Bahia Nueva Puerto Madryn

... erna had ik een tour om walvissen te bekijken vanuit Puerto Piramides een klein havendorp op peninsula Valdes. Eerst wat rondgereden op het schiereiland om daar de flora en fauna te bekijken. Er lopen een soort struisvogels en lama´s rond. Aan de kust was ook een kleine kolonie pinguins, maar er was niet zoveel beweging te zien aangezien ze aan het nesten waren.<br>Het hoogtepunt van de dag was op het einde. Met ...

... hard work!<br><br>Next day we hired a car to go and see the sea lions down the coast who are far more active! Saw many a fight and the occasional trip! After this we headed up to a beach where the Southern Right Whales coast by throughout the day but they get to within 5-10 metres of ther coastline - was an amazing place.<br><br>Now heading off to El Bolson - a hippee town under the Andes for some walking!

... were Livin la Vida loca for all those Ricky fans out there. <br><br>On our final day in Puerto Madryn, we had a few hours to kill and decided to go buy some souvenirs and just wander around the town. We were surprised to find a large congregation of people around the Welsh women's monument, and even more suprised when we realised it was the annual Welsh festival. There were women dressed in the traditional outfits and representatives from other cultures and countries, all there to ...

... at an elephant seal colony and saw many of these monster seals (up to 5m long) basking on the beach. They were a bit docile but it was a balmy 6 degrees so they were catching some rays I guess! Further along was a sea lion rookery where some slow-movers were hanging around at the end of their mating season - every one else had buggered off by then!<br><br>There is also a massive pìer in town which is great for whale ...

Ok, so we hadn´t originally planned to go to Puerto Madryn but after reading that it was the gateway to the nearby UNESCO sites Pennisula Valdes (where you can spot Southern Right whales, sea-lions, elephant seals and orcas) and Punto Tombo (houses the largest population of Magellanic penguins outside Antartica from Sep-Apr), we decided we´d be mad to miss it. So, after a great week of camping in Villa Gesell, we packed up our tent and caught a bus to the nearby ...

... playing pool and as all of the cash machines in the whole town were out of cash we went on a rampage in the supermarket using our card and made the most lush spag bol ever washed down with a lovely bottle of vino tinto. The next day we headed to the Perito Moreno Glacier on a tour. The guide was hilario and really made the trip ...

... Puerto Madryn. Our 16-hour bus ride was surprisingly pleasant, and although neither of us got a good night's sleep, we arrived on time and with two new friends. Seated beside us were Emma and Arjen, a couple of European travellers recently arrived in Argentina, and we got along so well that we decided to travel together for the next few days. Arriving in Puerto Madryn, we learned one lesson very quickly: Patagonia is going to be expensive. Although ...

... lunch because we knew we were planning on this treat. Good thing because we all had our fill of great welsh food. The women there spoke English Spanish German and French. That was the extent of the language of all of us. That night as it was our last together we all made dinner together. We chose to make kabobs; the rest of the hostel was envious of our meal. I also learned the proper way to light actual wood charcoal.

We were docked at a pier today so when our tour was called we went down the gangway and right on the bus. This was scheduled to be a seven and one-half hour tour, which included a drive of three hours each way. We left the port around 7:30 AM toward Porto Tombo. The town of Puerto Madryn has a population of 50,000 but looks very rundown and dirty. It was New Years Day morning, and nothing was moving ...

... could move through 6 feet of ice at 3 knots constant speed. Their job was to break a channel for the resupply ship through the ice to McMurdo Station. Depending on how much ice there was they had to make a channel from 20 to 80 miles.<br><br>For Princess to make this voyage they were required to have an experienced Ice Captain/Ice Master aboard to advise the Captain. He also helped to plan the voyage. He said we should begin to see icebergs within a day after leaving the Falkland Islands ...