25/3/2017 Beagle Channel – Martillo Island
Ushuaia, ARGENTINA
Participants: Stephen Davies (Photos), Sue Davies (Report)
There is only one tour company, Piratour, that offers a tour of the Beagle Channel with a stop on Martillo Island to walk amongst the penguins. This day trip included many and varied wildlife sightings, an informative museum tour and especially close encounters with two species of penguins.
Saturday 25/3/2017 Ushuaia – Martillo Island return Track Info
This trip had been recommended to us by the same couple who suggested we do the glacier climbing on Glaciar Viedma so we were keen to try this one out as well.
The weather forecast for Saturday was favourable and apparently in this part of the world that is a rare occurrence so we booked the trip (through Piratour).
As predicted we awoke to a clear sunny day. A relatively late start at 10:30am ensures that the penguins have finished feeding for the day and returned to their nests on Martillo Island.
The roughly two hour boat trip ends at Harberton Ranch, a large private property which includes nearby Martillo Island. Along the way we visited and lingered near colonies of sea lions and cormorants. The weather was stunning! If we kept going for just another 1000km we would reach Antarctica! Today anything seemed possible.
Cormorant with Sea Lion
After arriving at the ranch we were split into two groups. We went to the museum first where we were given a guided tour with a young Chilean archeologist. She provided a lot of information about the local marine animals and showed us through the world renowned collection of skeletal remains. It was very interesting.
From here it was time for lunch in the restaurant. We were pretty keen to get onto the zodiacs for our crossing to Martillo Island to see the penguins.
Magellanic penguin on Martillo Island
It only took about ten minutes in the zodiac before we were on the shore at Martillo Island Natural Reserve. We were given strict instructions on how to behave around the penguins so as not to disturb them or their nests. Even though it was the end of the season and half the colony had left, there were still a large number of birds. We saw Magellenic and the larger Gentoo penguins and had plenty of time to observe their behaviour and take photos. It was fantastic. Steve even got pictures of one Gentoo penguin returning to land who appeared so wobbly on its feet it looked drunk!
Before long we were back on the boat headed to Ushuaia. On the way back we were lucky enough to observe some infrequently sighted Sei whales. This topped off a fantastic day.
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