Puerto Madryn

Arrived in Puerto Madryn on the 03/12. Our hostel was fine with a double room consisting of 2 bunk beds and a double bed (we didnt need the extra space but didn’t complain!). Puerto Madryn can be sold as a beach resort with a long stretch of nice beach and a seaside town feel - full of souvenir and outdoor gear shops (very expensive) for tourists but we were there for the wildlife mainly, not the beach. ....

PENINSULA VALDES (Coastal Patagonia) is where it all happens for wildlife and PUERTO PIRAMIDE being the main tourist attraction of the Peninsula for whale watching - during season there are as many as 1,000 Southern Right Whales swimming about. Unfortunately for us, we only got to see a mother and baby whale because we were there pretty late in the season- female whales can reach at least 16 meters long and weighing up to 50 tons so when you see this heaving it’s whole body out of the water, it´s an impressive sight. The baby whale would come up close to the boat as it was inquisitive about the noise from the engine. Considering their size, they are so graceful in their movements. Our tour consisted of about 10 people which is a perfect size to go out on the boat because with only 2 whales to see, we all wanted a good view. Well, we sat there ready to go out to sea when a group of about 25 school kids joined us. The boat driver urgently announced that if a whale comes into sight, we shouldn’t all rush to one side of the boat because with the weight all on one side and the currrent from the whale, we could tipple over. So, what’s the first thing they do when they see a whale - yep, rush to the side..... wasn’t amused!! But, we all got a good view in the end.
Mother whale was training her baby for survival and hunting for migration purposes.

PUNTE NORTE and CALETE VALDES, north end of the Valdes is where we went to see the elephant seals and penguins. They were nice to see but from afar, you couldn’t really get a good look so luckily we had the binoculars (thanks to Jo and Dave).

The penguin colony in PUNTO TOMBO (180km) south of Puerto Madryn was incredible. You’ve actually got penguins walking amongst you and seeing them waddling past was hiarious!! April - August is when they migrate 6,000 km to northern Brazil to warmer waters. Sept is mating season/ Oct is when they lay their eggs / Nov they hatch / Dec and Jan they feed their young. We were so lucky that our tour got us there early because just before lunchtime, a massive tour from a cruiseship arrived and the place was full of crowds of tourists. These penguins will go for you if you get too close to their nest or try to touch them.

The funny thing about Puerto Madryn is that it was founded by Welsh settlers in 1865 so half of the flag of PM has the colours of the Welsh flag. Part of our excursion to Punto Tombo included visiting the village of GAIMAN. This is the first village where the Welsh settled and the main school there still speak Welsh. To be honest, it wasn’t worth the 60km or so drive...........

Overall, we spent 5 days in Puerto Madryn. 2 days were taken up by excursions but for the rest of the time, we chilled on the beach..... as we’ve got time on our hands to be lazy!!!! We want to say a big hola to Pablo (from Mendoza). He introtuced us to our first ‘choripan’ (baguette filled with lettuce, tomatoe, chorizo sausage with a chimichuri sauce....mmmmm) from the local diner plus, he helped us to retrieve our washing from the laundrette when a few of our things suddenly went missing. We tried to sort it out ourselves but they see ‘tourist’ and fob you off so we had to bring in the heavy mob Pablo to sort it out!!!!

We{ve got so many photos and a couple of videos which will take for ever to load up and we're having problems with videos so we'll keep trying another time.

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