Sea day and Visiting Puerto Madryn

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Geo: -42.77, -65.04

Today was a sea day as we traveled to the next port. I slept in and for the first time of the trip. Of course Dave seems to be up at the crack of dawn. No sure where these sea day go.. we attended a video presentation of Monchu Pichu and a port talk. Had lunch an then read. It is formal night so we have to clean up. Dining rooms were crowded tonight.

We arrived about 6:30 this morning. Dave out early to watch sunrise and to watch us dock. It is a beautiful day, sunny and to be a high of 82. We are off around noon to an estancia and to see a wildlife preserve which is home to a sea lion den.

We left the ship around 12:15. Buses met us right at the ship. We drove out about 13 kilometers from the city to Estancia San Guierrmo. The ride out there was very bumpy as the roads are not paved once you get out of the city. The landscape is very barren as they are very dry here. It is almost desert like. They do not have much water and must drink water from bottles. They have water storage units on their roofs for use with washing and flushing toilets. This is called the Patagonia of Argentina. This region has no cattle and only sheep which they raise for the wool. Fishing is big here for export and for eating. This estancia is one of the largest with about 500 sheep. We watched two sheep being sheared. The sheep sort of roam free. I met Pete a 2 year old pet sheep. He seemed to have the run of the place. We also sampled pastries and sandwiches. They also offered us tea called Mate' made with herbs. Dave said it was okay. I stuck with coffee.

We left the Estancia and traveled to Punta Luma which is a sanctuary for sea lions. Wildlife is plentiful here. It includes penguins, sea lions, whales and many different types of birds. We tool a quick tour through town on the way back. We were the last couples of buses to get back to the ship.

I bought a beautiful lambs wool scarf.

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