Puerto Madryn (2-9 Nov 2010)

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Tuesday 2nd November 2010

Arriving late morning we checked in to El Gualicho, a large hostel with a spacious kitchen and living area just a short walk from the bus terminal. It was a hot sunny day, so we took a stroll down to the beach and sat for a while, but it was also windy. We had a couple of toasties for our late lunch which sustained us while we went to the tourist office. We booked a whale watching tour in the Peninsular Valdes the next day (with a great discount for cash!) and a PADI open water diving course with George (pronounced Hor-hay) at Master Divers.

Wednesday 3rd November 2010

Excitement flooded through our veins as we waited to be picked up for our whale watching tour. The weather was a far cry from yesterday’s sunshine with dark clouds & rain, but we consoled ourselves with the fact that whales don’t mind water :o)

Our bus turned up at 7.30 and an hour later we arrived at the maritime museum, a small museum with photos & information about the flora & fauna around the national park & a large whale skeleton. Our next stop was Puerto Piramides where we donned bulky lifejackets & boarded the Hydrosport boat with 50 other people for a 90 minute excursion on the high seas. Within 10 minutes we saw our first southern right whales in the distance... a mother and her white calf, just a few months old but already 5-6 tons & growing 2” a day! We soon caught up with them and for the next 45 minutes they playfully swam under and around the boat, the calf showing off by ungracefully smashing its tail into the sea. Eventually it was time to move on, despite our new friends seeing happy to continue entertaining us. It wasn’t long, however, before we came across another mother & calf, which was again white – this was extremely unusual as only around 5 calves are born white in each breeding season out of hundreds of births. This time the young calf jumped which was a real treat along with many ungainly flips of its tail. Joanne stood in the crows nest for our short journey back to shore absorbing the amazing experience. It really was a once in a lifetime trip.

After the boat trip we had another hour on the bus up to Punta Norte where we saw Magellan Penguins (the smaller of the two species we saw in Ushuaia) but we could only observe from a small area above the beach. The penguins were protecting their eggs and some were quite comical - one in particular was making a meal out of grooming herself.

Our final two stops toward Caleta Valdes took us to see the enormous Elephant seals. At first you’d be forgiven for thinking something tragic had happened as they all lay motionless on the beach, then suddenly one would begin to howl or shuffle a few meters up the beach before flopping back to the floor exhausted. At our last stop we were also lucky enough to see another large Southern Right Whale jumping somersaults in the distance – what a day!

Thursday 4th November 2010

Today Richard would be venturing into the underwater world. Arriving at Master Divers at 10am raring to go, it took a while to suit up and get on the boat but the anticipation for what was to come meant it went really quickly. George (Hor-hay) the owner and Richard’s instructor for the day started talking him through the equipment as they sped towards the nature reserve. Once there Richard assembled & disassembled the equipment several times whilst those already qualified dived. It turned out Richard wasn’t diving here, instead they returned to the shore and got off the boat at a depth of about 3m to learn and practice some basic techniques. Basic breathing underwater to start and moving swiftly on to more complex exercises such as alternative air sources and regulator recovery. 2 separate dives under his belt and back to the dive shop to dry off and change. Richard kept the DVD to watch sections 3 & 4 and took over the TV lounge when returning to the hostel! Many poking their neck in checking for the latest Hollywood blockbuster got a surprise and swiftly left!

Friday 5th November 2010

Diving with Sea lions today was enough to motivate us to get up early, but when we arrived at the dive shop it seemed to take an eternity for us to get going. Arriving at the reserve we saw many boats & people already snorkelling, we put on our snorkelling gear & got in as Mateus, our guide, said he was getting our gear ready. The visibility in the water was poor and most of the sea lions appeared to be reluctant to leave the shore to say hello. After 10 minutes we questioned when our scuba gear would be ready and found out they didn’t believe Richard was ready (even though we had stated we wanted to dive, not snorkel, and had a whole week available). By the time Mateus reluctantly agreed for us to dive, almost everyone else had left, and the few Sea Lions had gone back to shore.

In the water Mateus led Richard around by his BCD, basically dragging him through the seaweed & undergrowth. Just before we headed back up to the surface a lone Sea lion swam up to us but it was hardly the experience we’d been dreaming of. George agreed that we could go back the following day ½ price, but we insisted they got us out there earlier as this is when the animals are most inquisitive.

Joanne went back to the hostel after this unfortunate morning while Richard stayed behind for his first open water dive with Mateus. Practicing the same exercises from his confined water dives as well as learning buoyancy control.

Saturday 6th November 2010

Sea lions part deux! We forced our guides out earlier today and were the first at the reserve. George had explained to Richard that he still couldn’t dive so we decided to snorkel together. Almost immediately we were surrounded by playful cubs, one kept swimming under Joanne and hanging there, as if in mid air, staring at her goggles with his large black eyes and a slightly puzzled tilting of his head before whizzing off sideways. Completely absorbed, the stream of cubs & females swimming around us continued for the next 30 minutes, then Joanne wad shocked out her skin as a male bull around 10ft long brushed past within her reach, dwarfing both her and the other sea lions.

Back on the boat, we were taken to the deepest of three wreck dives in the area. The “Albatross” was an old trawler boat that had been sunk in high seas and now sits at 24m which is too deep for Richard to dive so Joanne went down alone with Mateus & Raoul taking photos. With very low visibility, Joanne stuck close to Mateus while exploring the outside of the wreck with fish swimming around and hiding around the ship. 25 minutes later they returned to the surface we were dropped back to shore. Joanne headed back to the hostel, while Richard hung about for an afternoon dive, but the tides had turned and George didn’t want to take him out in the bad weather so he went back shortly after and studied his PADI book.

Sunday 7th November 2010

Today we had the luxury of a lie in not starting until 11am. Out to the nature reserve where Joanne buddied with Raoul & Mateus took a couple down for an introduction to diving. Richard was on the boat with Marcelo and a new chap called Paulo. Paulo pointed out a whale in the distance as we were chatting, which was about 1km away but after 5 mins all of a sudden surfaced about 20m from the boat, Richard was stunned & hoping desperately that Joanne had seen it, but when she re-surfaced shook her head as the visibility was poor. Joanne had also turned down catching us an octopus for dinner when Raoul speared it & put in his pocket, Richard didn’t take that BCD apart as practice! Returning to base just Richard & Paulo returned to the nature reserve for another open water dive. More buoyancy tests followed by removing the BCD & finally emergency ascents. All complete they returned to find Joanne at the shore, she had waited all afternoon thinking the dive would be quicker! We popped back for dinner & then Richard returned to sit the PADI exam. He got 45 out of 50, George & Mateus explained the corrections, although a few were very ambiguous. Now a qualified Open Water Diver Richard returned back to the hostel to join Joanne for a chick flick before bed.

Monday 8th November 2010

Another late start at Master Divers but we needed to find US$90 for Richard’s PADI certificate & every ATM responded ‘sin dinero’! Now we had the luxury of a recreational dive together for our last dive. Back to the nature reserve exploring & feeding the fish, but it’s not the best place for an abundance of fish or creatures, although there was a large number of bright blue starfish. After the dive we chilled on the beach for a few hours waiting for Mateus for his video from the sea lions tour, which he kindly gave us for free. In exchange we gave them some music & a chance to play something other than Sting & the Police.

Tuesday 9th November 2010

We wanted to leave yesterday but there were no available buses so we booked for this evening. Chilled by the beach for the day, diaries dinner & off to the bus station for Bariloche.

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