Puerto Madryn and the Peninsula Valdes, Argentina

Country: Argentina

Town: Puerto Madryn

Duration: 2 days

Accommodation: Hi Patagonia Hostel

Puerto Madyrn is a small town in the province of Chubut in Argentina and is famous for whale watching. At some times of the year you can see whales from the beach. The protective waters of the Nuevo Gulf make it an ideal location for mating and calving. From Peurto Madryn you can explore the nearby Peninsula Valdes where you can go on a whale watching cruise or find some elephant seals, sea lions, orcas and penguins. You can also visit Punta Tombo which is further south from Puerto Madryn where you will find a large penguin colony.

Day 1:

After another long bus journey we reached the town of Puerto Madryn. We walked along the beach and in the far distance we saw whales leaping out of the water. 

We stayed walking until we came to Ecocentro Museum which had information about the whales, sea lions and elephant seals in the area.

We cooked our first meal of our trip in the hostel that night and watched two episodes of Breaking Bad!! Essential relaxing!

Day 2:

Today we explored the Peninsula Valdes. After around 100km by bus, we reached a town on the peninsula called Puerto Piramides. We embarked on a whale watching boat and set sail into the Golfo Nuevo waters. It was freezing out on the water but not long after, we were seeing Southern Right Whales come up for air, jumping out of the water, showing their tails and swimming right under our boat! They were massive, actually bigger than our boat! Such a unique experience!





You can see from the pictures the rough patches of tissue called callosities on their enormous heads. (Their heads are up to one quarter of their total body length.) The callosities appear white but they are actually dark in colour and only appear white due to large colonies of whale lice called cyamids that live on them.

Back onto the bus and we toured around the peninsula, stopping if we saw any wild animals like the mara and the guanaco. We also saw some salt lakes and a lot of barren land. At the north side of the peninsula we saw a colony of elephant seals sleeping on the beach!  

Note: The tour was quite expensive and in hindsight, it would have been far better value to have rented a car ourselves to see the peninsula.
It is also important to check what marine mammals are in the area at the time of year that you intend to visit. If it is not the season for the animals, I wouldn't recommend a trip to Puerto Madryn as there's not much else to do.

We did not have time unfortunately to visit Punta Norte (where you can see a penguin colony) which is further south but apparently it is worth a visit.

Next Stop for us...Bariloche for some skiing!

Southern Right Whale Facts:

Length Adults: 14m to 18m; Calves: 5m to 6m at birth
Weight Adults: up to 80 tonnes; Calves: 1 to 1.5 tonnes at birth
Mating season: July to August
Calving season: June to August
Cruising speed: 3km/hr