Walk alongside Penguins on Magdalene Island and navigate Marta Island
Description
Walk alongside penguins on Isla Magdalena and watch the diverse fauna of Isla Marta Cruise the Strait of Magellan to the Magdalene and Marta Islands. Magdalene Island hosts one of the most important penguin colonies each year and Marta Island hosts more than 1,500 sea lions. We begin with this unique adventure, after checking in at our office, we head towards Bahia Laredo by transfer to embark on speedboats; for 45 minutes towards Magdalena Island, where we will disembark 1 hour with our guide to know the natural habitat of the Magellanic Penguins, in the largest colony in South America. We continue our journey to Marta Island to see Sea Lions (weather permitting), imperial cormorants and hundreds of southern seagulls. Then return to the pier and Punta Arenas. We will also have the opportunity if luck accompanies us to be able to see Southern Dolphins, Toninas Overas and Sei Whales.
Tour Options
Itinerary
Isla Magdalena is home to one of the largest colonies of Magellanic Penguins, there are around 50,000 specimens that arrive on the Island at the end of September to have their chicks, and leave the first days of April. On the island we can walk along the path with the penguins for an hour.
We will circumnavigate Marta Island to observe the diverse fauna that the Strait of Magellan gives us, such as sea lions, cormorants, petrels, albatrosses and if we are lucky we can see whale blows while sailing.
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Infants are required to sit on an adult’s lap
- Not recommended for travelers with spinal injuries
- Not recommended for pregnant travelers
- Not recommended for travelers with poor cardiovascular health
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
Reviews(146)
Everything about this trip was magical especially the people on the boat who make the trip really memorable.
The walk throughout the penguin colony was excellent and seeing the Southern Sea Lions was unbelievable. A comfortable trip! The guide on the boat was so knowledgeable and wanted everyone to understand the area and what we were seeing. We arranged a similar trip 2 days later as we enjoyed it so much.
A wonderful experience, the guides super attentive and friendly. Not only do they make the tour of the islands but they also tell you stories and information about the penguins. Highly recommended 10/10
This excursion was wonderful!! Our guide provided us with a lot of helpful information about the penguins and what would happen at each island that we visited. He also answered any question we had along the way - on the boat and on the island. The staff were helpful in getting on and off the boat and served us warm drinks (coffee, tea or hot chocolate) after our visit to Magdalene Island. They even reminded us to make sure our phones were safe as we got off and on the boat. The penguins and sea lions were amazing to see. We are very glad that we took this trip. The only tough part is the early departure time but it was worth it. And if we had been traveling in Patagonia a few weeks earlier, we probably would have seen a lot more penguins. One suggestion - bring binoculars if you have them
Check in was time consuming as there was only 1 person to check 2 busloads. The trip itself was great, the guide knowledgeable and the crew was outstanding.
The most amazing weather. The guides were very knowledgeable and spoke good English !! Highly recommend the tour. We saw penguins, sea lions , dolphins and many types of birds.
Joseline is very prepared. The experience is one of a kind, walking alongside the penguins, seeing where they live, listening to the deafening sound of sea lions... Everything is great!
The tour was cancelled for weather conditions with few forewarning, when we already came in Punta Arenas just to see the penguins. Had we been notified (at least about the risk) earlier we would have spent our time better. Weather forecast are accurate within 48 hours precisions to issue risk warnings. Only positive thing the reimbursement was fast.
It is worth getting up early! Arrive a few minutes early to select a good seat on the bus. Both the penguins and sea lions were wonderful to view. Rafael was a terrific guide!
This was a great trip. The check in was simple, the crew were super helpful, informative and genuinely friendly. The guides made sure to explain things in English for us non Spanish speakers. The team also made sure we were suitably fed and watered throughout the trip. (There are toilets onboard which was a plus). Fantastic views from start to finish. I’d very much recommend this trip for not just solo travelers but also for couples or groups.
