Peninsula Valdés - Whales, penguins & cie

 The Unesco declared peninsula Valdés  Worldwide Natural Heritage in 1999, and it’s known worldwide for the watching of the Southern Right Whale – La Baleine Franche Australe. The Park has also an amazing quantity of marine birds and mammals: sea lions, penguins, elephant seals, whales and orcas.

When we arrived to Puerto Madryn, November the 8th, we learned that they were not that many whales left, that the migration had already started since long.

So we were already very happy, when the day after we could see those enormous mammals coming out of the water. It’s very impressing.

We hesitate a lot to take a boat ride to go see the whales from near. The wind was very strong, the sky was not very clear and the price asked was not very friendly. We made our turn around the peninsula, seeing other animals: the sea lions, elephant seals, the penguins, tattoos, and ostriches.

The elephant seals are very impressive: they weight until 4 tons. They spend 80% of them time in the water, what seems impossible when we see them lying on the beach as if they were dead. Seeing them move on the earth is something…

We could see penguin’s colony at one meter far.  Here are the pictures of a male looking after the nest while the female went for a meal. After she comes back nesting.

At Caleta Valdes the girls had a good time playing with one sea-lion baby at the end of the day when everybody had left– check on them page.

At the Northern part of the Peninsula – Punta Norte – we meet the “peludos”  - the tattoos. Those ones are so used to see tourist that they come near people asking for food. Barbara and Anaïs spend some time playing with one of them in exchange of some bread!

After Punta Norte we drove back to the campsite where we met Fabrice & Gaëlle. A French family travelling with them three daughters. We had a friendly evening: the adults having diner in them camping-car and the 5 girls having diner in Tartaruga.

The day after, the girls – all the 5 girls - study in the morning and in the afternoon we went to see the whales on a boat ride.

The day was perfect for that: the sun was shinning and the wind was not very strong. I’m always impressed to take a boat. I’m not a good sailor…

We were very lucky to see a female and her small baby – “small” is a way of talking, once it makes a couple of tons already! They were so near the boat that it seemed that if I could stretch my arm I could touch them.  It’s beautiful as it’s frightening. I remember thinking that a “simple friendly” touch of them tale, was enough to send us for a swim!

The picture cannot tell the emotions it is to see those enormous mammals so near. There is one word to speak about that: amazing!

 

 It’ was wonderful to see the “cuddling” between the mother whale and the small one: the tale of one going over the back of the other.

And to see a sea gull eating the whale!

Outstanding!  The sea gulls are parasites from the whale and they can make holes of 4 cm large and as deep. Once a hole is made, other sea gulls come to join in…

We left the boat with our eyes and our hearts full of emotions! What a wonderful end of the afternoon!

 

And the day was not finish.

Back to the camping we had diner with other campers – French, Suisse, Brazilian. We managed to put eight persons inside Tartaruge for diner. 

After dinner the girls asked if they could sleep together with them new friends. Why not? Where?

Another record got bitten that night: five girls sleeping in the same bed.

What a day!