Punta Arenas

Wednesday, February 6

Weather:  56º F, Cloudy

This windblown city near Chile's southernmost tip sits on the Strait of Magellan. which itself is positioned squarely between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Too many travelers rush through Punta Arenas, treating it as a pit stop on their way to the stunningly beautiful landscapes of Torres del Paine National Park and other attractions in Patagonia, but there's plenty in this city and its environs to experience, too. From penguin spotting on Isla Magdalena and kayaking the Strait of Magellan to visiting area farms and then indulging in surf-and-turf specialties (here meaning fresh seafood and asado, or Chilean barbecue) at local restaurants, Punta Arenas is worth a stopover all its own.

The first look out the window was encouraging. The Zaandam had docked at 6 am in Punta Arenas and in the early morning light the seas looked calm. I was awake, but not ready to get up. Finally around 7 am I pulled myself out of bed and started to get ready for the day.

I was concerned about rough seas because our plan for the day was to take a speedboat to Magdalena Island to see penguins. The tour is one that often gets cancelled due to weather. We had breakfast in the Lido buffet and I found the fresh strawberries I had noticed someone eating the day before. Delicious!

The four of us left the ship around 8:30 am and as the EXC guide had mentioned in his talk, we walked across the bridge and found the free shuttle to take us to town. It was just about full so once we got on we didn't have long to wait until it left. The drive to town was about 20 minutes. On the way we saw the Costa Luminosa which was anchored near the center of town and tendering passengers ashore.

The shuttle dropped us off at the Plaza de Armas. Along one side of the square was a cathedral. At the center was a large bronze statue of Ferdinand Magellan who had come to Patagonia in the early 1500's. Below Magellan is an indigenous Patagonian whose low-hanging foot has been rubbed to a shine by travelers headed out to sea. Legend says that if you kiss the statue's foot it will bring you good luck and calm seas as you pass through the Drake Passage.

Statue of Magellan.

Ensuring our crossing of Drake's Passage goes smoothly (and it worked!)

A tourist office was also located in the square where we picked up a map and verified the directions to get to the Solo Expediciones office where we were to meet our tour.

Tourist Information center in the Plaza.

I had booked our tour independently and we were required to meet at their office. The info we received said the tour was for 10:30 am but as we checked in and paid we were told we needed to be there at 10 am. Since it was already a little past 9:30 we just waited in their office and used the free wifi. The cost of the tour was 63,000 CLP. We paid by credit card and the charge for the two of us was $192.76.

More and more people came and around 10:00 they lead us down the street to where a large coach bus was parked next to the plaza. The drive to the dock where we were to board the boat took around a half hour and on the way we passed by the Zaandam. When we arrived at the dock, no boat was to be seen. We sat on the bus for a long time and then stood outside waiting even longer before two boats showed up...a smaller one and a larger boat.

We were on the larger boat on the right.

First we had to wait for everyone to get off the boats and turn in their life jackets and then the same life jackets were redistributed to us. Some people crowded ahead and grabbed the life jackets from those disembarking and got in line and they were put on the smaller boat. Those of us that followed the directions were sent to the larger boat once we had our life jackets.

I estimated about 45 people were on our boat, but that was too many to be comfortable. The semicircular seats would have been fine for 5 people, but it was necessary to squeeze 6 people into each seat. By the time Bob and I got on there were no seats where we could sit together. I wasn't very popular, but I sat in a group of 5 people and poor Bob ended up standing for the long and rough ride to the island.

So crowded...so stuffy...so rough.

After paying nearly $100 for the tour he didn't even get a seat. :(

I checked my watch when we boarded and it was 11:49 am...almost 2 hours since we had left town. The boat ride to Magdalena Island was advertised to be 45 minutes but it took over an hour...an hour that was very rough and very uncomfortable for me and even worse for Bob.

Once we were on the island we had an hour to spend with the penguins...and there were many! The path we walked lead down along the beach, up to the lighthouse and then back down to the dock. A little longer time would have been nice, but the hour did give us time to take many photos...we just couldn't dawdle and enjoy our time on the island.

We started the loop along the shore and headed up the hill to the lighthouse.

A couple of baby chicks still sporting their downy feathers.

Lots of birds on the island besides penguins.

View from the top of the hill looking down towards our boat.

When we re-boarded the boat, everyone grabbed their same seats (most had left backpacks and stuff on the boat). I needed to use the restroom and waited for quite some time at the door of the women's bathroom at the back of the boat until another passenger finally told me it was out of order. (I used the men's instead.) One of the crew was serving small cups of hot chocolate or instant coffee and some packaged cookies, but I was afraid to take any for fear of spilling it on myself on the rough ride. The inside of the boat was hot and stuffy so Bob (who still didn't get a seat) and I stayed outside on the back of the boat. I found a small metal box to sit on and we remained there for the ride back to the dock. Several other passengers joined us including a father with a young son who was very sea sick.

Hold on Bob!

With the boat going so fast it was necessary to hang on to keep from falling. The wind had picked up and the waves were so large that they were splashing over the side of the boat. Bob got pretty damp from the spray. The fresh air did feel good however and we got to see a dolphin swim alongside the boat for awhile.

The boat made a brief stop at Marta Island where there was a colony of sea lions. The boat didn't dock and anyone who wanted a photo had to come outside and stand on a narrow walkway on the side of the boat. One man tripped and nearly fell into the water as the boat was bobbing around in the waves. It was hard to get photos in focus with the movement of the boat, but I wedged myself into the corner of the back of the boat and was able to stay steady enough to get a few.

Birds on top, sea lions below.

Close up of the above photo...the male sea lion and his harem.

It was around 3:45 when our boat returned to the dock and we boarded the bus back to town. There were quite a few of us from the Zaandam so the driver dropped us off right at the ship. I loved seeing the penguins, but would consider taking the ferry instead of the speedboat if I ever did the tour again. I talked to some other cruisers who had done the ferry tour and they seemed happy with how it went and it was much smoother than what we experienced.

It had been a long time since breakfast so when we got back on the ship, we grabbed some nachos from the Dive-In at the mid-ship pool. After that I took a quick nap. When I got up I went out onto the lower promenade deck to take some photos of the area around the port and found Bob napping in one of the lounge chairs!

Dinner was at the buffet around 7 pm and we got done just in time to get to the evening show, Rock Legends, a production show with the Zaandam singers and dancers. There were no seats left in our usual spot in the balcony of the theater but we found seats on the lower level close to the stage.

We perused the gifts shops after the show and then Bob and I went up to the buffet to get something to drink. I walked outside by the pool to photograph the sunset...or what little there was of it. On our way back through the buffet we ran into one of the Cruise Critic couples and chatted a bit. I have enjoyed getting to know some of the people from the message boards and others that we have met as well.

The sun is setting and the cows are bedded down for the night.

And the night ended as many others during the cruise...Bob got a couple of DVD's from guest services and I worked on my blog notes. Oh...and as usual...one of the DVD's didn't work. 😒