The largest Magellanic Penguin colony in the world is something you need to see!
This blog post is about my port-of-call experience in Puerto Madryn, Argentina during my 14-Night Antarctica cruise with Celebrity Cruises in early February of 2024. You can read all about this series of blog posts:
[ 14-Night Antarctica Cruise ]
[ Ushuaia, Argentina ]
[ Puerto Madryn, Argentina: Peninsula ]
[ Puerto Madryn, Argentina: Punto Tombo ]
[ Montevideo, Uruguay ]
On our second day in Puerto Madryn, we went on an excursion to Punta Tombo, the largest colony of Magellanic penguins in the world. With up to a million or more penguins in the area, it’s the place to go to if you want to see penguins up close.
Similar to our excursion to Peninsula Valdez, the trip to Punto Tombo is about a two-hour drive outside of Puerto Madryn. The first part is on paved roads with the last half on sandy, gravel, and dusty road. A boxed lunch is also included in this tour.
We bought this excursion from https://www.shoreexcursionsgroup.com since it was less than half the price of what we would have paid had we bought it from the cruise line. Because of this, we had to make the trek on the pier to the parking lot.
Since the gangway was open all night long, we were able to get up early, eat breakfast, and leave the ship whenever we needed to. Since it was still early in the morning, it was a really nice walk along the dock.
The bus does stop at a gas station for a short bathroom break. The next stop after that is at the entrance to Punta Tombo where the tour organizer has to pay for everyone’s entrance to the park. We are allowed to get off the bus for a bathroom break as well. There is also a museum of the wildlife you can see in the region, however, in the interest of time, we weren’t able to go in.
Once the organizer purchases the required number of tickets, we have to get back on the bus where it will drive a short minute to the actual parking lot of the park. This is where the start of the one km boardwalk is. We were allotted two hours to browse the area at our leisure. If we came back any later, they told us they would leave us behind—although I believe this was jokingly said!
It’s important to note that the boardwalk is long. And at the end of the boardwalk is a small lookout area overlooking the ocean. This is the only place where you can see the penguins swim in the water. So if you really wanted to see penguins in the water, then make sure you leave some time for the lookout area!
I was not aware of this observation area so we ended up taking about an hour and a half going one way to the end. This left us little time to enjoy the penguins in the water. Yes, we hurried our way back to the bus!
As soon as you enter the boardwalk, you’ll encounter penguins to your left, to your right, in front of you, and even behind. They are the cutest flightless birds you’ll see—but don’t be fooled! They will be everywhere as you walk on the boardwalk.
We spent a lot of time during our first encounter with these penguins as we loved how close we could get to them. Little did we know we would take so long to get through the entire kilometre of penguin viewing ahead of us!
Penguins have character. Some are more active than others. Some are more curious than others. You can see how some are adorable while others might be angry.
In mid February the penguin chicks are shedding so you’ll see many of them with patches of fur.
The many penguins as seen from the observatory at the very end of the boardwalk were very interesting to observe. The penguins would carefully waddle to the water, dive in, play and swim in the waves and come back out.
Penguin Gallery
A baby penguin taking a dip in the ocean! 
A penguin crossing the pathway. We are instructed to keep a distance of 2m away from them. 
Another penguin approaches the ocean. 
The shoreline with the boardwalk in the background. 
Penguins congregate by a little pond. 
A lone penguin. 
Friends forever. 
Waddling to the ocean. 
A penguin enjoying the sun. 
There are many guanaco roaming the area as well. 
A penguin walking away. 
Interaction. 
Spot the penguin! 
A couple’s pose. 
One day… 
Yelling for its partner. 
Guanaco. 
A penguin by its home. 
Good together. 
Waddling to the ocean.
Final thoughts
If seeing penguins was a priority for you on this cruise (like it was for us) then the Punta Tombo penguin rookery is a must-see. There is no other place in the cruise where you will be able to see so many Magellanic penguins so close.
The two hour drive to the rookery didn’t seem all that long for some reason. Perhaps it was because the landscape surrounding us was all new, letting us soak in the Patagonian landscape.
This excursion can be bought directly from the cruise ship, or you can take the trip with a third party company like I did. To my knowledge there’s not much of a difference other than the price and the fact that you’ll need to walk the length of the pier to get to the bus.
YouTube Video
Watch my YouTube video on Puerto Madryn, Argentina where you’ll see a lot more videos of these wonderful flightless birds!
Have you been to Punta Tombo Penguin Rookery? Have you seen Magellanic Penguins this close? Let me know in the comments what you thought about them!