Which Road?
Going out of Punta Arenas was fast with the help of the wind, but right after the airport, the road curved, and we had strong side winds. By our large scale map, there are two ways to get to the penguins in Seno Otway, near Punta Arenas. That is a lie, the northern old road doesn´t exist anymore, but unfortunately, we heard this from a policeman, 15 km after the turn we should have taken. We went back, and camped near the beginning of the road (1.6 km, on the right) between the trees.
Penguins / 1.1.2011
We left all our stuff in the tent, and traveled light with our bicycles to see the penguins. We think we might have been spotted by the military RADAR next to us, because a police car went after us, and turned back after seeing we were just cyclists. We cycled on the bad gravel road with strong face wind, and reached a private road. We were supposed to pay for riding on the road (1500 CH$ per person), but the guy at the entrance, said we could pass for free as a New Year´s good will. The private road was full of dust waves, and we trembled the whole way to the beach. In the Seno Otway reserve you are not allowed to walk wherever you want, and you should follow the comfortable trails.
The penguins there dig their nests in the small hills, and come out with their pups to catch some sun and bring food from the ocean.
We saw a few hundreds of penguins (and Amit took some few hundreds of pictures), although it was said that the reserve contains a few thousands of them.
Other animals
We enjoyed very much the unique experience, and even more the surroundings which is packed with different birds and mammals.
We expected to have strong back wind, but instead there was no wind at all. Still, the way back to the tent was much faster. After we got back to our hiding place (which took us some time because it was hidden so well), we heard a siren noise which we suspect was due to our slow movement next to the RADAR.
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