Islas Ballestas

The township of Pisco sits on the coast at the northern edge of Parque Nacional Parracas.

We had heard that Islas Ballestas, an island that is part of this reserve, was well worth visiting, so we headed to Pisco to arrange a boat tour.

8.30am arrive in Pisco and park the cars. 8.31am we are approached by a person selling tickets on a boat tour. 8.33 reach his office. 8.36am pay for tour. 8.40 we drive in his car to the pier to meet the boat tour. 9.00am the boat is full with 35 passengers. We are all wearing their life jackets and we leave the pier. A smooth, efficient operation.

We travelled out to the islands past a large geoglyph with a mystery origin. A candelabra? A cactus? A marker pointing to Nazca? No-one seems sure.

The birds and sea lions didn’t disappoint. This was a fabulous trip. During the hour or so that we floated around the guano covered rocky Islas Ballestas, we saw a sea lion nursery,

sea lions sprawled on rocks,

and one swimming with its baby

– very special.

There were so many birds, some we have yet to identify, but they included Peruvian Pelicans, thousands of cormorants and boobies as well as Humbolt penguins.

The most amazing part of this was the sheer number of birds. It was an excellent boat trip.