Penguins.  Who in their lifetime ever thinks they are going to see penguins in the wild?  We did!!

  La Serena countryside

 

  Clouds and cactus outside La Serena

 

Our driver was prompt at 8 am, and after stopping at a few other hotels to pick up other tourists, we were on our way.    La Serena is overcast/foggy at least 90% of the time, but about an hour out of town, the sky was clear, and we were again treated to desert landscape.  We were headed about 123 km north to catch a ferry that would take us out to Isla Damas and Isla Choros, where we hoped we would see penguins and dolphins.  Many times, due to bad weather and high seas the trip is cancelled, but the call from the coast was everything was fine.  At Caleta de Choros we met our ferry, a small wooden boat, that would take us out into the Pacific Ocean.

 

The ride was a bit cold.  The sky was very overcast, it was damp, but luckily no rain.  It was hard to believe we were headed into the Pacific Ocean to see PENGUINS!!!  Our first stop was Isla Damas a bleak, desolate island that we were allowed to explore for about thirty minutes, which was just long enough.  The island has a very small, rather pretty white sand beach, but the rest of the island was rocky, had a few birds, mostly vultures, and a lighthouse you can climb up to.

  Beach at Isla Damas        

  Walking on the island                    

 

  The boat that brought us here

 

                         Flora  and……

 

  Fauna

 

                 

 

         Lighthouse  wearing everything we have

 

                                

 

  Rocky coast 

 

 

   Boat ride to the island