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Published: October 1st 2007
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That´s it. We are in Puerto Madryn. Where the Southern Right Whales have elected it their home for the next 6 months. That´s incredible thing about animals. Their home is the planet. No need for nationality, borders, passports, visas, nothing! They elect where they are going to spend some time for a while and just do it. In this case, the whales choose this area as a breeding ground as the climate, temperature of the water are ideal. They will spend all their time mating and raising babies and teach their descendance the route to take to come back here when they are old enough. After a long bus journey, Renata is not at her best as she is suffering from a chest infection. But still, being strong, she doesn´t let it overpower her. There are a lot of things to do here. A bad virus is not going to stop her. We have whales to see, you know as she says. And sea elephants and penguins and hopefully some killer whales.We checked into our hostel, they explain to us the different excursions and we make our choice.The rest of the day was spent visiting the town and just relaxing while
Sea Elephant
Enjoying an afternoon nap noticing that the whales were actually by the beach in Puerto Madryn, showing off a bit. We didn´t do any excursion that day as Renata´s health was being a priority.The following day, we went to the pier where we came close to the whales and it was fascinating! Just to have a walk around the beach or just sit there and watch gave us a sense of well being. Tomorrow, we are going on an excursion, on a boat. We are going to see the whale even more up close in its natural habitat, elephant seals sunbathing on the beaches and penguins posing for a photo. No zoo can beat that. The whale can weigh up to 100 tons and can be as long as 18metres. Amazing! On the day, they gave us a big show! We went to Puerto Piramides where we took the boat to take us to sea. 500metres from the shore, the whales started breaching out of the water, spraying, having a swim , turning on their bellies, having a casual swim, teaching their young ones how to do it, SPECTACULAR!!! We feel very priviliged and lucky I must say to be so near and experience
these natural behaviours. You are also filled with a huge sense of awe in respect for these mammals as they behave in this manner fully aware of your presence. We just couldn´t stop taking pictures while they were showing off. Sadly, it was time to head back to the beach as there were other people waiting for our boat to come back so that they too can experience the same thing. You kindda feel a bit selfish, wanting to get more and see more and stay there all day, but you get the waking up call that you are not the only one out there. We get back into our minibus which takes us to other places around the peninsula to see sea elephants and other wildlife. First stop was Punta Delgada where there were sea elephants sunbathing on the beach. Suddenly you realise that sunbathing wasn´t a pleasure unique to humans. Sea elephants take it to the extreme. They lie down by the beach for days, months even. They are here for a while. For the past 4 months they have been feeding on giant squid and calamari to stock up on fats ( some mothers are up to
4 tons ) in order to prepare for the breeding season. They then spend time by the beach mating as much as they can. Sea elepahants aren´t monogamus, they take polygamy to an extreme. An alpha male can have up to 70 females in his hareem for him to cover and fight for against other males. This lasts for 2 months non stop ( no wonder they are tired and lie down by the beach). They don´t eat anything and rely on their fat supplies from the previous 4 months. Next stop was Caleta Valdes where it was the home of Penguins. Strangely enough, penguins aren´t camera shy, they pose for you for a nice picture. Ignorantly, we thought penguins lived in extreme cold conditions, but that´s not the case here. They come to the Peninsula to mate as well, as the climatic conditions are perfect. They were litterally no more than a metre away, happy to give their best pose.That was our day. Went like a flash. Renata´s not her best poor thing. Still feeling groggy but immensely filled with happiness to have an experience of a lifetime. Time flies here, we´ve been here 4 days and we´ve done
a lot but we have to move on and discover other things about our wonderful planet. This has been, so far, the highlight of our trip. Our next stop, further south, the village of El Calafate with the Perito Moreno Glacier. One of only 3 advancing Glaciers on the planet. See you there!
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Liesel&Keith
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Hola!
Thanks for all the great updates, it was so good to hear about your wonderful expeditions and see all the great photos. We hope that Renata is feeling better now. The whales sound amazing, you are really priviledged to have seen them like that. Enjoy the glaciers!