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Having finally reached Puerto Madryn, we checked into a lovely hostel, had a quick shower and went out for some lunch with an American girl, Jo, who was in our dorm. We had decided to visit Puerto Madryn as it was the perfect time of year for whale watching, so that afternoon we headed to the seafront to walk along the beach and the pier. Within a few minutes we were seeing whales (southern right whales) breaching so close to both the pier and the beach, it was amazing!
Puerto Madryn is the main town from where tours visit the Peninsula Valdes - a piece of land jutting out from the east coast of southern Argentina which is teeming with wildlife - so we next headed to a tour agency to book a tour for the next day.
We were up early on Saturday to be collected at 8am. The bus stopped at a beach on the way to the peninsula where we spent 20 minutes standing in awe at just how close mother and baby whales were to the shore ... they were literally 20 metres away, swimming parallel to the beach, basking in the sunshine ... it was incredible! From the beach we continued until we reached Puerto Piramides, a tiny town at the start of the peninsula, from where we could do our whale watching. We climbed aboard a small boat and headed out into the bay. There were so many whales all around, basking in the sun and they came so close to the boat. One mother and calve were literally touching the side of the boat as they swam past ... some of our piccies are brilliant! After floating in the bay for a while we were taken further out to sea where we saw more whales breaching which was equally as impressive! Although we had been whale watching once before in Australia, the sea was so much calmer this time and we got so much closer to the whales. It was the most amazing experience and so much fun too!
After the whale watching, we sat by the beach and had some lunch, before getting back in the bus and driving round the peninsula to see the rest of the wildlife. We stopped several times and saw plenty of birds, seals, and a small colony of penguins which were so cute ... and you could get so close to them too! All in all a good day had by everyone.
The next day was a Sunday, and everything was pretty much closed, so we spent the day chilling at the hostel, before catching another overnight bus, with Jo also, to our next and final stop in Argentina, Bariloche.
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