We docked at Puerto Madryn at 7:00 am this morning. This is Argentina's second largest fishing port. It harbors a very large Welsh population, in fact, the largest Welsh population outside of Wales. The Argentine government encouraged European immigration into the remote Patagonian territories in the mid 19th Century. The Welsh started arriving in 1865. Italians and Spaniards followed, eventually surpassing the Welsh in population. Puerto Madryn was named for the estate of Sir Love Jones-Perry, one of the Welsh colony's founders. Today, the city is the gateway to the Valdés Peninsula.
While we pull out of port at 4:00 pm this afternoon, Stephen and I have a kayaking tour with the sea lions. We leave the ship at 10:30 am and return at 3:30 pm. It was about a 75 minute drive from the pier to where we got our kayaks. It took us almost an hour of ocean kayaking to reach the sea lions and then almost an hour back to return the boats. Both of us were exhausted.
During the course of the day, we would see Lama, Redback Hawk, Lesser Rhea (look like small ostriches), Elegant Crested Tinamou, Sea Lions and Turkey Vultures.
As we entered the National Park, we stopped at their visitor center for a potty break. There we saw the skeleton of a juvenile Right Whale that they found nearby back in 1985.
The peninsula is a relatively bleak and arid desert. Other than the infrequent rain fall, there is no fresh water. If you drill for water, you find salt water.
We arrived at the Puerto Pirámides, where we checked out our kayaks.
Low tide, so lots of beach.
We got suited up in our kayaking skirts and life vests.
It took most of an hour to row over to where the sea lions were basking in the sun on a small flat rock in a little cove. Once the sea lions noticed us, some of them came down to play with us.
We arrived back at the ship at the appointed time of 3:30 pm. The ship pulled away from the dock at 4:00 pm.
