South America 3

 After three sea days we stopped at Puerto Madryn, Argentina and saw lots of penguins. We are heading north in the south Atlantic having rounded the horn. We were originally scheduled to stop at the Falkland Islands where there are many penguin colonies but high winds made tendering impossible so we passed the islands by and stopped at Puerto Madryn further north.

Puerto Madryn was founded by Welsh settlers - South America has encouraged groups from Europe to settle, there are areas with Germans (well before the Nazis), Bosnians and others - the Welsh wanted a separate state but settled on a remote colony to limit influence of other cultures. Today mining Bauxite for aluminum, fishing and sheep ranches are the main industries. Unlike the west coast of S. America it’s very flat and dry, windy too.


The bus trip to the Punta Tomba penguin colony took 2 1/2 hours but it was worth it - the colony has 18,000 pairs of Majalantic penguins, there are 18 species, all south of the equator except some in Ecuador. Majalantic penguins grow to about two feet tall. Male penguins arrive in November after being at sea since March, the men dig nests underground, females follow in a few weeks and find their mates - they mate for life 30 to 35 years - two eggs are laid , they share incubation duties, soon chicks hatch and the parents go to sea for food they regurgitate into the chicks mouths. Most of the penguins we saw were chicks waiting for their parents. They grow fast and fledge - lose baby feathers - in a few weeks. By March they head to sea where they live until November and start the process again. They find mates and start breeding at around 6 years old, juveniles also return to the colony each year but do not nest, they hang out on the beach and molt. It was very windy at the colony which was good as it was smelly, lots of penguin poop all over the place. Predators go after their eggs, chicks on land and adults while at sea. Sea gulls, foxes, rats, seals and orcas are the main ones.



Young penguin, most baby feathers gone.
Young chick, has grey baby feathers.
Adult.

Beach where adolescents hang out.

Typical borough/nest.

Nests and chicks waiting for parents.
Some smarter ones sought shade near the boardwalk.

Several lama like animals among penguins.

After our time with the penguins we got a box lunch and back to the ship - an eight hour day. Fortunately our guide spent most of the travel time telling us about the region and penguins, made the time go faster, wine with lunch helped too.


Sunset off the back of the ship.
Daytime view showing infinity pool and hot tub.



We have two more sea days then a stop in Uruguay.




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