Puerto Maydren and the Peninsula Valdez

whale watching and much more....

12.09.2012 - 14.09.2012 10 °C
View south america on becs and terry's travel map.

Arrived at our new hostel where we were greated with coffee and cakes and booked a couple of wildlife tours.

The Peninsula Valdez are a fair drive from Peurto Madryn..

Our first tour was to see the Elephant seals at Punta Nintas..
We took a jeep for an hour and a half journey to Punta Nintas to walk along the beech with the elephant seals. From the top of the cliff they looked quite big.

Once we climbed down the cliff you realise just how big they are.

elephant seals

Was a bit surreal walking along the beach 2 meters away from these emourmous mammels. The elephant seal bulls can reach a length of 16 feet (4.9 m) and a weight of 6,600 pounds (3,000 kg) - they look lazy and like they wouldnt catch you - but they are the best divers and can be quite aggressive so we kept our distance!!

Becs red jacket appeared to upset them more than the rest of us!!
There were lots of females waiting to give birth, with one dominant male protecting them.

This male was waiting for us to leave so he could get his wicked way with the female...

Once the seals are born its not long before the mother leaves them to fend for themselves.... some can not be too lucky and get eaten by killer whales.
So cute....

Unfortunately this was the only penguin we saw on this day..

After an hour or so of walking up and down the beech we walked back up to the top of the cliff..

Our guide was a 35year old, food maniac. The whole way back he told us all about argentinian food habits, where and what to eat and made us try the mate... which becs really enjoyed!!!

The Argentian's diet seems so bad. Cakes and coffee for breakfast, lunch at 1pm, snacks and mate at 5pm and dinner at 11pm. Dinner according to our guide should consist of meat or fish alone. Only if the ladies are present do the have salad or potatoes... and chicken is for children or wimps... not classed as meat!! So by the time we arrived back at te hostel - all this talk of food - Terry was starving and we had a very non-typical argentinian dinner at 8pm consisting of jacket potatoes and salad!!!

The next day, up early, ready for 8am for our trip to the rest of the Peininsula Valdes. The same guide arrived at our hostel to pick us up!!
We pulled up on a beach and the tide was semi in. it was amazing to see so many whales so close to the shore.... unfortunatley our camera skills where not quite up to scratch as we failed to get a good snap...

Next up Punta Piramide for a boat ride to get close up and personal with the southern right whales....

There were so many whales.... the waves are so calm the whales tended to stay in the same place for a while, givng you opportunities for pictures.

A couple of times the whales breeched...

Swan under and around the boat...

And popped their heads up to say hello...

We even saw 6 or 7 dolphins.... which were really difficult to get a snap of....

And sealions on a rock...

After some lunch we it the road for a bit of overland safari....
We saw Quanacos...

An armadillo..

Becs favourite the Mara (rodent - mix between a rabbit and guinea pig)

Even saw a grey fox...

A few times we stopped along the coastline to view more seal lions and elephant seals.
And then we stopped for the penguins. Its quite early in the season for penguins but we were lucky enough to see 26 all together. 4 of which came right up to the fence to say hello to Terry....

The drive back to Puerto Madryn, consisted of yet more 'food' talk.
As it was Becs birthday next morning we decided to celebrate with steak from the butchers and a few bottle of wine. The hostel kitch was so busy - by the time we ate it was 11pm (fitting right in with the culture here)!!!