As you may have gathered by now, my husband and I love travelling. So whether we go on a country trip by car or fly to another country we always try to see as much as we possibly can.
It was a beautiful spring day, the sun was shining and we wanted to do something special. So on this specific occasion, we decided to take a boat trip to a small Island just off the coast of Punta del Este, Uruguay where we live.
The round trip to Isla de Lobos takes approximately 3 hours. If you have a tendency to get seasick I would seriously reconsider doing this trip because the boat is very small and it does go out into the open ocean where the waves tend to be quite high, even on a calm day. Although we were not many people on the boat a few of them turned various shades of green and where not feeling very well. I myself have never experienced that, thank goodness, but I can only imagine it must be awful.
This 41-hectare island is called “Isla de Lobos” (Seal Island) and is inhabited by seals, sea lions as well as a large variety of seabirds.
The 58-meter tall lighthouse which you can see in the photo) was originally built in 1858 and refurbished in 1907. Unfortunately, we could not go in and see it. Only the Department of Agriculture and Fishery have access to the island.
The seals and sea lions were exploited economically until 1992 when this was eventually prohibited and the island was then declared nature serve due to the fact that the sea lions were on the brink of extinction in this area.
Today no humans (tourists) are allowed to set foot on the island. This boat trip is the only option to see the animals. Once you arrive, you can take a swim with the sea lions if you like. If you can swim, or not very well, then life vests are provided so you don’t have to miss out on the fun of swimming with these rather curious animals. They are not dangerous at all, however, they do come up very close to see what’s going on.
I hope you enjoyed this little adventure with me and I look forward to posting the next one. In case you also took this trip I would love to hear your views on it. As far I am concerned Isla de Lobos is well worth a visit and tickets can be bought at the harbour.
