Can you sense my excitement from my liberal use of exclamation marks?!  We set sail shortly after breakfast.

Right after we pulled away from the dock we had  “the talk” where we learned about all the ways we could die (fall down the stairs, get washed away by waves) maim ourselves (finger gets closed in a door, jewelry snags while working, slip).  To quote the first mate,  “this boat is designed with one purpose: to injure you”.  I think that Andrew would have really liked this talk (more than 5 ways to die while having the same kind of fun).  We also learned about the number 1 way to  anger the crew, not closing the toilet valve  so no one on the whole ship can flush.  You would think it wouldn’t be that hard to flush….

Sadly, I have already been visited by the flusher police.  There was some grunting about the vacuum, but I think I was in compliance.

After lunch we were set free… and I of course I went straight out on deck and stayed there until dinner.

I saw my first (and many more) Commerson’s dolphin.   We saw them in the straits of Magellan at the last “pinch point”.  They appeared in small groups (I think 5 was the largest cohesive group of animals I saw).  They weren’t shy about trying to bowride, but I think we were going  a bit too fast for them.

I also got to see some of my old friends the pinguineras at sea.  I know that penguins are good swimmers.  I know that they can range far and wide in search of food.  However,  they still caught me off guard seeing them so far from shore (we saw them well beyond the oil rigs!)

We had a long stretch with not much wildlife except for non-cooperative (too small, too fast, too far away) terns.  When I returned to the deck for sunset, there was a great petrel  (I think that’s the correct common name, but this bird was big, close, and pretty cooperative).

This morning started out with a tour of the engine room.  Perhaps, the crew thought it would be comforting for the newbies to see what was going to get us through the dreaded Drake passage and beyond.  As you might expect, it was incredibly loud in the engine room.  It was also immaculately clean and did not smell in the least of diesel.  Keep in mind the LMG is 230 feet long and houses about 30 scientists.  For me this is a huge boat, compared to the tour boats which typically carry about 100 tourists,  the LMG is  smallish.

Another day in port….still a little time before the rest of my “cruisemates” arrive.  It is another unusually gorgeous and not winding day.  I am told that Punta Arenas means “cold, windy, rainy and horrible” in Spanish.  I have been very lucky with the weather.  I even have a rather unfortunate sunburn (sigh).

What to do? What to do… I know penguins!  Like there was ever any question.  Just outside of Punta Arenas there are several colonies of Magellanic penguins.  Feeling absolutely crippled without a trusty guidebook I randomly picked a tour company.

So it turns out that with my poor Spanish I booked a shuttle to the colony rather than an actual tour.  I really missed the educational spiel about the penguins and there weren’t very many plaques out at the site.  Here is what I learned from eavesdropping on other groups:

The colony we visited has declined from about 12,000 animals to less than 5,000 animals since the year 2000.  The decline was attributed to nearby mining activities.  The penguins dig underground burrows in grassy areas, so were very susceptible to disturbance from underground noise.  The mining has stopped, but the penguin numbers have yet to increase.  This time of year, most of the chicks have been born (Nov 15-Dec10).  Sadly I didn’t see any wee ones poking their noses out of the burrows, but there were a few juveniles around (though none of them wanted to pose for a picture).

Now I give you… pinguineras

That’s it for my exciting port call in Punta Arenas.  It’s going to be a few days before my next pos.  Stay tuned.