Outings and excursions · Puerto Varas
Puñihuil Penguin Colonies: Humboldt and Magellanic Penguins on Chiloé's Coast
Photos: Rjcastillo · CC BY-SA 4.0 / P. Hughes · CC BY 4.0 / Natalia Reyes Escobar · CC BY-SA 4.0 / Indies1 · CC BY 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
Cross the Chacao Channel by ferry and, on the coast near Ancud, take a boat out to see the only known place where Humboldt and Magellanic penguins breed together.
From Puerto Varas, the trip heads south on Route 5, past Puerto Montt, to Pargua on the shore of the Chacao Channel. There the car or bus boards the ferry to cross a channel about 26 kilometers long and less than 2 kilometers wide at its narrowest point. On the far side is Chacao, the gateway to the Isla Grande de Chiloé.
The road continues to Ancud and then out to the Pacific coast. According to CONAF, you follow route W-20 toward Pumillahue for 23 kilometers. At the junction, you turn west for 3 more kilometers to Puñihuil beach. It's a fishing cove with a broad strip of sand. Facing it are three islets covered in grass and shrubs: Huaiguape, the one nearest the shore, Chico and Grande.
Those islets make up the Islotes de Puñihuil Natural Monument, created in 1999 and managed by CONAF. They cover just 8.64 hectares, but they have something unusual: it is the only known place where Humboldt and Magellanic penguins breed side by side. You visit by boat, launched right from the beach. The trip lasts about 30 minutes and circles the islets at 100 to 700 meters from the shore. Nobody lands on the islets. You watch the penguins from the water, standing on the rocks or going in and out of their burrows.
With a little patience, other neighbors show up. Red-legged cormorants and kelp gulls nest here. Kelp geese and Fuegian steamer ducks also live here, and so does the marine otter, which shelters among these rocks. Since 2009, a municipal ordinance has capped the number of daily visits so the birds aren't disturbed.
After the boat ride there's time to walk the beach, look back at the islets from the sand and return through Ancud before crossing the channel back to the mainland.
- Tour type: Wildlife watching and boat trip
- Difficulty level: Easy
- Tip: Bring a windbreaker and something waterproof, because you feel the Pacific wind on the boat. Pack binoculars, and keep in mind that you never land on the islets.
