Wednesday – January 29, 2025
Today was all about seeing Magellanic penguins in their natural habitat at Punta Tombo. The featured image for this post is a young chick who doesn’t seem to have a care in the world. You’ll see lots of pictures and videos from today from that encounter.
The day started off bright and sunny – and not too hot. That was to change. Puerto Madryn is located on the Atlantic coast in a semi-arid region (10 inches rain per year average). The Andes mountains 450 miles to the West block the rain. You could compare it to the climate in Phoenix, Arizona. Starts off tolerable and continues to heat throughout the day.
Our guide for the day was Batina. Our bus had both English-speaking and Italian-speaking travelers so all information was given twice. In 1974 the population of Puerto Madryn (PM) was 7,000. A company opened an aluminum plant that year that hired 3,000 workers. That was the beginning of PM’s growth. Population in 2024 was 137,000. On the trip we saw a cross section of rock which was light colored on the bottom and brown on the top. Batina explained that the brown color came from volcanic ash resulting from the formation of the Andes mountain range. There were many volcanic eruptions and the wind blew the ash to the East where it settled in the PM area.
The ride to Punta Tombo took about 3 hours. Along the way we saw things like at home – wind farms, prisons and dinosaur digs. Wait – no dinosaur digs at home. About half way to the penguins near the town of Trelew we came across the area where in 2011 the world’s largest dinosaur was discovered. That year there was an especially high amount of rain and the runoff uncovered bones found to be from a previously unknown species. I think one of the skeletons is on display at the Field Museum in Chicago.
Batina pointed out that this area isn’t really suited for agriculture other than one type of animal – sheep. There is a certain type or sheep that flourishes here tended to by gauchos. It takes 2 to 4 acres of land per sheep so for any reasonable herd you need lots of land. There were no phone lines or power lines visible in the area – people are pretty much on their own. The wool from these sheep is white and very soft. Batina said they pay strict attention to keeping the herd “pure”. Newborns with any marking not white end up as tomorrow’s BBQ. She told an interesting story about the way the male sheep used to be castrated. The gauchos would slit the sack and grab the testes in their teeth and pull. However, this did not prove to be a sanitary way to perform the castration. They have since changed that method.
Once we arrived in the Punta Tombo area the road changed from paved to gravel – which threw up as much dust as it does at home in Iowa. We must have been on that road for half an hour. Then we arrived. Didn’t really know what to expect but were told that the penguins always have right-of-way. We began the 3,000 meter walk to the end of the walkway (at the edge of the ocean) and saw penguins in their burrows waiting for Mom and Dad to bring home the “bacon”. The chicks can be identified by the fluffy fur that is gray. As the chicks mature they loose that fur and begin to show reddish feathers around the eyes and 2 white horizontal stripes just below the chin. The mating and hatching process begins in September so we saw both chicks and maturing chicks as well as adults.
Punta Tombo is home of over 1,000,000 penguins each year during the mating and growth to seaworthy time from September to March. Normally the adults spend their day fishing so they can regurgitate the food to their chicks. They identify their chicks by their voice. It is said that that adults loose 25% of their weight as they feed the chicks. When mature the Magellanic penguin reaches a height of 20″. The males are the first to arrive next season and will return to their prior nest if it was successful the previous year. These penguins mate for life. There are many predators on land and in the water so despite the large number here each year, many are food for others. Normally a mating pair has 2 eggs.
The penguins couldn’t have been more accommodating. You’ll see one short video of a penguin walking down the path with the visitors until he/she can take the turnoff to the nest. They didn’t make any sounds but I did hear one in the bushes. Wasn’t able to get video of it so don’t know why the noise was made.
Also in the area with the penguins were guanacos – herbivores that are related to llamas. Batina said you never know where the guanaco will show up so we were fortunate to see some on our visit. We saw several singles and a mother and youngster during the day.
By the time we left Punta Tombo the temperature was HOT and the air conditioning in the bus wasn’t keeping up. We noticed the beach near the pier was quite a bit busier when we returned than when we left in the morning.
Back at the ship we had dinner (all of us had the turkey) so I included a couple photos of entree and dessert. Following dinner there was a show featuring performances by MSC Magnifica staff. Thanks to Kelsey for providing photos and video from the talent show.
Tomorrow is a sea day on our way to Falkland Islands. The weather there is sometimes intense so we’ll have to wait and see if we are able to lay anchor and take an excursion there. We will be tendering (taking a small boat from Magnifica) to shore – about a 30 minute journey.
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