Louisa, Greg, Bob and Anita Caplan traveling in Patagonia, February 2008

  • Magellanic Penquins on Magdalena Island
  • Magellanic Penquins on Magdalena Island
  • Magellanic Penquins on Magdalena Island
  • Magellanic Penquins on Magdalena Island
We stayed in Punta Arenas a few days before pushing on to Torres del Paine. Punta Arenas is not a major tourist destination, but many of the tourist ships bound for the Antarctic leave from hear. For those not going to see penguins in the Antarctic, nearby Magadelena Inland is home to several hundred thousand Magallenic penguins. Cute and fun to watch, but smaller and less magestic than their larger cousins the Emperors.  
  • Magellanic Penquins on Magdalena Island
  • Magellanic Penquins on Magdalena Island
  • Magellanic Penquins on Magdalena Island
  • Magellanic Penquins near Magdalena Island
We took the two hour boat ride to the islands and spent a couple of hours wandering around. Like we've all seen in documentaries, they are docile and more or less ignore humans. Some of them waited before crossing the path. (The island had one maybe half-mile path for tourists up to lighthouse. The rest of the small island was for the penguins and other birds. Surprising to me was seeing them jumping in the water. Also if they weren't swimming in the water, at first glance they looked like ducks.