Matarina, Peru
We woke up early in the morning, still in the rich Humboldt Current off Peru and surrounded by endless numbers of sea birds and dolphins. The rocky coastline on our port side was far in the distance.
This extremely inhospitable dry desert is an amazing contrast to the lively steaming life in a rich ocean. Those interested in sea birds have a highlight as the birds were swarming around the ship. Impressive numbers of Gray Gulls flying around the ship and you were able to hear the calls, storm-petrels like large butterflies close to the water, large flocks of Franklin’s gulls probably still on migration south, jaegers harassing terns…
Two large whales were spotted in a distance. As the ship got closer, we were able to get an identification of two large Humpback whales. These are animals now making their south migration and soon they will reach the feeding grounds at Antarctica. It is even possible if we have some luck later on to encounter the same animals as we are heading to the same place, Antarctic Peninsula. Hopefully and with major luck we will be able to confirm if these are “known” animals as we got a good fluke shot. The humpback catalogue concerning Humpbacks at Peninsula is ever growing and we may even find these animals have already been sighted in some earlier season around the Antarctic Peninsula. In a few days we will know.
Through the morning Johan Reinhard continued to speak about his amazing adventures along the peaks in the high Andes. Today it was a presentation about the Ice Maiden. A fascinating story about extreme high altitude archeology and also a great insight about how Inca culture worshiped human scarifies. The Ice maiden is now on exhibit in Arequipa.
As we were approaching our aim for the day, the port at Matarina, we also saw a huge pod of dolphins, many 100s, a mix of Dusky and Common Dolphins. The water was boiling and the officers on watch were able to take the ship right up close. Amazing views from the bow and the water was in fact boiling!
After lunch we boarded buses to make it south along the coast to Lagunas de Mejia, a major wetland along the Pacific coast and very important for migratory birds spending the boreal winter in South America. As soon as we stepped out and overviewed the water we saw amazing numbers with mainly ducks and coots. More careful search and using a spotting scope we were able to identify several birds species we know from home, lesser and great yellowlegs, spotted sandpiper, snowy egrets, little blue herons… Of course being far from North America we also spotted several local birds like Andean coots, great grebes and fascinating Chilean flamingos feeding in the shallow water and in the surrounding grassland beautiful red breast Peruvian meadowlarks.
Before we left the area we also made a stop at the visitor’s center established at the entrance. As we made our way back towards the port our guide took us through some of the smaller towns along the coast. Now very sleepy places, but soon through December to February boom of summer visitors, mainly from Arequipa and Bolivia. Yes, we are now in the southern hemisphere and everything is the opposite! It is spring time!
