Chile - Penguins on Tierra del Fuego

Following the W, we returned to Punta Arenas and embarked on the penguin viewing portion of our trip.  First we took a ferry over to Isla Magdalena to see the Magellan Penguins that nest there.  They said at any given time there are about 40,000 nesting pairs of penguins on the island which is a national park.  It was crazy windy during our visit and got quickly pushed off the island a little early as the wind picked up even more.  

With one full free day in Punta Areans, we figured that a day trip over to the island of Tierra del Fuego to see the King Penguins was a great idea.  As we would come to find out later, this might not have been the best decision given the windy conditions we encountered the day before.  Once on Tierra del Fuego, as you can see below, you're so far south that Antartica starts showing up on google maps when you search for your current location.

Tierra del Fuego reminded me a bit of the scenery in the Gobi (though with paved roads) and it was pretty stark and empty.  We finally arrived at the King Penguin reserve, the only nesting site in Chile for these penguins and were again almost knocked over by incredibly strong winds.  Some of the penguins were sitting on eggs and others had some recently hatched chicks.

We returned to the Straight of Magellan around 3pm with the intention of boarding a car ferry for the return trip to the mainland.  To our dismay as we arrived, we were met by a line of cars also waiting to cross.  Because of the 100+ kph winds, the navy had suspended all navigation across the straight.  After waiting for hours, the navy made the final call around 10PM that navigation was fully suspended until daylight, if the winds calmed.  Luckily the driver of our van made nice with the lady who ran the public restrooms and we were able to crash on the floor of the bathrooms/visitor center instead of outside in the cold van.

We finally got back to the mainland the next morning around 9.  Unfortunately, we were still a 2 hour drive back to Punta Arenas and had a 10AM flight that we definitely did not make.