Orca spotting down on the farm

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So last time I wrote a blog I was still at Iguazu, well I made it to Buenos Aires, spent three days there. I also met up with Sherry and Alyssa again, which was great. I'm not going to write about Buenos Aires because I have too many other things to cover at the moment....

Last Wednesday, I arrived in Trelew because I was going to stay at Estancia La Ernestina. This is a familry run farm located at Punta Norte, on the protected nature marine habitat of Penisula Valdes. I went there to get a chance to see penguins, sea lions and possibly orca (also known as killer whales, even though they are the largest of the dolphin family).

I arranged to be picked up at the airport at 5pm by the Uncle of the family and it was meant to be a three hours drive to La Ernestina. About ten minutes out of Trelew airport (in the middle of no-where), steam starts pouring out of the bonnet and hot green liquid pours out of the heater. A taxi ride later and I finally arrive about 10:30 only to be told that I would be leaving the next morning at 7am to go orca spotting on their private land...

I was incredibly lucky with the timing of my stay at La Ernestina, people have been before for two or three weeks and not seen any orca. Everyday I was there I saw orca and in total I saw thirteen different animals. On my last day I saw nine at once and it was amazing to see them all playing in the bay. I also got to see them attack sea lion pups on the beach (Punta Norte is where one of the few places where orca do this). Perhaps the most interesting behaviour I observed was two orca swimming off at speed because two other orca were approaching from the south.

Staying on the farm was pricey (190 US dollars a night!) but was definitely worth it, for what I got to see. I did get all my food and drink included in that price and they provided three course lunches and dinners! The farm was so rural that there was no mains water or electricity. Water came from a windmill and electricity from a generator (which was only switched on from about 5 to 10:30 pm).

Link: : More information on the Punta Norte orca


After leaving La Ernestina on Monday I stayed one night in Trelew. Trelew being one of the Welsh towns in Argentina - its name literally means "town of Lewis", named after its founder. In Trelew, I visited the MEF museum on paleontology, which had some impressively huge dinosaur fossils. I also visited the regional museum, which had interesting relics from its past, including an electric show warmer and a scary picture of device the Welsh immigrants would use to stretch their children. The woman in the museum seemed very keen to practice her English and was being very friendly and telling me lots of things about the exhibits.

Yesterday I went on a day tour. First stop was Playa Union to get on a boat ride to see commerson's dolphins. Unfortunately they didn't get to close to the boat and were too fast to photo. (Have a look at Wikipedia article on the dolphins, if you want to see a photo).

Next stop was Punta Tombo to see South America's largest penguin colony. There was a series of trails along the cliffs by the penguin breeding grounds. It was amazing to see how close I could get and everywhere you looked seemed to be full of penguins.

Then we went to Gaiman, a Welsh village, where you can drink Welsh Tea. However me and a Norwegian girl wandered around the town instead because we thought the tea was expensive (25 pesos - you can get get a good dinner for that money). Gaiman is pretty small and theres not much there. There's a few buildings with Welsh inscriptions but thats about it.

At 22:30 I left Trelew, to get my first night bus and I am now in Bariloche. I'm intending to have a quiet few days and get my first proper lie in nearly two weeks and then go and explore the surrounding lake district.

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Photos

Sunrise on the farm
The tree is a typical Patagonian tree, its grown at an angle due to the fierce winds here.

Orca attack
I felt really sorry for this pup,twice it escaped, only to be eventually eaten.

"Antu" attacking on the beach
All the Punta Norte Orca are named and can be identified from the shape of their fin and saddle patch, underneath the fin.

Sunset on the farm
The website for La Ernestina, said sunrise to sunset and it wasn't wrong.

Dolphin tour boat
Not my boat, but exactly the same design as the boat I was riding on.

Never work with wildlife
This photo came about by accident, as I was intending to take a picture of the penguins behind, when the one in front walked past.

Comments

[Alicat]

wow
Padders I'm v impressed with your blog-very educational! I love the pictures too. I think I'm going to have to (finally) catch up on where you've been these past months. hope to chat soon. ali x