We had a quick breakfast in La Veranda and then got ready for our tour. We took this tour several years ago with Sue and Jim but wanted to revisit the penguins. We took a bus northwest for about 40 miles into the Patagonian countryside. Here the land has just enough low shrubs to offer camouflage to the guanacos and the South American ostriches or rheas.
The last part of the ride is on a gravel road past an open pit coal mine, which ranks among the world's latest coal reserves. Plus lots of wooly sheep. There are more sheep here than people.
When you get to Otway Sound, you hike one mile across grassland to a seaside penguin rookery where a substantial colony of the Magellanic penguins nest and breed. These penguins return to this location every year between October and March to lay eggs and raise their young. They bury their eggs in the sandy burrows, and under shrubs. Most of the eggs have hatched by the time we arrived. During the winter, the penguins swim up to the southern area of Brazil.
Some of the penguins having a meeting..
You then continue your hike around the area until you return to the bus. The weather was sunny but very windy. While we were visiting the penguins, Bob realized he did not have his card in his camera so the pictures I will post will either be from my little camera, which is not the best for stills, or ones from Stan, our neighbor down the hall.
We returned to the ship and quickly got on the shuttle into town. We walked around looking for one of the restaurants that our guide had recommended. We stopped at a local street entertainer. He was funny but in the middle of the intersection, so it could be dangerous.
We continued walking around the town and stopped to ask for directions at a local travel shop. We found one of the restaurants the guide recommended had some king crab at a local restaurant called La Luna. The food was good and we also enjoyed a couple of local beers. We took the shuttle back to the ship and now I am catching up with blog and Bob is napping.
Punta Arenas City Hall.
Church in Punta Arenas
Bob got up and wanted to swim so up he went. I stayed in the cabin to do some floor exercises as my knees and back were bothering me. I then took a quick nap and cleaned up for dinner. We headed to the Mariners Lounge for a cocktail and then to Compass Rose for a light dinner. We started with the Shanghai dumplings and then a bow tie pasta dish. After dinner we returned to the cabin and started to watch a movie called "The Big Year" staring Steve Martin, Joe Black, and Owen Wilson. Because of the cast, we thought the movie would be really funny. Not so so we turned it off and went to sleep. Tomorrow is a sea day and we are supposed to "Round the Horn". This will only be possible with the right sea and wind conditions. We have done it before so no big deal for us.
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