Ushuaia, Athentina

[camilla]

Hello everyone
I wonder if anyone has suggestions for two or three days in Ushuaia starting the 13th of March. We will be on our way to Puerto Natales but the bus only travels 3 times a week so we have a layover in Ushuaia. We would like to go somewhere, drive or get a guide to take us where we could see penguins, if that's an option.

Also, if there are particular spots where one could still see penguin colonies. I heard there are some tourist estancias where one can stay ivernight and that they are not too far from Ushuaia.

Any ideas would be welcome.  Thanks
camilla

[dilip]

Hello everyone
I wonder if anyone has suggestions for two or three days in Ushuaia starting the 13th of March. We will be on our way to Puerto Natales but the bus only travels 3 times a week so we have a layover in Ushuaia. We would like to go somewhere, drive or get a guide to take us where we could see penguins, if that's an option.

Also, if there are particular spots where one could still see penguin colonies. I heard there are some tourist estancias where one can stay ivernight and that they are not too far from Ushuaia.

Any ideas would be welcome.  Thanks
camilla
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When I was there (Oct. 2006) I didn't get a chance to see the penguins (arrived a few weeks to early), but I can heartily recommend that you take a boat ride through the Beagle Channel to see the various birds and sea lions.  I know that there are Penguin tours from the marina if that's what you're after.

The hotels in town are generally non-descript but convenient and clean.  I also did a couple of tours through the surrounding forests and on the toy train.  In retrospect, someone from Canada doesn't usually need to see mountains, trees, dog sled teams (and videos of a guy going to Canada and Alaska to learn how to race them), beavers and their dams.  If I had known that, I would have tried to do more on the boats instead of on the busses.

--dilip

[camilla]

sorry for msipelling (misplaced my glasses)
I meant, Ushuaia, Argentina....

[Lisa Nikodym]

I haven't been to Ushuaia itself, but I've just recently gone between Punta Arenas & Puerto Natales.  There is a convenient penguin colony you can visit that's a short drive off the main road between the two towns, quite near Punta Arenas, and another colony on an island that you can get to by boat tour from Punta Arenas.  If you can manage to get a day in Punta Arenas on the way, there are tour agencies in town that can take you to either colony on a tour.  The one you drive to is called Seno Otway (that's the one I visited, though by car rather than tour).  The one on the island is called Isla Magdalena.  A web search should turn up tour options.

Seno Otway was a lot of fun.  It was great to see hordes of penguins swimming and wandering around the landscape.  You should try to get to a colony there if you can.

Lisa