Hi all,
Arrived into Puerto Madryn on Tuesday around midday. Our Executive Cama (not the 180 degrees we wanted, got 140 degrees instead – I‘m talking about the angle of our seats here!) took 16 hours. I slept a bit but Ciaran and Lisa had a bit of an unsettled night. Lisa eventually nodded off thanks to her being serenaded by the fella next to her singing songs that were playing on the TV. I think he thought she wasn’t fully appreciating the music of an Argentinian version of Boyzone morphed with Danial O‘Donnell but with long greasy hair. Stacks of ‘Soul Gol‘ goin on there!
We got a $4 (peso‘s) taxi down to our hostel, Hostel Teuly, about 10 blocks from the centre of Puerto Madryn. Greeted by Betty and their gigantic Great Dane – Fincho. Nobody else stayed in the hostel while we were there for 2 nights but it was great to get 2 good nights sleep without having people falling into your dorm hammered, climbing all over your bed before finding the ladder to their bunk. We also cooked for ourselves these 2 nights to save on cash and take a break from eating out. The bottle of wine for 1 peso didn‘t even burn my eyes.
Day 2: Península Valdés
Our tour bus ($90 for the day) picked us up at 8:30 from the hostel (yay for not having to walk 10 blocks into town) and we headed off for Península Valdés, where you can see southern right whales, elephant seals, sea lions, pingüinos and orcas! We stopped off at the park entrance and paid our $35 entrance fee. The penninsula has been added to the list of world heritage sites by UNESCO.
Stop 1 - Puerto Piramides
Jumped off the bus and up to the cafe to get some sandwiches before heading off for the rest of the day. This is usually where you‘d go to get a boat out and see the southern right whales, but they‘re only in the area from May to December. They come here to give birth to their calves and I think hang around until they‘re old enough to go back out to sea. As this is April we headed onto Caleta Valdes.
Stop 2 – Caleta Valdes
This is where we got to look over the cliff and see all the Magellanic Penguins (also Jackass Penguin) waddling around the cliff face and swimming in the channel beneath us. You can‘t get very close to them because of the fence stopping you but they‘re not at all shy and definitely love to pose for shots.
A little further down the channel we came across elephant sea lions. These guys usually arrive in June, a month earlier than the ladies, to buff up, work up a bit of a tan and basically just wait for the onslaught of mating season. The group of about 10 we seen down on the beach stay there all year round so obviously don‘t see the point in migrating if the birds are only going to end up back here anyway.
Stop 3 – Punta Norte
Nobody could contain themselves so we all legged it over to the cliff edge to see if the orcas were in the area that day. We were so lucky we arrived to Puerto Madryn when it‘s orca season. We watched 2 of them swim from quite far up the beach down towards where were all watching from. This was brilliant to watch but painful to photograph! Ciaran got the shots though…sorry coming soon!
A group of sea lions where on the beach which they were swimming past so we all were hoping they‘d nab one on the sly. This is the only area in the world (apparently) where killer whales beach themselves and try grab a seal before they need to get back into the water. Sounds a bit Scooby Doo I know but they do it. Our guide told us they only feed on the beach the odd time but we were more than happy to seen them swim by anyways.
Also hanging around were some Argentine grey foxes and armadillos! These guys rock, they‘re so skulky. We don‘t speak Spanish so did‘t see the sign telling visitors NOT to feed the animals. That‘s our story and we‘re stickin to it.
Day 3: Bus to Rio Gallegos
We don‘t really want to go here but it‘s the best way for us to get to Ushuaia, furthest south we‘re going. 18 hour bus ride here we come! 
2 Comments
April 13, 2007 at 9:12 pm
Hi beanie! Getting hooked on the pirate theme, excuse the pun – now you’re even trying to adopt a parrot!loved the footage of your hang gliding take off! Talk soon, miss you loads, Siobhan & Donagh.
May 25, 2007 at 1:39 pm
[...] They describe the 16 hour bus trip to Puerto Madryn. (You know, once you’ve done these long distances buses a few time, then 16 hours really doesn’t sound all that bad). From their blog, we learn about a 1 peso bottle of wine, hmmm, along the details of their visit to Peninsula Valdés. [...]