I’ve seen a lot of animals at Huinay, a plethora of birds, daily dolphins, the occasional sea lion. But one animal I never saw was the penguin. When I first got to Huinay, I confided my secret ambition to my peers and they scoffed, “Why do you care so much about seeing penguins, there are penguins here all the time!” But in the two months I was there, I didn’t see a penguin, not even once. After a couple of a weeks, I no longer ran outside to scan the sea every time that someone said they thought they saw a shadow of dolphin fin. I saw a pudu, a small deerlike animal so rare that when it was spotted at the water’s edge hiding from a puma, the whole camp went to see it. I saw sea lions sunning themselves on the salmon farm bouys, and I learned how to tell the difference between a juvenile and mature night heron, a male and female chucau. I saw hawks and great white egrets, and hummingbirds. But that one animal that apparently was so commonly seen around Huinay that I was mercilessly teased wanting to see at all? That’s right… not one measly little penguin.

So when I started to plan my trip I knew that I had to fit penguins in there somewhere. My biggest concern was that the summer is not only the high season for tourists, but also for penguins. Starting at the end of February, the penguins leave their colonies for the sea, only to return in September. Knowing this I wanted to maximize my chances of seeing penguins. And this is how I ended up in Punta Arenas, with my first imperative to see penguins before they left forever and I would be left with a sad penguinless space in my heart. I arrived in Punta Arenas yesterday afternoon, and went straight to the lovely Hospedaje Magallanes. According to my research there were two penguin colonies, a small one at Seno Otway, and the large one of Magallenic penguins at Isla Magdalena. The only problem was that I had been informed that after the summer no more ferries go to Isla Magdalena. After dropping my bag down I immediately cornered the hostess Marisol to ask about the availability of penguin tours. Without blinking she said that she could reserve a spot for me on a tour to Isla Magdalena. Fantastic! I later got to talking to several of the other people at the staying at the hostel and apparently they were waiting to take the tour as well. It had been canceled two days In a row because of high winds. Nooooo.

I was very worried up until I got to the Solo Expiditions store front this morning. It was drizzling sightly, but the many Chilean flags around the city were hanging limply. I inquired if the boat was leaving that day and happily it was. A half hour later, 12 of us were piled into a van that took us 20 minutes away from the center of town. We went down the lime green dock where a small white motor boat was waiting for us. The ride to Isla Magdelena was a about 30 minutes over calm seas. It’s very cliché, but as soon as we stepped off the boat onto the island, the drizzling stopped and the sun tried to peak out between the clouds. Apparently, only half the colony was left, the rest had gone to sea, but I didn’t care; there were penguins, penguins everywhere. And to think that in Huinay I would have settled for seeing one lonely little penguin. But after 2500km I got to see tens of thousands… WORTH IT!!