Arrival in Puerto Madryn

As this day was again mainly a sea day, we spent almost the whole day on deck and watched the seabirds while sitting in our deck chairs. Our arrival in Puerto Madryn, a small town on the peninsula Valdez, was scheduled for the afternoon, so there was lots of time to relax and enjoy the nature – and there is plenty to see. As the city is located in a sheltered strait, the Golfo Nuevo, it is a paradise for whales, as the water here is warmer and calmer than in the open sea and normally plenty of wales can be spotted in the bay and along the coast.

Entering the Golfo Nuevo

At 1.30 p.m. we finally reached the entrance into the Golfo Nuevo. After we had already been watching out for whales all morning (I mean, it could have been that a whale is already showing up outside the bay, however that was not the case), the spectacle started half an hour later. In the whole bay you could constantly see in the distance the blow of the whales and one even showed up a little later directly beside us.

It was a Southern Right Whale, a whale species that can only be found in the southern latitudes and that can get up to 18 meters long and 80 tons of weight. On our way to Puerto Madryn through the strait we could see whales all the time; I had the feeling that the closer we were getting to the city the more whales were around us.

We were still late due to the refinery strike, even though the captain had made up a bit of the four-hour delay. Instead of 4 p.m. we arrived there at 5.30 p.m., however we had to wait until 6.15 p.m. until the ship was released by the authorities.

We were lucky that we had only booked an excursion for the next morning, yet there were lots of passengers who had booked a trip in the afternoon and now learned that all excursions for that day were cancelled because of our late arrival. The expedition team reacted amazing and did everything possible to find a solution for these guests – something that we had already experienced on our Hurtigruten journey in Norway.

As the problem was that there were lots of passengers who had booked both the whale watching and the trip Estancia San Lorenzo, Hurtigruten arranged a combined tour for the next day and the captain decided to shift our departure time a bit. Thus, everyone was able to do the excursions they wanted to do and nobody missed out on something due to the delay.

A walk along the beach at sunset

Since we were in the 8.30 p.m. dinner group, we still had some time after our arrival for a beach walk. It only takes 10 minutes from the ship to reach the beach and if you have more time you can even continue walking until you reach the Ecocentro, a museum about the flora and faune that is located on the cliffs with some nice viewpoints.
 
 
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But even “only” the beach walk is an experience in Puerto Madryn, because you can watch dozens of whales and seals that are right in front of the coast – something you do not see every day and what is really special about Puerto Madryn.

 
 
 
 
 

 

This was an article of our series “Southern Hemisphere Adventure to Antarctica”.
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