may just not be as many of them.

 

We returned from our SA cruise on the Royal Princess January 25, so this is recent information. On our cruise, we had good weather for most of the way - including an almost glassy sea around Cape Horn which is unheard of. We did, however, have to miss the port at Punta Arenas altogether because of gale force winds. The captain said that even if he could get the ship into the dock, there is no way he could hold it there given the winds. Missing that port was a disappointment to lots of people. In fact, I have heard that on a SA trip one ought to try to schedule penguins as early as possible in the trip. Then, if something happens in one port there are always others later. The Falklands can be another "iffy" port because of the winds.

 

As I understand it, penguins usually stay at the breeding grounds until late March. Hopefully, Toots, you will still get to see them. The young are spending this month learning how to swim and get food in anticipation of heading off later.

 

We did our tour to Punta Tombo with Portcompass. We used them for a total of 4 tours on the trip. Three of the 4 were excellent and I would highly recommend them. We did have a glitch on this tour, though. The van met us late and it was not large enough to accommodate the number of people who had booked the trip. Once we got things sorted out, the trip was good, and we enjoyed our day immensely. We had also requested that on the way back we have a chance to stop at the Welsh village of Gaiman for tea, even though that was not included in the tour. Our guide had made reservations for us at a charming tea house called Ty Te Caeroydd. The cost of the tea, which included sandwiches, scones, unlimited delicious tea and sweets of inifinite variety was only $6-7. We then had time to walk through the beautiful gardens as well. When we got back, we let Portcompass know what had happened and that it appeared the company was expecting another group instead of us. To their credit Portcompass accepted responsibility, apologized profusely, and made a fair financial adjustment. They said that in all the time they had worked with that particular tour operator, they have never had a compaint, and based upon postings I have read on this board previously, I would agree that is probably the case. My guess is that right now they are being more careful than ever to deliver a good tour in Punta Tombo.

 

Lynn

[relevart]

Hi Travelynn,

 

Did you ask Port Compass to go to the Welsh village for tea before you signed up or after you were there? There are only 2 of us on that tour so they may not want to bother.

[travelynn]

We asked to go to Gaiman before we left. The ship's tour went there, and we requested to do so also. The ship's tour included the tea; ours did not, but the price of our tour was much less expensive. Being able to get to the penguins before three or four busses is worth a lot.

 

 

Lynn

[voyager-sue]

Hey TravelLynn

 

That's a great tip about PortCompass. We don't like paying ship prices, but we weren't sure which companies are reliable enough to make sure we don't miss our sailing in the evening.

 

Did you book before you left home?

 

Sue & Ed

[relevart]

Hi TravelLynn

 

I'm not voyager-sue but I learned from her and others to book Port-Compass. They were absolutely great even though the car we were in was very small, especially for a 2-3 hour ride each way. We left before the busses left on the ships tours and we had the whole place to ourselves in Punta Tombo for over an hour. It was the highlight of the trip. There were 500,000 penquins and the 4 of us! We ordered through Port-Compass on the internet before we left.

 

We asked when we got back into the car if we could go to the Welsh village (Gamian) and the tour guide said no but the driver said nothing is impossible. That was after we said we did not want to stop for a meal (it was about 10:30 in the morning). So they took us to Gamian to see the town, but not for tea.

 

We would do that tour again anytime!

[Hemi001]

travelynn - What other tours did you do with portcompass and which one wasn't so good. I will be on the Regal in January and would like to explore all options for excursions. I will be booking up with juliejoe for the Punta Tombo tour but everything else is wide open at this time. Thanks for any info you can give me.

[Host CMLA]

Thanks Lynn! We had already decided to brave the bumps and dust, but it is good to have our decision validated by your experience! Did you take a cruiseline excursion and just happen to be fortunate to end up in a van instead of a bus, or did you book a private excursion? If private tour - who?

Just to pass on another thumbs up for going to Punto Tumbo on your own versus the ship excursion. In March 2002 three of us hired a car on the pier with an English speaking guide and we went on our own. Male driver; female guide. Punta Tombo is about 3 hours away by car. We made it in two hours. Raoul, our driver, drove 160 km an hour on the paved road. We were on the paved road for about 40 minutes. Then you turn onto a dirt and gravel road where we did 100 km an hour for an hour and twenty minutes. It was wild. FINALLY we made it to Punta Tombo. There are approximately 750,000 Magellanic penguins at this reserve. They’re everywhere and they’re accustomed to humans so it was easy to walk among them. You couldn’t walk two steps without running into a penguin. They were molting when we were there so you could see them scratching away to shed their feathers. Before leaving the reserve we stopped at the little gift shop/cafe and bought souvenirs and ate lambs meat empanadas. When we were leaving, the ship's tour was finally getting there. After we left there, we went to the town of Trelew and to the Paleontology Museum to see the dinosaur bones recovered from the area. Then we went to Puerto Madryn and got a tour of the city. After that, we asked our guide if we could do a little shopping, go to the post office and go to a grocery store to buy sodas and water to bring back to the ship. We had a wonderful day. The guide we had spoke excellent English and we saw everything there was to see. If I remember correctly, with tip, we each spent $60. So $180 total for the whole day.

 

Here's a picure of one of those penguins.

[scubadiver77]

We are concerned with the walking distance to the penguins. Does the private auto get closer than the bus? How far do you have to walk to be among the penguins? Ed

[Host CMLA]

We are concerned with the walking distance to the penguins. Does the private auto get closer than the bus? How far do you have to walk to be among the penguins? Ed

It's right there! The busses and cars pull up and aren't allowed past a certain point. You have to walk to be among the penguins. You can walk 20 feet from the car or bus and be among the penguins. There are fences and trails but the penguins don't know to stay within those. They tend to roam everywhere so it's feasible to be right up on the penguins after just a few feet. If others are able to walk further, it's a huge area with several walking trails. I wouldn't recommend a wheelchair on the trails because there's one area that you have to go up and over a small stream and the terrain is uneven in places. But even if someone with walking difficulty has to take a break every few steps, it still won't take long to be face to face with a penguin.

[Sachmo]

Lynn - my 80 year old parents are planning to go to SA - will they be able to do the penguin tour - would like your opinion - please e mail me at itsmejude@comcast.net

[ponstad]

Thanks for all the good information about penguin-viewing. We will be in Punta Arenas on a Sunday - and according to what I have been reading, will be unable to go to the National Park. We would really like to see penguins up close - what are some other options we might consider?

Thanks so much.

ponstad

[Aysen]

Advice about the penguins: NEVER try to touch one and NEVER stick your face near one of their holes!