Punta Tombo penguins

You're so right, Juliejoe - I was thinking of Puerto Madryn's excursion, not the one from Punta Arenas. We took a private tour in Punta Arenas - arrived at the penguin reserve well in advance of the ship excursion. We walked about 3/4 mile on a wooden plank path and arrived at many penguin burroughs. We were able to get very close to them, and I got tons of "up close and personal" photos. We also climbed two observation platforms that allowed us to see even more. The only area where we were separated was between our viewing site and the water; I would estimate that we were no more than 20 yards away at that point. Still a great tour, although a bit tiring due to the walking distance.

Mike

Apparently Celebrity does a completely different penguin tour from Puerto Arenas to Punta Tombo than the one we took privately (middle of January) (and also the ones taken by those on our Oceania Insignia's tour). After the drive, we walked less than five minutes and were absolutely surrounded by over 500,000 penguins - UP CLOSE AND VERY PERSONAL! No "knot holes" or fences at all!

 

Mike

Hi Mike....what is the name of the tour company that you used for your private tour?

You're so right, Juliejoe - I was thinking of Puerto Madryn's excursion, not the one from Punta Arenas. We took a private tour in Punta Arenas - arrived at the penguin reserve well in advance of the ship excursion. We walked about 3/4 mile on a wooden plank path and arrived at many penguin burroughs. We were able to get very close to them, and I got tons of "up close and personal" photos. We also climbed two observation platforms that allowed us to see even more. The only area where we were separated was between our viewing site and the water; I would estimate that we were no more than 20 yards away at that point. Still a great tour, although a bit tiring due to the walking distance.

 

Mike

We enjoyed Seno Otway too. The obervation towers were not as good as shelter by the sea. I saw several taxis with 4 people. There are plenty of taxis and you don't need a guide.

We had a private tour with a guide. Takes just over an hour to get there and walking around the path takes an hour or so depending how much time you spend taking pictures.

The penguins are in the grass and we saw more adults than we did in Punta Tombo. Also watching then dive into the sea was great.

We too saw penguins in Punta Tombo and Seno Otway. They were both fantastic in different ways. There were more babies at Tombo but the antics of the adults were more entertaining at Otway. Yes, there is a lot of walking at Otway but we were lucky that although it was cold and windy it was dry. I don`t think we would have enjoyed it as much if it was raining.

I hadn`t arranged anything for Tombo beforehand as I only wanted to do the 5 hour round trip in a van, When we got off the Millenium we bought a tour at the pier. There were 10 of us in the van - 6 Spanish speakers and 4 English. Yanet of Sentir Patagonia Travel was excellent.

how much was the trip to Seno Otway penguins if you joined a group at the dock??

$60 pp not including lunch. We stopped at the gift shop/cafe at the reserve before going back to Puerto Madryn. We had about half an hour there before we took a Celebrity shuttle bus back to the ship. We had warm sunny weather so we decided to go to Puerto Tombo in case we could not get to see penguins anywhere else. I remembered reading on a previous thread that you should see penguins at the first opportunity in case you can`t get to see them later in the cruise. Sentir Patagonia were also offering trips to Punta Valdez but I don`t know the price.

Just returned from our trip. I was advised by someone not to waste my time, but after reviewing comments on this site, I knew I had to go and it was well worth the ride. It is lengthy, bumpy and dusty. There is a pit stop to use the bathroom and get a cold drink half way to the site. They come right up to you and there were hundreds of thousands. Would be delighted to send you a picture if you send your email address. I used the ships tour only because they were obligated to wait if we were late to the ship due to break down, flat tire, etc. I did see other passengers in small vans and that is fine, I just wanted to be safe. The buses do not have good air conditioning and it was a hot day and most of the penguins were at the beach, swimming and playing, I kid you not!. Anyway, let me know. Maria Insignia 2/2-2/18

Hi Mike....what is the name of the tour company that you used for your private tour?

Yes many years later saw your post and want to know name of company you used if it still exists.

Thanks.:D:D

We did the Peninsula Valdes, which was excellent. Here are the portions of my cc review.

PUERTO MADRYN

After a sea day, our next port was Puerto Madryn, Argentina. Our tour was to the Peninsula Valdes with Nievemar Tours, which was arranged by Eric and Paula. The tour was a full day tour and cost $100 per person. We traveled extensively over gravel roads to see much wildlife. We probably spent about half our time traveling. However, if you want to see the animals that is what you need to do. There are basically two options at Puerto Madryn. Peninsula Valdes or Punta Tombo. Punta Tombo has a colony of Magellanic Penguins, but we had plans to see the same penguins at Punta Arenas, so we elected to go with Peninsula Valdes. The Peninsula is actually a large ranch, which included some mining; however there are animal preserves which protect the animals. Our group included Eric and Paula, Mike and Pam, Wing and her Mom, Kathy and Dani, Kathy and Lloyd as well as Ginny and I. It was great company. On the drive to the first preserve, we saw herds of guanaco, an animal that is from the camel family, but about the size of an alpaca. We saw a bird that is in the roadrunner family, but larger. The first preserve was to see Magellan Penguins. We were able to get very close to some of the penguins. There were about a hundred of them that we could see. You could see how they burrow into the earth to create a nest. There were a few chicks, or young penguins, but the chicks were closer to being full grown, however, you could still see they did not have the adult coloration. Next, we visited another area overlooking a beach where we could see elephant seals. We were told by our guide that these seals are able to dive hundreds of feet in the ocean, far deeper than a nuclear submarine. Apparently, scientists have attached sensors and GPS devices that have proven the animals can dive over a thousand meters deep in the ocean. Our reviewing stands were not as close as with the penguins, but with our telephoto lenses, we were able to take great photos. The last animal preserve was one filled with hundreds of sea lions. It was mating season, we were told, and it was noisy out there with the sea lions. After visiting all these preserves, we stopped at a former whaling town on the peninsula that now specializes in eco-tourism, with boat tours to see the whales. We had a late lunch of fish and fries, which was good. All the seafood we had in South America was excellent, especially in Chile.

Our mini-bus made its way back to the port and had about 40 minutes to get to the ship when we stopped at the entrance to the port. Apparently our driver was not in the union and could not drive through the port security gate. We had to wait for another bus to come by from the same company with a union driver. Our guide vented about how corrupt the country was, mentioning that when Juan Person took over he nationalized the railroads and quadrupled the employment within three years, consequently bleeding the rail roads of funds, with the consequences that the current state of the railroads in Argentina is very poor.

We learned that Puerto Madryn was originally settled about 150 years ago by Welsh settlers. Apparently, many still speak the ancient language as spoken in the 19th Century. There is a Welsh festival scheduled for next year in the city.

PUNTA ARENAS

Our next port was Punta Arenas, where we tendered. This was the most problematic tender port. Lines were long and it seemed to take longer to make it to shore. Our tour was with SouthExcursions and only a half day tour, so we were not apprehensive about having time to return to the ship on time. The tour was described, as follows:

Otway Sound Penguin Colony

Half Day Activity (This tour can begin at 09:00 or 13:30)

Leaving Punta Arenas, you’ll head north on to the Brunswick Peninsula, along the Straits of Magellan. From there, you’ll take a detour to Otway Sound, a beautiful landscape of plains, bays and fjords.

Next, the tour will take you to the Picket Mine, an important open-pit mineral deposit in the region’s gigantic coal mantles.

Finally, you’ll arrive at the pingüinera, the nesting ground of the Magellan penguin (Spheniscus magallanicus). Thousands of birds, which are called “******* penguins” due to the donkey-like braying sounds they make, come ashore in the spring, to breed, and lay eggs here.

Our tour included most of the same people on our Puerto Madryn tour. Cost was $67 per person, which was a good savings over the Celebrity tour. The Otway colony was larger than the group of penguins that we saw at the Peninsula Valdez. The drive to the colony was not a long as in Puerto Madryn. We passed the mine on the way to the colony. We walked some distance over a boardwalk with some bridges that allowed penguins to move under the boardwalk. The boardwalk took us to first to a viewing stand close to the beach were we watched the birds on the beach, some swimming. Then the boardwalk took us in a kind of triangle, walking closer to some of the penguin nests with more viewing stands. The viewing stands were small and only allowed three persons at a time to use. It took over an hour to make the circuit. We learned that Punta Arenas had a population of about 130,000, about twice the size of Ushuaia. The city looked prosperous, but then we felt that Chile generally looked more prosperous than Argentina.

We returned to Punta Arenas and spent some time in and around the town square. There was a festival type atmosphere with a local band and lively music. Also, there were stall were souvenirs were on sale.

In route to Puerto Montt, our ship passed through the Chilean Fjords, which included more scenic mountains and hills on both sides of the ship.