Glaciers Amalia and P10 X

30^th January – Amalia Glacier

31^st January – PIO X Glacier

After leaving Punta Arenas yesterday we are spending two days cruising the fjords of Chile, stopping to view the Amalia Glacier at 7.00pm Wednesday night, and waking up at 6.30am Thursday morning to view the 4.1/2 kilometer glacier at PIO X.

We have been rather spoilt with the sight of glorious glaciers in Alaska and found the Chilean glaciers less exciting, especially in the wind and the rain that we are experiencing at the moment.

We are now sailing north and looking forward to some brighter and warmer weather, as we work our way up the west coast of South America.

Punta Arenas

29^th January – Punta Arenas

This morning we were up at 5.30am for an early breakfast, ready to muster at 7.00am for an early excursion to see the Ottway Sound penguins.  This was our final opportunity to see penguins in South America. 

After a short trip ashore in the tender, we boarded our coach to drive up the Magellan Straits before cutting in land across unmade roads to the Ottway Sound.  En route we spotted a condor, some rhea, some pink flamingos and many other birds that I am afraid I can’t name. 

On arrival at Ottway Sound we got off the coach and had a mile walk to see the magellanic penguins.  Our first sighting of a penguin was that of a sole penguin scurrying through the scrub from its burrow towards the sea.  We then walked a little further and we could see the whole colony on the beach, which seemed to be happily  swimming and playing in the surf, whilst a crèche of this year’s youngsters huddled together on the shore line not yet ready to venture into the sea.

After watching them for half an hour in the really blustery weather, we followed the penguins in shore to see their burrows, where they fledge their young.  We could get within a matter of feet of penguins sitting in their burrows under the scrub.

After an hour and a half wandering around and watching these fascinating creatures we rejoined the coach for our journey back to town.  A really enjoyable excursion and well worth waiting for.

We wandered around town before returning to the ship.