On the lookout for Orca Whales

After El Bolson we took an overnight bus across the continent to Puerto Madryn, on the Atlantic coast. We arrived early morning and took another bus straight out to Puerto Piramides where we hoped to catch sight of some Orca Whales. Any of you who have seen the BBC Blue Planet footage of the Orca Whales beaching themselves trying to catch baby sealions will be familiar with where we were - this is where they filmed it. The tent was pitched again at the very basic municipal campsite and we then looked into renting bikes to get out to Punta Norte to (hopefully) see the whales. This idea was soon ditched as we realised it would be an 80km journey !! So we booked onto a tour for the following day. We were on limited supplies by this point and the gas ran out that night....nevermind, there´s always fire...

Run out of gas...

That night the weather took a severe turn for the worse and there was a huge storm. Luckily, we had waterproofed the tent in El Bolson and we managed to stay dry. So, the following day we were up and soon on the bus heading out towards the headland to see some wildlife. It was a great day, despite the fact that the Orcas failed to show up. We saw penguins, sealions, elephant seals, armadillos, grey foxes, guanacos (a bit like a lama) and rheas (a bit like an ostrich).

Sleeping Armadillo

El Zorro Gris

Sea Lions at Punta Norte

Elephant seal and pup

We were a bit disappointed not to see the Orcas. This is what it might have looked like if we had, but at least the baby sealions had a good day !

The elusive Orca Whale

We stayed another night at the posh campsite and the following day headed back to Puerto Madryn for a night (laundry had to be done) before the BIG trip north to Buenos Aires.

Camping at Puerto Piramides

written by

jonnik on March 9, 2008 from Puerto Madryn, Argentina

from the travel blog: Jon & Kenty's Grrrrrand Tour

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