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Published: February 29th 2012
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Sea Lion v Diver
Staring each other out!!!! So, before we tell you about what we've been up to here in Puerto Madryn, we have to dwell on the 20 hour bus ride from El Calafate to here....
Those of you that have been to Oz.... Cast your minds back to the crampt flight, the kid kicking the back of your seat, the impossible mission of going to sleep.... The toilets, drunk people and all those inconsiderate travellers who take more hand luggage than you've put in the hold and insist on using your overhead locker as they were the ones who queued up ridiculously early to get on the plane when you were thinking ... You've got your seats why would you want to sit crammed up for an extra half hour... Well that's the reason.....
Anyway back to the bus journey..... Pure luxury compared to the above....About £80 buys you a seat that reclines all the way back with a LEG rest not a foot rest.... Meals.... Continual tea and coffee.... Toilets out of the way, so no one is disturbed by the smell....4 movies... 7 hours of sleep..... It was heaven... You could even have stretched out more as there were only 9 people
that competed the whole journey to Puerto Madryn on the double decker....as some got off at Rio Gallegos...we have been converted....totally confident our bus experiences are not flukes either as everyone we've spoken to seems to have had similar positive experiences and opinions... So..... Moral of the story....Don't be scared of them and use them.....
That goes for the city and local buses too... 1 peso 25 gets you anywhere in Buenos Aires and that's 20p!!!!! bargain!!!!!
So what did we do in Puser to Madryn????
... Well.... It all started with a mega hike to the hostel.... A good 12 blocks and when we got there no one spoke a word of English and one of the things you need with your trip to this area is to sort out a car share to help with the travel costs to get to Peninsula Valdes where most of the wildlife are and Punta Tombo where the huge colony of Penguins are ..... Our hostel wasn't gonna meet that need, but hey, there are other ways and the great thing about hostel truely was our little bit luxury...
Our double bed and private bathroom for the same
price as a bunk and shared bathroom else where.... 4 blocks from the beach with decent cooking facilities and a gorgeous rotisaria around the corner, we were pretty happy.....
There's not a lot in Puerto Madryn itself so we'd seen most of it by the Saturday afternoon. We'd scoped out the tours and all their different prices, strolled the town centre, bought the essentials from the Supermarket, found various ATMs looked at the restaurant offerings and tried to find Jon a new pair of Havaianas....the latter being by far the biggest mission... And the one that remained unsuccessful until our last day there, so he spent 4 days in his Vans boots and board shorts... He looked cool 😉
By far our fave day and if our experience in Puerto Madryn had ended there, then we'd have been ok with it, was Sunday....
By 7.30am we were at the Dive Centre for high tide..... By 8am we were kitted up in the thickest wetsuits possible before dry suits...(7mm), hoods, boots and all!!!!
By 8.15am we were out on the beautifully flat gulf on our way out to dive with the Sea Lions!!!
By 8.20am we
Caleta Valdes
Having a chit chat...... had stopped as a pod of about 25 Dusky Dolphins were ahead and they hung around for ages, jumping for us and putting on a right show.... It was heaven..... The guys on the boat were joking in Spanish that on mornings like this, when you have a job which constantly gets you up at the crack of dawn, you are reminded why you do it and it's worth it!!!! We were so lucky.....After the dolphins had gone into town for some breakie or at least that's what it looked like they were off to do.....we proceeded to Punto Loma where the Sea Lion Colony is....
Hadn't really thought this one through as Jon hopped over the side of our tiny boat with his mask and snorkel.... How was I gonna get in the water??? No where to jump off... So I experienced my first back roll off the boat, which thinking about it, I have no idea how else I would have done it as I was so heavy from all the weight I had on my weight belt and struggling to walk !!!!
What an experience, after the usual.... Struggling to submerge and having to have
Magellanic Penguins
Just going about their business my guide pull me down, we spent 45 mins literally playing, swimming and just generally interacting with 2 very curious young sea lions.They are amazing just to watch and if you just wait they come to you, nibbling you, generally checking you out!!!!
Tested out my new fab underwater camera too and am so impressed with both the video and the pics....
Reluctantly we had to come up and out....
The 3 guys on the boat were brill and we sampled out first Mate, which is a cup stuffed full of tea leaves and covered with hot water... You then suck on it through a pipe like thing.....and it blows your head off with the biggest strongest tea/coffee caffeine shot you've ever felt.....We needed the cousant to take the taste away!!! Don't think we'll be going back for any more though..... but we were chuffed to be invited to drink it with them...... Thanks lads!!!
And as if the trip couldnt get any better, the dolphins were back... We were blessed...... And this time having tested out the camera it was straight in the water to catch them swimming past.... Just sublime.....
How do you
Punta Norte
Dont let the blue sky deceive you.... It was like a sunny day in Scarborough! top that for a day out?
And all by 10am.... Pretty god damn tough!!!!!
So we didn't even try just took to the beach for some serious chilling 😉
The remaining 3 days did include a bit more beach time however the wind was a bit gusty shall we say.....not to mention having to move every 5 mins as the tide came in..... I know I know I can feel your pity from here lol!!!!!!
Did manage to prise ourselves away for a day trip to see all the wildlife on the Peninsula, which due to our early fortune could only ever have been a bit of a let down... Had we not been so lucky before, I'm sure the Sealions in abundance at Punta Norte and a few elephant seals and amazingly cute Magellanic penguins at Caleta Valdes would have been wow factor.... Call us spoiled but hey we swam with Sealions and had dolphins performing for us......
Despite the chance being greatly improved due to high tide for seeing the phenominum that is the orcas beeching themselves to catch baby sealions as they learn to swim, we were, not surprising left disappointed.....
But all in all a nice day out but we paid the price both with the some what touristy experience, the price ... About £100 for the 2 of us.... And the weather was bloody freezing!!!!!!!!!
So in hindsight a few too many days here in Puerto Madryn but a bit of chill time on the beach some great wildlife and a lovely place to stay with 2 of the loveliest hosts ever...Glad we came and conquered.......
Our last 2 nights spent in Trelew and Buenos Aires- uneventful....and now off to Central America.....
Panama here we come!!!!
Thank you Patagonia and Argentina.....
We had a great first month of our travels thanks to your wonderful country......
Next stop........where they speak Spanish much slower and the Tango is replaced with the Samba!!!!!
Until next time Michelle and Jon x x x
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Lis (& Rebecca in thought !!)
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Hello .................
So good to find you !!, just reliving our experience by looking at all my pics. So good to see you both enjoying life !! Wow swimming with sealions & dolphins. We loved the Falls but was hard to part, me back to work.. :(