Isla de Lobos - 200,000 inhabitants

8 kilometers off the coast of Punta del Este lies a rocky island with a lighthouse and the largest population of seals, sea lions, fur seals, and sea elephants in South America. I thought I must see it. There is a small office at the harbor where you can book the boat tour. They were naturally pleased with my interest, but pointed out that they only start with a minimum of 10 participants and put me on a list. I was the only interested person. Shortly before 12 o'clock, there were four of us there, including 2 Germans, with whom I should have enough time to exchange travel experiences before we actually started. I even started advertising and attracting undecided tourists to this great excursion! Shortly after 12 o'clock, the thumb went up - we start with 9 people. First, let's eat, said the skipper, the ship will come. But when? Yes, said the skipper, they still need to make some repairs! Well, it's off to a good start, I thought. But in the end, everything worked out. The population of seals was truly gigantic. They also came very curious to our boat. Masses of seals and a few sea lions accompanied us for a while and performed all sorts of acrobatics - more than amusing, sometimes a bit of bickering among themselves - a very large family, after all. The more settled ones simply lay on the rocks - there seems to be enough fish, so the population is even growing. We circled around half the island. This excursion was worth it, despite the longer wait. Beforehand, a saleswoman of delicious baked goods came, including flatbreads filled with spinach and eggs - very tasty.