damas island

A long trip (lots of trucks and highway construction) from Serena (120 kms), including 40 kms of dirt road. Try using a 4wd vehicle. Load gas in Serena...no gas stations over there.You get to a parking lot in an ugly costal town. From here you take the boats. Skip the food in Punta de Choros. Bring a snack.Then you pay around 20 usd per person to get on a boat. There is an extra 5 usd per person ticket IF you want to land on the Damas Island. The last boat that access the beach at Damas leaves at 2 pm. Boats are safe, 12 passengers plus a crew of three seasoned mariners. Did not feel at risk at any moment. Kids (4, 6 and 9) enjoyed very much. It its about a three hours tour. Lots of birds, sea lions and penguins. We did not get to see dolphins. We did see a whale from very far away. If you are lucky and sight wales and dolphins it would be a WOW moment for sure.

It is located 1 1/2 hour from La Serena, you need to buy a ticket in Punta de Choros, and travel by boat close to 40 min. In the trip you can see different type sea animals and birds, and if you are lucky, wales and dolphins. In the Island you can stay only one hour, and if the wwather is good, you can swim in the sea.

If you are fed up with going to the beach and you want something different! I recommend you this breath taking place. My family had heard about it and they decided to go there, because they were told this place it must be visited before you died. However, Damas Island is very far away from La Serena (the city) and you need a 4x4 truck to get to Punta de Choro’s dock sea. There, you have to pay to be taken to Damas Island. There are two options: A “legal” ship or by fishermen. The second one is actually more expensive (U$ 100), but you don’t have to follow the “legal” ship schedule. Once you start your trip to the island, sometimes you are accompanied by dolphins, and also you can see some wild penguins and sea wolfs in uninhabited small islands. But once you get there, you are amazed by the beauty of the place: Crystalline waters and fine white sand. It’s the paradise! You can go for a walk in the island through narrow paths and came across with local trees and vegetation you’ve never seen before. There were lots of signs saying “Do not throw garbage here”, which means authorities are aware of preserve this place, but there were not trash cans in the whole place. That’s why we were told to keep our garbage in bags; otherwise we were going to be fined.Camping was not allowed in that time, but I’ve heard now it is.

We wanted to see penguins....and we saw what we came for. The rest was just bonus and I think we got a lot. Make sure that you tour will get you off at Isla Damas for one hour....not all tours do that. It is worth the visit, when you are there anyways.

for more info see my comments about Punta de los Choros which is the harbour from where the boats are leavinf for the tour. CLP 9000,00 per person, about 12 tourists by boat.

It's a nice stop off as part of a tour which lets us explore the island by ourselves and see all the different flora and fauna, including a nice beach.

Took a tour from La Serene with Eco tourism (30,000 CLP each). 2 hour coach ride from La Serena with a stop for coffee at the restaurant where we would eat lunch. Once at the coast we took a small boat out to the islands. We toured one of the islands to see the wildlife, Humboldt penguins, pelicans other seabirds, sea lions and sea wolves, then as we headed away from the island the spotter saw a whale and so we set off for its location. After a few minutes we got closer and then waited with baited breath to see if it would continue to surface, and luckily it did. We then toured the larger island to get to the smaller island which you can land on (for 1 hour). We had a quick walk up the hill to get a view from the top and then went back to the beach for a swim (v cold water). On the way back we were lucky again to see a school of dolphins which came very close to the boat. We were told that to see a whale and dolphins is quite unusual so don't necessarily expect to see them. On the way back to La Serena we stopped at the restaurant for late lunch which was very good (nice fresh fish as you would expect)

I did an organized day-tour to this National Park and it was worth it (appr. 30.000 CHP). You get to see wilflife ( seals, Seebirds, penguins, we even saw a Humpback whale, but this is rare, didn't see any dolfins though) then on Isla Damas there are two wonderfull beaches were you can swim for an hours or so (when doing the organized tour) and then we ate delicious fish for lunch.

Well worth the day trip to the Humboldt Penguin Reserve. Guaranteed to see lots of penguins and sea lions. If you are lucky you will see some of the roughly 50 bottlenose dolphins in the area. 1hr landing on Damas Island was fun though I spent it hiking and not swimming on the beach (La Serena is full of beaches).

Took off on a foggy morning on a small boat from Punta Choros, a shell-laden fishing hamlet on the north Chilean coast. Explored coves lined with sea lions, white-stained islands where penguins have been nesting for hundreds of generations, and an island where the Chilean navy keeps an observation point and radio tower. Definitely a unique ecosystem, and well worth the trip!

We booked our tour through Ecotourism but I think most experiences will be similar. Mostly because we ended up in a boat controlled by people from the parc and not a tourist organization. The bording spot is about a 2h drive from La Serena. First you go to one of the islands where you will see penguins, sea lions and we also saw sea otters but these were less common. There are also a few kinds of birds but I forgot most of the names.During this someone was looking out for dolphins and luckily he spotted them. Chances are 50% our guide told us. During the summer season (January, February) you can also spot whales.After the first island we landed on the second island where you have an hour free time. If th weather is good you can go for a swim but because it was a bit chilly we just walked around and saw some vultures. Lunch after the trip was really good and everything (I had 2 beers as well) is included.

The tour that I went on was good and well organised but a little overpriced for what you see / do. It was nothing special and we did see wildlife but not loads. There is also a 2 hour drive each way from La Serena.The trip still goes when the weather isn't great so make sure you take plenty of warm clothes and waterproofs as it gets very cold on the boat.The lunch was nice enough.Overall, I wish I'd spent my money and time elsewhere.

The tour (21.000 clp) is a 2 hour ride from La Serena. The tour takes a boat around Punta Choros where you may see Humbolt Penguins (depending on the season). 50/50 chance of seeing dophins on your boat ride (we saw two). Walked around the Isla Damas for about an hour.

Not disapointed at all. Similar to Bellastas Island in Peru except here there are wild dolphins and the boat stopped for an hour at an island. Also not as touristy as Bellastas. Nice 3-course lunch included in the 30,000 peso whole day trip. But Wish could see the whales as well.

Vale la pena pagar por ir, es realmente bonito y se pueden ver delfines si esque uno tiene suerte. No se lo pierdan!!!