Everything but Whales
Trip Start
Mar 01, 2006
1
271
551
Trip End
Dec 01, 2007
Peninsula Valdes, Argentina
Sunday, February 25, 2007
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In the morning we gathered at the car rental at 8. There were two german guys, and a french couple, with me. We took our car, a VW Gol (that is a model a bit smaller than a golf). It was ok for 5, but it looked like it had had an accident and the repairs were not complete. And the windshield was all impacted and broken, as all the secondary roads here are "ripios", that is gravle roads.
Off we went to Peninsula Valdez. We started with the visitor centre which exhibited info about the fauna, with a big part on southern right whales, or ballena franca, which com around the Peninsula during the winter. For the time being, they were back to their summer home: Antarctica. Then we drove to Puerto Pyramides, the only village on the peninsula. We bought salami and ham and cheese for our picnic, and went on to Punta Pyramide, where we saw our first sea lions.
A short stop in Pardelas, which I believe is a good spot for whale watching, but not off season...
We drove past salinas, which are large depression, places lower than the sea level, and filled with salt. One of them was really huge and its color ranged from blue to pink to white. Apparently the pink comes from the bacterias that develop there. That is also the reason, apparently, why there is no access to the salinas: the bacterias could ba affected by human bacterias or something like that.
Then Punta Delgada, on the south-east corner of the peninsula. From there we drove along the coast, passing by Punta Cantor and Caleta Valdes, finaly reaching Punta Norte, where a bigger colony of sea lion was on the beach.There was also a huge sea elephant. Some sea lions were swimming, and there were lots of babies.
That was great.The real thing that everybody expects to see in Punta Norte though, is an Orca attack: it is on this beach that they take pictures of orcas coming with the waves and eating sea lions. We did not see any though... a little bit disapointed, but maybe it is better, I saw that on TV and it is not nice, because sometimes the Orca take their victims offshore and play with them, sending them up in the air and then shooting them 10 meters away with their tails. I am sure that if you happen to see that it should be more shocking than Jaws (les dents de la mer)
Near the parking there were a resident fox and a resident tatoo, that seemed to cohabitate with the resident cat too. It was funny to see a tatoo, they have a very remarkable ass, and they have armour on the head too.
After that episode, we drove down south again, because we had missed the pinguins in Caleta Valdes, and I was very upset with that.
After more driving on the dirt and stone road, we eventually found the spot of the pinguin colony. That wasnot too hard, there was a sign witha pinguin drawn on it, I don't know how we had missed it the first time. Anyway that was my fist encounter with a Magellanic pinguin, and it was cool. Some were quite close to the fence, so we could just sit there and wath them.
We started to head back. By that time the sun was going down, and we were tired froma few hundred kilometers driving at low speed, as we were on gravel and dusty roads. The car, inside and outside, as well as us and all our stuff, were covered with a good layer of white dust.
On the way back, on the isthmus between the peninsula and the continent, we stopped to have a look at la Isla de los Pajaros, full of birds and pinguins. We saw also pink flamingoes.
That was just a great day, with lots of wildlife to watch, I love doing that.
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