A Long Penguin Day
Wednesday 5th February 2020 – Puerto Madryn
The ship arrived about 6am in Puerto Madryn, Argentina but aside from being the country’s second-largest fishing port, it has absolutely nothing to commend it. A Welsh community settled in Gaiman near here in the 1865 and still survives to this day but quite why escapes me because the landscape is flat and desolate. It seems they were mis-informed but presumably stranded!
It was just as well we had booked an all-day excursion today because we had missed the chance of seeing any penguins in the Falklands and this was our “insurance policy”. So we were duly ‘on parade’ at 7.45am.
However, what we didn’t realise was that the Punta Tombo penguin colony is 110 miles south of Puerto Madryn and it involved a 3hr+ journey on the coach, including the obligatory p-stop, along with 5 other coaches, at an overwhelmed service station with only 3 loos for the ladies! Consequently, we didn’t arrive at the colony until 11.20am.
Punta Tombo is actually the largest colony of Magellanic Penguins migrating south from southern Brazil every year to nest and rear their young.
Here we had 1 and-a-half hours to take the 3km walk through the ‘Rookery’ (or colony) during which we got to see them at really close quarters.
The young can be identified by their fluffy coats, which are soon shed in favour of their more familiar black-and-white plumage. Goodness, they were cute!
The colony occupies a peninsula which is part of an ‘estancia’ (or ranch) and in the 1970s it was given over to the government and is today a national wildlife park.
Llamas (or Guanacos) roam wild in the area too and of course there are sea-birds and hawks circling, on the lookout for exposed chicks or eggs left unattended. Nature can be cruel.
And while the smell of penguin-poo in the air is difficult to describe, hopefully, you can hear their calls in my video – over the sound of the wind (sorry about that!)
We then had a rushed 1-hour lunch, which might not have been rushed were it not for the slow service at the restaurant. First course was an empanada, similar to a Cornish Pasty but with less potato and no swede and therefore perfect! Along with a glass of Argentinian plonk, that would have been fine for me but we had to wait ages for a tough steak and by the time we had managed that, many had to abandon thoughts of the crème caramel dessert. At about the same time, Andrew heard a terrific ‘crash!’ from the kitchen; it was more than the restaurant could handle in an hour, evidently!
The return journey in the coach was non-stop and still took over 2 and-a-half hours. It was wonderful to see the penguins but 5 and-a-half hours in a coach for 90 minutes of penguins and a second-rate, rushed lunch was a big ask. However, as we arrived at the ship (late), all the stewards were outside to welcome us back with disco music and champagne! It was all rather lovely.