CC’s mum visits Isla Damas
Today we were off to spot wildlife!
In particular, the Humboldt Penguin – but also lots of other birds and animals (if we were lucky). Our destination was the Reserva Nacional Pingüino de Humboldt, which consists of a few islands off the coast of Chile. These islands can be viewed on a boat trip from Punta Choros. One of the islands – Isla Damas – you are also allowed to walk around. Punta Choros is around 2 hours by bus from La Serena, and there is only one bus – which leaves from outside a Greek bakery at 9am (Yes that’s true, and yes we were on that bus!)
The tours all operate in the same manner – a boat ride around the islands, and then an hour on Isla Damas where you can walk on some trails. Only an hour is permitted on Isla Damas, as that’s the park rules – to minimise disturbance to the wildlife.
The whole boat trip lasts around 3 – 4 hours, and the only bus back goes at 3pm – so it’s a tight schedule, with 2 hours on the bus, then the boat trip, then 2 hours on the bus back to La Serena – arriving at around 5pm. We took a packed lunch which we managed to gobble up while we were on Isla Damas.
All in all, the day went very well – with lots of wildlife viewing 🙂 The only downside was that it was very grey and overcast – so with the poor light and the moving of the boat, a lot of our pictures ended up quite blurred 🙁
NO, IT’S NOT AN EXCUSE – THESE WERE DIFFICULT CONDITIONS!
BUT, as we have said before on this blog…. ‘Blurred photos of birds are better than no photo of birds’…. so we are going to share them anyway 🙂 🙂 🙂
So, first off – it was time to get ready to board the boat!
Once we were out on the water we headed straight for the first island – where the boat driver cruised along the edges looking for wildlife. We did the same for a second island (the islands are called Isla Choros and Isla Gaviota)….and on both islands we saw lots of wildlife, of which we took lots of blurred pictures……
So we were very happy with our boat ride – a non-stop wildlife extravaganza!
Next stop – a walk on Isla Damas – this was more about the scenery and a leg stretch as we didn’t see much wildlife while we were on the island.
The island has plants and flowers that only grow in the reserve – and so are quite unique. It was a very pleasant place to wander around.
After Isla Damas, the boat returned to Punta Choros, and then it was time for the bus home… CC’s mum had a great day spotting wildlife (and so did we 🙂 ) and so of course as we like lists so much – we made her a special list of the day’s wildlife when we got home…..
