Pingüinos

It’s circus day and my 5-year old couldn’t be more excited. The boat doesn’t leave for Isla Magdalena until 4pm, so she’s been dancing around all morning like she has to pee while we take advantage of some down time to catch up on things back home. The sky isn’t quite as clear as it has been the past few days and we’re keeping our fingers crossed that it doesn’t rain, but to be on the safe side we bust out the neon jackets one more time.

The boat ride is about 90 minutes each way, and every so often, the passengers all storm one side or the other to see whales or dolphins off in the distance. At certain times of the year, this area is supposedly one of the best places for whale watching, but in November they are pretty few and far between.

Isla Magdalena has no permanent residents other than the birds, so the only people on it are the tour groups that come each day, make a quick lap around the island, and then return to Punta Arenas. As the ramp on our boat hits land, another 300 member blob of humanity spills out, selfie sticks swinging around like lightsabers as people jockey for position. With only 60,000 pairs of penguins to go around, there seems to be some real concern there might not be plenty of opportunities for pictures.

For better or worse, the penguins are clearly used to people being in their space, and while they stay away from the path as the horde moves through, once the last of the intruders has passed, they head on down the trail to resume their business.

Along the way, we see this group of three waddling by. You can probably guess who they remind us of.

To try and get some better pictures, I try moving all the way to the front of crowd, and then all the way to the back, but no matter where I am, I can’t seem to shake this strange person in a pink plastic coat, who is constantly giggling and making “do-do, do-do” sounds every time a penguin walks by.

Back on the boat, I get a “best day ever” rating from my traveling companion, so I guess the wait was worth it.