Magdalena Island: Dancing with Penguins

Feel like you’re in a National Geographic documentary, surrounded by thousands of fearless penguins and seagulls shitting on you on the Patagonian Magdalena Island, at the southern tip of Chile.

After a beach landing D-Day style, you only have an hour to conquer the top of the hill where the lighthouse is standing, trying to snap as many penguins as you can. Maybe it won't be as glamorous as the Joker stairs dance, but on your way, strong blasts of wind will slow your progress, while you avoid the birds bombing and remember to close your mouth.

I'm a photographer warrior who got the best images out of Los Pingüinos Natural Monument.

Penguins are flightless birds that swim like fish, walk like a drunk, and enjoy gathering to perform a concert of squawking.

Like a shelled battlefield, this devastated land is riddled with craters, dug out by the penguins to set their nests.

Yes, confirmed. Penguins look cute and you'll feel the urge to adopt one as a mascot.

According to various sources, nearly 60,000 pairs of the Magellanic Penguin come here for a breeding holiday during the Austral summer, as opposed to just 9000 homosapien singles, who I suppose visit the island for a different reason.

Do not disturb: quiet seagulls.

The penguin at the bottom right corner seems as amazed as I was, watching these birds floating in the sky. Like a comet, instead of flying from A to B, they were simply suspended in the air, playing with the strong wind.

Another fun source of entertainment here is to go fishing without getting fished by killer whales.

Periscope view of the target, just before landing.

You can usually get to the island after two hours of a sleepily slow boat trip, or on board a zodiac, if the sea permits.

Sunset in Punta Arenas, the regional capital where is possible to embark to Magdalena Island.