MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Whale sightseeing in Magallanes

Punta Arena tourist operators are planning sightseeing tours of the relatively unknown “humped” whale that moves along the South American Pacific coast and spends some time in the Magellan strait and fiords before apparently moving further south to Antarctic waters.

The initiative promoted by Pata-gonia Offshore with the backing of the Patagonia Institute and the regional Chilean Development Corporation, Corfo, actually started three years ago with a cetacean survey of the extreme south of Chile.

"The Magellan area is rich in sea mammals such as dolphins, cachalot and whales, and the survey has indicated there's a great potential for scientific research and tourism", said Jorge Gibbons head of the Patagonia Institute.

However Pata-gonia Offshore has targeted the "humped" whales or "yubarta" as they are locally identified. Apparently these magnificent animals, that can reach 15 meters long, are friendly, playful and extremely curious, turning them into a most coveted tourist attraction.

"We know these mammals breed close to the Colombian coast and then move south probably to recover feeding in the Magellan fiords, and eventually in the Antarctic, but the first experiences must avoid all tourist aggressiveness", indicated Mr. Gibbons adding that in spite of the concentrations in the area, "there's a lot to learn about their habits".

The pioneering sightseeing tours are scheduled for November in the vicinity of island Charles III and will be carried out in specially conditioned vessels that will approach the whales concentration up to a fifteen meters distance.

"Although we don't actually know much about the "humped" whales, our company has great expertise and experience for we have similar operations in peninsula Valdes close to Puerto Madryn", said Norberto Luna from Pata-gonia Offshore.

Chilean air market "lacks competition"

Following Aero Continente's announcement that it will be back in the air by early September, small independent operators have cancelled plans to expand.

Andrés Pivcevic from DAP Airlines said that while current market conditions remain, limiting independent operators activities, "we are canceling all our expansion projects".

Aero Continente, an aggressive Peruvian company that irrupted in the Chilean market with cheap fares eliminating travel agents reservations and all service aboard, was forced to stop flying last July following allegations that its owners were involved in money laundering.

However, a month later an A