Dolphins, Sealions & Penguins - Natural!
Trip Start
Jun 11, 2008
1
260
349
Trip End
May 14, 2009
Bahía Inglesa,
Chile
Sunday, February 15, 2009
This whole area was just like something from and old western movie. With sand dunes, cactus plants and rolling tumbleweed, it really did look like Clint Eastwood would be riding by at any moment.
Punta de Choros is a small fishing village that gives access to the National Reserve Pinguino de Humboldt. Within this reserve are Isla Choros & Isla Damas.
We had to get a small fishing boat to the Islands. Ours was called El Mutante II - meaning The Mutant! This was probably about right with me and Lorna on board!!
I then raised the question "What happened to El Mutante I?". Suddenly the locals started to avoid eye contact with me and changing the subject. One local ran away shouting "beware of the moon"!!
We never did find out what happened to El Mutante I!
The first Island we got to was Isla Choros. You aren't allowed to go on this island as it is protected. (I don't mean by two mean looking Mafia guys, just by the National Reserve). However, we did a full trip around the island which took more than two hours - it was brilliant.
We got right close up to the island and saw some of the 12000 penguins that inhabited it. We also got to see many birds including the Piquero and three types of Cormoran - the Lile, the Güanay and the Yeco.
As we continued round the island we came across a rock full of Pelican's. It was as though they were all stood to attention - very funny. Next it was the turn of the Sealions who were just going mental on some rocks. There were some drinking, some fighting and some having sex - just like a party at Chez Vickers really!!
Then a huge sealion nearly got cleaned out. He was lay on this huge rock just chilling - in a Simon style - when a massive wave came to wipe everything out. Amazingly, just before impact, the sealion stood up and launched himself into the wave and swam off! Cool dude!
Then came a great moment - a whole load of dolphins came swimming by! We were told that we might get to see some if we were lucky and there were about 8 of them, all just swimming around playing in the ocean. They kept leaping out the water, but it was so hard to get them on a photo - they were clearly teasing us. We did get a couple though.
It was great because, as we were in a small boat, they would swim right past the side of us.
The boat then dropped us off on Isla Damas. This was also a protected island, but you are allowed onto the small beach. This was good as we sat here and had lunch for an hour. The water was so crystal clear as well.
We then set back off to the mainland, which only took about 20mins, and got back on the mini-bus.
We then headed off to Bahia Inglesa after a brief stop at Copiapo for supplies.
We didn't arrive until about 10pm, so it was already dark. We had a shed with 6 beds in it, but it did have a little stove so we cooked some frying steak and some eggs and had some sandwiches - nice.
We then sat outside with a couple of beers and looked up at the clear skies. It was amazing to have a completely clear view of the Milky Way! It's absolutely out of this World! (sorry). We also got to see Orion's Belt and the Southern Cross. There were just loads of constellations visible to the naked eye. We also got clear views of Alpha & Beta. It was cosmic. (sorry again).
Our European friends were in bed by 11 again - I can't believe how boring they are. Me, Lorna, James, Yersun & Rodrigo kept the party going - again!
Comments
hiya
just read your blog, same old vickers wit. it pains me to tell you that i actually laugh out loud when reading your updates..they are soo funny. looks like ur are having a whale ( or sealion) of a time..cant wait to hear the next instalment