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Published: December 5th 2006
Peninsula Valdez
Preparing for our whale trip!From Bariloche i followed the poor Danish girls that i had tagged on to to Puerto Madryn, a 15 hour bus ride which was dodgy to say the least. I had grown used to the luxury and comfort that Andesmar buses provides, but this other company, who dished up a ham and cheese sandwich for dinner, were not the greatest.
Anyway, we rolled into Puerto Madryn at around 7am, and instantly went about booking what we had come here for, a trip to Peninsula Valdez where we were to go on a whale tour, check out the penguins and hopefully see some killer whales take out some baby seals on the beach. Whilst here i stayed at ChePatagonia Hostel which was a good joint right near the beach - was cheap and nice and would recommend it definitely!
The trip was excellent. We had a top guide and she made the whole day, which was long, enjoyable and fun. We first rocked up for some whale watching, and were made to get dressed up in the most ridiculous outfits known to man (photo below!). The weather was pretty bad, but we still managed to follow a few whales, with
Peninsula Valdez
Worst ever whale photo - and its my best one! one coming so close to the boat that its flipper (??) touched the side of the boat. Incredible! On the way back however, the sea got super choppy and everyone within the boat got saturated, most of all the poor girl sitting in the back of the boat who had previously been sea sick. She looked like a rat that had just fallen into the bathtub. We all had a great laugh at her expense, however i think she was pretty close to tears.
Next stop was what i had been looking forward to the whole day......the penguins. These little dudes were unreal - so stupidly cute and entertaining, waddling around and just being a source of general entertainment. I took heaps of photos but have just included a few here at the bottom. After these entertaining critters, we headed further down the coast to have a geez at some elephant seals. One word - boring! All myself and the others on our tour wanted to see was some psycho killer whale (they are actually dolphins!) come in and chomp a few off the beach, as this is one of the predominant areas where this occurs. Apparently we had
Peninsula Valdez
The trip was better than my facial reveals. a good chance as the tide was high and that is when they usually strike, but we lucked out unfortunately. All in all it was a good fun day.
There is not a great deal else to do in Puerto Madryn, but i did manage to make a day trip out to the EcoCenter, which describes in detail the different behaviours of whales, dolphins, elephant seals, penguins etc. I particularly enjoyed finding out about the sexual behaviours of whales. If the female doesnt want any action, she will swim around with her stomach in the air, and her fins on her side, blocking all possible male suitors from getting any loving. However, the fella´s don´t like this set-up too much and team together to try and turn her over. If this doesn´t work, she has to eventually come up for air anyway, and when she does they go and have a solid crack at her. Sounds like any normal night out in the city to me!
Next stop was Buenos Aires, which i will update sometime soon.
P.S. I just saw that the Aussie´s got up in the cricket yesterday, when all seemed set for a boring
Peninsula Valdez
How cute are penguins! draw. What a result! I am so cut that i missed out seeing it, so let me know what it was like!
Until next time.....
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Boonie
non-member comment
So Cute!
How cute are the penguins!! You sound like your having an absolute ball. Cricket was awesome yesterday. I ended up staying in the office watching it with all the boys. Ahhh another win for the Aussies. Safe travels.