After leaving Torre del Paine I went to Punta Arenas on the Magellan Strait.   Like Magellan and the great explorers of yore, I joined a ship and boldly set sail into the virtually uncharted waters of the Magellan Strait the other day.  Well, ok, I took a tour to a penguin rookery via a powerboat with 3 200hp Yamaha engines and there a few boats ahead of us also boldly sailing to the island rookery.  Still it did take us over an hour to get there with little to eat along the way, though no one came down with scurvy.

And there were thousands of penguins on the island.  They were a pretty fearless lot, too, as you could get within arm;s length of them and mingle as you liked.  They did not have much to say, though, perhaps being bored with all the tourists.  I would say they moved awkwardly on land and I wager I could easily beat the fastest among them in a footrace, regardless of distance.  In the water, however, I would have to give the penguins the edge, as they really are fast and impressive swimmers.

They have their nests in these unimpressive holes in the ground, though they stand rigid guard over them like the guards at Buckingham Palace.