A Whale of a Time

We always seem to find that its not the sights that are the most memorable, but rather the little adventures that you have along the way. And our adventures in Peninsula Valdés, attempting to see Killer Whales (Orca), will certaintly be amongst some of the more memorable of this trip.

Peninsula Valdés is about 1300km south of Buenos Aires, and sticks about 70km out into the ocean. Its sheltered bays provide a very rich breeding ground for southern right whales, magellanic penguins, orcas, sea lions, seals, and lots of other marine animals - so much so, that it has been recognised as a UNESCO world heritage site. This is a particularly important spot for Orca, because it is one of only two known places in the world where Orca use the "intentional stranding" technique to hunt seals. What´s this, you ask? Well, you make have seen it on telly - its where the 9m Orca comes barelling up the beach in a wave, grabs an unsuspecting seal off the shore, then wriggles its way back down the beach, into the water, and out to sea for a snack. Very unusual behaviour, and if you´re ever seen footage of it, you´ll agree that it would be pretty spectacular to see in person. More info and pictures here. Passing through the area, there was no way we were going to miss this.

From Comodoro Rivadavia (the last posting), we carried on north to Puerto Madryn. One approach to touring the peninsula was to take a guided tour from Madryn, but to have any chance of seeing the stranding behaviour, you need to be there at high tide, which, at the time we were there, was just before sunset. However, the guided tours were all at home in bed by that time, so they were pretty much useless. Instead, we decided to do it ourselves, our way. We took a bus out onto the peninsula to the very small town of Puerto Pirámides, and got a room there. We then spent much of the afternoon haressing the poor unfortunate gringos who drove into town in their rental cars to give us a ride. Didn´t work - it seemed that everyone had rented Fiat Unos, and packed the back seat with kids, motocycle repair kits, luggage, that sort of thing - there was no ride to be had there. After much frustration, with time running out and the supply of gringos drying up, we decided to pay the local taxi driver, Dino, to drive us out there in his car. Not so cheap, about the same price as a tour, but at least it got us to the right place at the right time.

So, Dino took us to Punta Norte - the trip out there, through the arid peninsula was particularly pleasant, and along the way we got to see Magellanic Penguins and Sea Lions on the beach, and guancos (a relative of the llama) and ñandu (a small emu like bird) on land. Also of particular interest were a stick insect, and a very curious Armadillo. But it was Orca we came to see, and we spent about three hours at the beach before the sunset. It was fascinating to watch - the Orca would patrol around in the surf, perhaps 10m off shore, and all the seals would be sitting up on the beach, well away from the water. Well, most of the seals - like most children, the pups ignored their parents warnings and were playing in the surf, having a great time. The scene was set.....

.... and of course, nothing happened. The ranger later told us that conditions were absolutely perfect, they could not have been better, but... the orca obviously weren´t in the mood. Oh well. We at least gave ourselves a chance of seeing this behaviour, and we did get some great views of the Orca. Neither of us were really expecting to see it, so we weren´t too disapointed. Apparently, its just a matter of having the right timing - Dino told us that he saw it on 22 days in March, but that it has slowed down a lot in April. Oh well, it didn´t really matter too much, as we still had a good day.

We slept in Puerto Pirámides that night, and then went to get the bus back to Puerto Madryn the next moring. Except.... there was no bus. It ran every day, except Monday - figure that one out if you can. This left us with a minor problem, as we had already booked the bus tickets on to Buenos Aires for 9pm that night. Ok, so what do we do?

First, we asked Dino what it would cost to go to Puerto Madryn - P$120 (US$45). Arggggh! Not paying that. Ok, so now what? Well, the only way out was to try to bum a ride from some kind person. After having no luck with the gringos around town, we decided to move to a more appropriate spot, 5km out of town. During the two hour walk with packs, we saw three cars. Not looking good. We then sat at the intersection for another three hours. During that time another four cars came by, mostly loaded with people. It was not looking promising. We were stuck in the middle of Patagonian desert, with the wind blowing, and not a car in sight.

Patience is a virtue, and we were eventually rewarded - by the postman. Apparently he only makes one run a week out to Puerto Pirámides, and was quite happy to have a couple of gringos who can´t speak spanish in his mail van with him. It was fun trying though - we were able to have quite an interesting, if rather drawn out, conversation with him, with the aid of a phrasebook and a dictionary. Quite fun.

After doing his mailrun with him, he dropped us at the bus station in Madryn. We were back in civilisation and a 20 hours bus ride got us up here to Buenos Aires. And although we saw Orca, Guanacos, Armadillos, Ñandu, Stick Insects and all sorts of strange animals, I´m sure the most memorable part of the trip will be the five hours we spent stuck in the desert with not a car in sight.