These weird looking creatures have the northernmost range in South America and are called Humboldt penguins after the German Alexander Humboldt an early naturalist and European explorer of South American flora and fauna.
We took a boat ride to the Ballesta Islands about ten miles off the coastal town of Paracas.
We left Rusty aboard GANNET2 and the campground owner Odón drove us in his Great Wall Wingle truck to the boat docks. It was my first ride in a Chinese pick up and it looked pretty much like any other. Odón said it’s okay but the quality isn’t as good as Japanese but it is half the price. He loves American iron and admires big American pick ups…
They have a whole fleet of tour boats to take people out to the islands. In Key West we used to call them “head boats” because we captains counted heads to make sure no one was left behind. The less kind term is “cattle boats” but they get the job done.
The cattle dutifully wearing life jackets.
The rather sleek looking catamaran had Peruvian registration numbers which whetted my curiousity. You don’t get many cruising sailors down here as the wind and currents are against you, it’s mostly cold and gray and there aren’t marinas or facilities along the coast. Sailing here would be an expedition.
There is a rock carving in the heights above the channel out to sea and they call it the candelabra but no one really knows much about it or why it’s here.
Our bi-lingual guide. They were very good about swiveling the boat so everyone gets a view. That didn’t stop the passengers all leaping to the side to get the first view. The boat handled the shifting very well and didn’t heel too much at the sudden shift of ballast.
A twenty minute ride at 30mph powered by two 250hp outboards got us out to the islands, slicing through the cold damp air.
Oystercatchers.
The islands are protected but every decade several hundreds laborers are ferried out to dig the guano which is the white stuff splattered on the rocks. It’s three feet of bird shit that accumulates and is dug up and shipped off to be used as fertilizer. Before the advent of commercial chemical products guano was a massive trade on the pacific coast of South America and fortunes were made if you can imagine that. The structures are all dedicated to guano removal.
These are Peruvian terns I am also told.
These crags remind me of the Farallon Islands off San Francisco.
And there was our first penguin huddling on the beach.
Eyes right!
A dormant seal.
These islands are huge tourist business and the boats go right up to the rocks.
A more cooperative mammal posing for us:
The research center.
The dock for scientists and others who actually land.
We followed this couple ambling and hopping down to the water for a swim and a snack:
We later watched them swim rapidly off into the ocean. Another local sailboat heading out:
Paracas from the sea:
An endless supply of tourists for the boats:
Twenty five cents to pee. And kids pay too. Don’t argue.
Boating makes you hungry so we bought some sandwiches to take back to our home for lunch. One pork roll and one fish roll and none with French fries sticking out.
Home sweet home and a dog very happy to see us.
