Wales and Whales

Trip Start Sep 04, 2007
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Trip End May 28, 2008


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Flag of Argentina  ,
Tuesday, December 4, 2007

To break up the journey to Buenos Aires we stopped at Puerto Madryn. The town is famous because it is where the Welsh settlers first landed in 1865. There is a small monument which marks the spot and names all 150 people on the first ship. Unsurprisingly the name "Jones" was the most common.

The main reason to visit Puerto Madryn is to see whales (with the 'h') at the nearby Valdes Peninsula. The bay is used as a breeding ground for Southern Right whales, and at this time of year the mothers are around with their calves.

We went on a boat trip and managed to get really close to the whales. The mothers are up to 15m long, and their calves were nearer half the size.  The young whales were curious and would swim up to and then under the boat. One whale actually hit our boat when it tried to dive. It was fantastic to see the whales and well worth the trip.

Punta Norte at the top of the peninsular is famous for killer whales, and you may have seen a BBC wildlife program where the whales deliberately beach themselves to catch young sea lions. Unfortunately it was the wrong time of year so we didnīt see the killer whales.

We also visited elephant seal and magellan penguin colonies. The peninsular is the only continental breeding place for elephant seals, so we were not allowed to get very close. We did get really close to the cool penguins though and I really enjoyed the day.
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