Puerto Madryn

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After another blissful overnight bus journey we arrived in Puerto Madryn. It was back to the camping again and the campsite barbecue area being the social hangout for the evening. More barbecue tips from the locals, so much so that on one night one guy pretty much cooked our food for us - no need to start another fire when there was plenty of room on his barbecue ( I wasn't complaining!).

The main attraction here is the wildlife. Unfortunately we were about 6 weeks too late to see the whales but there were still plenty of other animals to see. The first day was spent on the Peninsula Valdes. The morning was a boat trip which took us really close to the sea lions where we could watch them basking on the rocky shores; they have such cute little faces......I want one! It also went past Shag Island! (so named...because it is inhabited by shags - little birds which looked like penguins from a distance). There was also the opportunity to go snorkelling - I suspected it may be a little cold but decided it would be worth a look.........don't think I've ever been as cold as I was when I got out of the water - wasn't particularly well-prepared as I had forgotten my towel, and all I got to see was a crab skeleton. Definitely a bad decision.

The afternoon was spent driving around to various lookouts to see more sea lions, elephant seals, armadillos and penguins. We weren't as close to the sea lions this time, but there were loads more of them, all snoozing on the beach. Apparently you can also spot orca here (killer whales) - they hang out ready to eat the baby sea lions when they go for a dip. Didn't see any, though it may have been a bit upsetting to see a baby sea lion being munched. You couldn´t really see the elephant seals other than through a telescope so there´s no photos of them, but I can assure you they are also extremely cute. The armadillos were just wandering around the car parks being chased by tourists and their cameras (including me!).

There were a few penguins on the Peninsula Valdes but we saw literally hundreds the next day at Punta Tombo (magellanic penguins). A lot of the penguins were just hanging out on the beach, a few of them going for a dip, probably to catch some lunch, but quite a few had wandered away from the shore to their nests - some of them up to a kilometre away from the shore - it's hard to imagine their little legs carrying them that far, and it would be a bit of a trek back to the sea for food. These were the ones that you could get right up close to, such that they were able to waddle right past as we walked along.

The last day we went scuba-diving with the sea lions, which was probably the highlight of the trip for me so far. We had to go when it was high tide, so that there was less space for the sea lions to lie on the shore, therefore more chance that they'd be in the water. It's mainly the babies that come out to swim - they would have only learnt to swim one or two months ago. The guide said they're be like little puppies playing in the water, and it's so true. It was amazing just to sit on the bottom and watch them swim around, playing in the bubbles from the tanks. They would dive down to the sea bed and come back up munching on something, not sure what. I even managed to pat one as he swam past. Sooo cute. The depth was only about five or six metres so the air would've lasted for ages, but it was pretty cold, even with the extra thick wet suits, hats and little booties.

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