World Cruise Day 46/152 - Punta Arenas, Chile - Penguins and a world's first!

Cruise day: 46/152
Ports days: 16
Sea days: 30
Countries: 5
Continents: 2
Ports: 10

We are now at the southernmost port on our itinerary, Punta Arenas, Chile. Punta Arenas is near the tip of Chile's southernmost Patagonia region and sits at the north end of the Strait of Magellan.  The Strait connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.  

This means that tonight, as we sail through the Strait of Magellan, we will transition from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean.

The day remained in the mid-50s with rain.  This guy did not look impressed.

I told him about all the fun we've been having and all the amazing food we've been eating on the Viking Star.  This was his reaction.

Punta Arenas is a busy port.  There were multiple ships at the dock and several anchored offshore.

This sculpture was located on a point near our ship.  I Googled it but couldn't find a reference to it.

I noticed several shags flying around.

Then, I spotted these decrepit piers that were loaded with shags.  That explained the air traffic.

Our excursion wasn't scheduled to depart until 2:30 PM.  We wound up playing a little bridge and euchre with a couple we met on the ship. After lunch, we packed up and headed off to the Star Theater to wait for our excursion to be called.  After a few minutes, we were ushered off the ship and onto our awaiting catamaran for the approximately 1.5-hour ride to Magdalena Island. 

Along the way, we caught glimpses of dolphins and sea lions.  We also spotted several types of birds flying in the area, both en route and on the island.

Imperial shag

Gull

Chilean skua

Magdalena Island is a protected area and is home to the largest colony of Magellanic penguins in South America - nearly 60,000 nesting pairs. They leave this area in April and head north along both sides of South America.  Every year, they return here to mate and raise their young.

We spotted sea lions just off the edge of the island.

The island is also home to tons of gulls. This is a juvenile gull landing in the water.

A gull chick.

Laughing at us for standing in the cold and drizzle.

We learned that gulls are kind of jerks.  Here's one eating the remains of another.

And here's one trying to kill another.  This was a serious life-and-death fight.  The other gull did get away.

We saw what looks like a massive congregation of penguins in the distance. On closer inspection, it was a huge gathering of shags.  Both birds are black and white and from a distance, it is easy to confuse the two.

But you don't come to Magdalena Island for the gulls or shags.  It's all about the Magellanic Penguins. You take an approximately one-mile walk around the island, up to the lighthouse, and then back down.  Along the way, you see penguins and penguin burrows everywhere.  It was really a fun time.

Adults have a distinctive black line along the top of their chest with white above it and black above that.

Here is a juvenile molting and without the black line of an adult.

Here is a chick, a very young juvenile.  Note the brown fuzz on its head.

The penguins are social and mate for life - mostly.  The guide said that at times, they have been seen getting a little action on the side.

Not impressed with us at all.

Another juvenile coming into its adult coloring.

They regularly called out.  The only way I can describe it is that it sounds similar to a braying donkey.

Here's a chick inside a burrow.

In a mated pair, the male is typically larger.

Here is a juvenile with its parents in the burrow.

Here is a chick in the burrow.  In the second photo, you can see its parents nearby.

Here's a little video of the action.

When we left on the excursion, we were told that the ship would not be here when we got back.  What we found out was that we needed to take on fuel and they do not fuel ships at this dock.  Therefore, we needed to move out to anchor.  The ship did that, so when we got back to the pier, we were greeted.  Let me explain.

As we pulled up, there was a waiting Viking tent set up.  As we disembarked, we were handed umbrellas for the short walk to our waiting tender boat.  The people standing in the rain to greet us, hand us umbrellas, and escort us were none other than General Manager, Johann (4-strips), Financial Officer Chris (3.5-stripes), Beverage Manager Andrej (3-stripes), Restaurant Manager, Casper (3-stripes), Guest Services Manager Mara (2-stripes) plus a whole support crew.  Shore excursion Manager wasn't waiting for us as he was with us on the excursion.  He jumped in to assist as well. It was an amazing operation.  What made it even more amazing was that after we boarded the tender, we were all handed a glass of champagne.  Johann said that this was the world's first instance of champagne being served on a lifeboat!

Viking pulled out all the stops to ensure that even though our planned arrival back at the ship had to change, we were all treated wonderfully.  It was a great experience.  The fact that it topped off a great excursion made it that much better.

Originally, we were supposed to have scenic cruising around Cape Horn tomorrow.  They are expecting a really bad storm in the area tomorrow, so Viking pivoted.  We will now be cruising around the southern fjords tomorrow and working our way over to Ushuaia, Argentina.  Then, we will cruise the Cape on Wednesday before heading north to Uraguay.