Day tripping from La Serena

16Jan12

Another day trip from La Serena, Chile.  In case you haven’t seen, my first one was to the Elqui Valley, posted here.   This time it was to the Humboldt Penguin National Reserve.  I should just let the photos speak for themselves, but I can’t help talking and editorializing sometimes.  OK, most of the time.

First, I will say that this Reserve is worth the day trip from La Serena (it’s about a two hour’s drive to the beach landing area, then another 45 minute boat ride to the islands).  And yes, from afar you’ll see birds, sea lions, sea otters, and penguins frolicking on the rock outcrops.  But I think the fun is more in the journey itself than in the amazement of seeing marine life, because the boats cannot disembark on these rocky islands where these animals inhabit, or even get all that close.

Setting off point in the tiny fishing village of Punta de Choros.

Not our boat below, but roughly almost the same size.

This is what I meant about the fun being in the journey itself.  It was an early spring day, and overcast and windy.  And honestly, the 45-min boat ride on choppy waters felt much longer.  But I really enjoyed it, even knowing that whatever marine life I see would be pretty tiny (I suppose I could have brought binoculars, but I’m not much of a binoculars fan, or a long lens fan either).

Maybe it’s just me, but I like the absurd feeling I get now and then when traveling, as in “am I really going all this way, or taking a 3 hour bus ride, or whatever just to see [fill in the blank -- the smallest known set of cutlery in the world; or the single two-inch large red flower that opens once every decade]?”  I’m exaggerating a bit, and am not saying that my trip to the Humboldt Reserve was like that, but sometimes doesn’t it feel funny the things travelers may fixate on?  And on this day I was determined to see penguins, even knowing that we couldn’t get close to shore, and that the Humboldt penguins are about 18 inches/46 cm tall (not to be confused with the Emperor penguins in Antarctica, which can reach 4 feet/1.2 m tall).

So here they are.  I’d say that this is after cropping about 60% of the image (truly hard to choose among my many Rorschach images).

Setting foot on land in Isla Damas, also part of the Humboldt Reserve.

The biggest treat of the day for me was probably having a school of dolphins follow our boat for part of the return trip.  And I was wise enough to simply enjoy the moment.  Not all memories can, or have to be captured in print, or megapixels.

Have a wonderful week, and thank you for stopping by again.

Filed under: animals, Chile, Flowers, Nature, Travel   |  9 Comments
Tags: photography travel chile