Welsh Tea Party In Patagonia, Happy Feet Penguins
Trip Start
Sep 29, 2007
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Trip End
Ongoing
Puerto Madryn,
Argentina
Friday, February 22, 2008
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. Nadine doesn´t know about that plan yet, let it be our secret and i´ll report on the outcome.Puerto Madryn is known for its aquatic life, from the famous southern right whales that swim off the coast of Peninsula Valdes to penguin and sea elephant colonies. There is a beach here too but the Atlantic waters are cold and we are under impressed having come straight from Brazil. Che Patagonia, our hostel is on the beach and we were able to book tours for today straight away. A cruise ship was in town so we ended up with the last two places on a Spanish speaking tour. The group packaged tour was necessary because the areas are practically inaccessible unless you rent a car.
The first stop on our tour today was at Rawson where we boarded a large rubber ducky type boat and went searching for the black and white Commerson´s Dolphins that are only found in these waters. We donned large yellow raincoats and big life jackets, the sea had a heavy swell today. The spotter on the boat saw dolphins almost immediately. While they may look like porpoises with their stocky body shape, the Commerson's dolphin is unmistakably part of the dolphin family with its bold, outgoing behavior. Because of its striking black and white patterns, this dolphin is also called by other names such as the Skunk dolphin and the Piebald dolphin. Typical coloration of an adult is a black colored head, with a large black area sweeping back from the dorsal fin to the flukes. It has a white patch on its throat that travels beneath its pectoral fins, then sweeps upwards, covering the whole midsection of the dolphin in white, with a small black patch on the underside that may come up slightly to the sides of the dolphin. It kind of looks like a mini killer whale Being dolphins, they are quite active and swim very quickly, usually around the surface of the water
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. Commerson's are active breachers and breach repeatedly in a short period of time, great for viewing. The dolphins even surfed in front of us, riding the heavy swells out at sea. They also did some bowriding and swam behind the boat playing in the wake. Underwater, the Commerson's dolphin engaged in swimming upside-down and spinning while swimming. In both Chile and Argentina, these dolphins are sometimes hunted. Though illegal, their meat is occasionally used for crab bait. Entanglement in fishing nets also poses a threat. I felt as though the tour company chased them a little too hard even though they kept the boat at a distance.The highlight of the day was definitely the journey to Punta Tombo Wildlife Reserve which has the largest colony of Magellanic penguins in the world and one of the most varied seabird rookeries. It is baby penguin season at the moment and there are 900 000 penguins here. That´s alot of happy feet. ¨March Of the Penguins¨ is one of my favourite documentaries of all time and although these penguins only reach a height of 50cm tall, i was delighted to watch them up close and personal. Each penguin had it´s own little characteristics and attitude. We could walk right among the birds as they came and went along the well-defined ´penguin highways´ that link their nests with the sea and we could see them fishing and swimming in the sea. There were thousands of nests (big holes) built under scrubs for protection and the penguins would pop their heads out of the nests like you would imagine moles to do
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. Penguins would pose for photos and waddle around, too cute. The chicks were fluffy and grey. Some penguins were paired up and others were involved in penguin brawls. It was odd to see penguins in this barren desert like environment, like seeing penguins at Ayers Rock in Australia. There were also some Guanacos that appeared to be a cross between a camel, gazelle and llama. The penguins were well protected with the park having stringent rules for visitors. We now understand the draw of the Galapagos Islands off Ecuador where you can view wildlife this close. Simply amazing. Penguins as far as we could see. The story of Atlantic Patagonia is also the fascinating story of the Welsh who left Great Britain in 1865 as a result of religious persecution and came here, often via the United States and hauling elaborate farm machinery equipment with them to establish a colony of their own. This land is inhospitable territory and how they remain here with many of their cultural traditions is beyond us. The final leg of our tour took us to the funny little Welsh town of Gaiman. The people here speak Welsh, live in Welsh houses built from stone and run Welsh teahouses. While the rest of the group went for a beer, us more cultured creatures visited the Plas-y-Coed casa de te teahouse where we indulged in a massive platter of home-baked pastries, cakes and breads including apple slice, scones, banana bread, lemon and cheese slice, jams, cookies and were served up all the Welsh tea we could drink. A nice, little, mad hatters, Welsh tea party in Patagonia, surreal. We had wanted to visit a weird attraction called Parque Desafio which is the creation of a kitschy and creative man who filled a park with recycled goods including bottles, tins and car parts but our nazi tour guide informed us it was closed, not sure if it was or not.
There is a chance to see Killer Whales (Orcas) at the moment here but we are mad keen to hit the road to Southern Patagonia and the glaciers.
