Lyle and I boarded a ferry out to Magdalena Island to visit the penguin colony.
Due to conservation restrictions, we were allowed to stay on the island for only 45 minutes and had to follow the walking loop, staying relatively close to our group.
The island looked a lot different from 12 years ago. Instantly noticeable was the green grass and vegetation covering the surface of the island. Before, it was all brown and exposed dirt. After some research, we found that during our first visit, the island was in the middle of a 3-year drought, which decimated all vegetation on the island. The second big change had to do with the inhabitants of the island. Seagulls outnumbered penguins, which was not the case before. The drought had forced many penguins to relocate to another colony nearby.
Later in the trip, I bought a Penguin 101 book and learned so many facts about these adorable, amazingly adaptable little cuties. Did you know that penguins can sleep while being awake? Yup, they sure can! They can shut down one side of their brains when they snatch a quick nap, sometimes as quick as 8 seconds. They take enough of these micro-powernaps that within a 24-hour period, they average around 8 hours of sleep!