Ushuaia - Penguins!

We woke up to more snow again today, it was much colder too than yesterday - perfect weather for penquins!  
We joined a six hour trip ran by Piratours to visit Martillo Island, 90km from Ushuaia, where Magellanic and Gentoo penquin colonies return each year from late October/November time to nest.  We had a two hour mini bus ride to get there, we were warned due to the snow conditions we may have to turn back, but we made it.  An hour of the journey was on paved road then the second hour on dirt road which lead to Harberton Estancia. Snow chains came out at one point on the dirt road and we all had to weigh down and move to the back of the mini bus when we got stuck halfway going up a hill to get the minibus moving again.  We had a very experienced driver luckily plus a good English speaking guide.

When we arrived at Harberton Estancia it was still snowing on and off.  The estancia was founded by a British priest, Thomas Bridges in 1886, the land donated to him by the Argentine government, named after his wife's hometown, Harberton in Devon and is still in the same family five generations later.  The estancia also own some small islands including Martillo Island where the penquin colonies return every summer, so their main trade now is tourism.  Piratours have the exclusive rights to disembark on the island for penguin watching.  From the estancia it was a fifteen minute boat ride to the island, the boat had to be de-snowed first!  We saw some Magellanic penguins as soon as we disembarked, playing at the waters edge.  Penguins spend most of there lives at sea only returning to land to nest, always returning to the same island and nest spot, they also partner for life. 

Further inland we saw a small colony of Gentoo penguins nesting, their nests built out of stones on the land surface which makes them open to prey. The Magellanic penguins make burrows to nest in, hence safer nest sights and a bigger population.  Gentoo penguins are the orange beaked ones.  The penguins share the island with other birds such as skuas, their main predator, petrels, cormorants, vultures and south american terns.  It was fantastic to see them in their natural environment.  It was early penguin season so there were only a few penguins, enough to keep us happy though, another two or three weeks and the island will be full of penguins.  We spent an hour on the island then returned to the estancia for a warming hot drink.

We then visited a small but very well laid out museum, The Museum and Laboratory for the Study of Southernmost Marine Mammals and Birds.  There were loads of bones of whales, dolphins, penguins etc. all very eye catchingly  displayed with life size paintings of the animal behind its skeleton.  All the bones on display were collected naturally from beached animals. They do ongoing research, some scientists caught a lift with us on our boat to the island to do some penguin nest measuring/counting.