Penguin Reserve

Trip Start Jan 20, 2012

Trip End Feb 26, 2012

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Flag of Chile Punta Arenas, Patagonia, Chile
Friday, February 3, 2012

Today we stopped at Punta Arenas, last stop in Chile. We visited a penguin reserve at Otway Sound. The land is quite barren here, the town was strategic before the building of the Panama Canal but the port is now less significant. There are a number of sheep ranches but that's about it.

The penguins we saw are Magellanic penguins, they're about knee high. Very cute. They come to Otway Sound each year from September to March to lay their eggs and raise their young. The rest of the year they live at sea. The male arrives first and digs a burrow which is about 3 feet deep - quite a feat considering they can only use their back legs to dig. Once the chicks are hatched the parents take turns going to the sea to catch fish to feed their young. They pretty much ignore the people, waddle back and forth from their burrow to the sea.

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