Early this morning the National Geographic Explorer arrived at the the remote island of Isla De Los Estados (Staten Island). The island has been declared an “Ecological, Historic, and Tourist Provincial Reserve” by the Argentinian government and access to the island is strictly limited and only under special permit. We feel very fortunate to be able to visit this intriguing island that very few people have ever visted.
After breakfast we headed ashore in the Zodiacs to a beautiful bay called Bahia Franklin, this was a true expedition stop as it was the first time any Lindblad ship had visted the area. We were very lucky to see many different bird species on the shoreline with the highlight being a large colony of rockhopper penguins.
In the afternoon we visted Bahia Capitán Cánepa on the sourthern coast of Isla De Los Estados. We had a fabulous Zodiac cruise around the bay with many great bird sightnings. We even got to see a large male southern sea lion basking in the sun. With so many wonderful animal sightings on our first day we can’t help but wonder what exotic creatures we will discover tomorrow on Isla De Los Estados!
