Puerto Madryn, Argentina - Here for the wildlife.

Puerto Madryn across the bay.

We have stayed here 5 nights. The weather has been absolutely glorious everyday. We have taken walks down the beaches that stretch out endlessly. The water is so clear here. No pollution whatsoever. There are a few small boats in the harbour but they dont seem to move at all. The place is not a beach resort although it could be turned into one very easily. Most people that come here, come for the wildlife.

Before I tell you about what we have seen, one thing I have to share with you is that this place is twinned with a place called Nefyn in north wales. The whole area here is steeped in welsh tradition. Apparently there were once some welsh settlers here. Now they have whole welsh style villages like Trelew and Gaiman that serve tea and cake and such things. You even see the welsh red dragon symbol in some places. Not visiting them though as the only wales I wish to see have an 'H' in their name and live in the ocean.

Peninsula Valdes - On our way there in the minibus we could see lots of guanacos. They are related to llamas but look and run a little like an antelope. Also on the way we caught sight of a couple of Armadillo´s. I never knew they could run as fast as they do. After a couple of hours drive we arrived at the spot where we took a short trip out on a boat in the hope of seeing a whale. As it turned out we saw lots of them. We came right up against a couple of them. It was incredible. This species of whale breed around here and so most had babies with them. Took mostly video but got some snaps which are here. Didnt manage to get the typical whale tailfin shot or the one where they are diving out of the water but we saw them do that. Just didn´t have the camera ready. After the whalewatching we went for some lunch. We went to a restaurant that you had to eat at if you wanted to visit the seals. (private beach). The beach had lots of Elephant seals. They are just as I remember them from the Falklands. Although these ones were not as smelly. They are huge, the big ones weighing in at a scary 4 tons. These had babies with them also. After the Seals we were off again to another spot that had a small colony of Magellanic Penguins. Before we got there, or should I say as we were driving there, through the window of the minibus we saw a couple of Orca Killer Whales. They were together, cruising the beach, right along the shoreline. Its unusual to see Orcas here at this time of year, so we were really lucky. When we arrived at the penguins they were being pretty vocal. I think they were giving out mating calls. There is a larger (in fact the largest colony of penguins outside of antartica) a couple of hundred kms to the south but it costs too much for the tour and our budget just doesnt stretch that far. What we have seen has been awesome though.

On our last day here the weather was grey and overcast. We had a few hours to kill before the bus at 6:30pm so went to investigate the bus terminal. We had a coffee inside and during the hour we were there (as if on cue) the sky became a clear blue and it warmed up. We decided to check out the beach one last time. What we saw was amazing. Several people were pointing out into the bay and as we turned to look we saw a whale bobbing its head up and down and thrashing its tail fin around. The longer we looked the more whales we saw. There must have been 10 whales along the stretch of beach we were at. They were only around 50mtrs from the shore but being really playful. It was ace. Didn´t get any pics because my camera was packed ready to go, but those images will be in my head forever. It was as if they were saying goodbye. What a fantastic way to end our stay in Puerto Madryn.