From the research that I did a couple months ago, from what I could tell, there were like 3 different directions you could go in Puerto Madryn to see different wildlife. Península Valdés is kind of like a Yellowstone or Glacier NP, in that it’s ginormous, and it takes awhile to see the whole thing. To the south, there’s Punta Tombo which is the penguin rookery which I also was dying to see.
Knowing that the Royal Caribbean excursions only went to portions of the Peninsula or Punta Tombo and we had limited time in port, I flew down early to do some longer tours that they don’t allow cruise passengers to go on (for timing reasons).
The first one was supposed to go to the South Part of Península Valdés to go do some wildlife spotting.
Unfortunately, it seems they didn’t get the memo that’s what they advertised, so it ended up being the northern part of the peninsula which was the same part that my RC excursion was going to go see a couple days later. No worries, wildlife is unpredictable, so you never know what you’re going to see.
Logistics
Exchanged a couple messages over WhatsApp with the tour company and confirmed that they were going to pick me up from my AirBnB so that was a nice bonus. The message said that they would pick me up somewhere between 7:15 and 7:45, so I basically just stood outside by myself for 30 minutes. It was a gorgeous day out, so no complaints.
Upon the guide arriving, it turned out to be his own personal sedan, and there was a couple from Buenos Aires already in the car as well. It ended up being just the 4 of us for the day. It was also an interesting tour in that they only spoke Spanish, and I only spoke English, so there was a lot of pantomiming and communication via smiles. The tour guide did a decent job of translating everything back and forth when we wanted to talk to each other as well.
Large portions of the tour though, they just spoke Spanish to each other, so because it was such a long day and ride between stops (and hour or two between each stop), I ended up just dozing off for large stretches of time :D.
Visitor Center
First official stop was the Visitor Center. Right before the Visitor Center though, we saw some fluffy guanacos (cousin of the llama) that were up on the road and then jumped over the fence and sat there looking at us.
The visitor center itself was pretty standard, but interesting. Had some stamps (like the NPs in the US) so got some maps stamped as well, but mostly lingered around and took some photos of birds and structures around the building while waiting for the rest of the group to continue on.
Puerto Piramides
Next we head over to Puerto Piramides, and had some time to wander around the little town and just enjoy. Gorgeous views up that way and really enjoyed the time to wander. Apparently people come here a lot to vacation and just chill in the town.
Punta Norte
On the way to Punta Norte, we saw a couple stray wildlife. Some maras (oversized hares — and they are definitely oversized…didn’t realize they would be so big, and they kind of move like kangaroos), and some rhea (ostrich like animals). We saw a wild cat (Geoffrey’s Cat) run across the road in front of us, but trying to get a picture was a pipedream, they’re so fast. Captured with my eyes though, it was super cute.
Arriving at Punta Norte, we had a GREAT time wandering around and enjoying the views. Elephant Seals were EVERYWHERE, and some sea lions as well. What’s even more fascinating is that our guide said most of the elephant seals are back in the water and have left, and these are the “small” ones. Did get to see a couple bark at each other, then wobble over and start fighting which was a lot of fun to watch.
Also saw a fair number of other wildlife around that point as well.
Caleta Valdés
We then head back down south to go to Caleta Valdés. On the way, we stopped at a penguin lookout!
We got to the stop and decided to grab lunch before setting out on a quick hike down the path and some overlooks. The rangers cat (and sheep?) were running around being friendly as well. Unfortunately, no doggos allowed at the park and on the paths. Lunch was a milanesa (recommended by the guide), pretty good, but also WAY too much for a lunch, and I definitely food coma’d afterward :D.
At the overlooks, TONS of elephant seals and sea lions in the distance. Just sat watching for awhile watching them interact with each other. It’s amazing. The way they flop around on land is fascinating, and then they’re so functional in the water.
From the trail, there were a bunch of nice viewpoints. The sign for the snake almost made me pee my pants, and the empty apple core and trash thrown into the hole had me muttering about humans being the worst again.
As we were preparing to leave, one of the big hairy armadillos (peludo) came out to say hi.
Return to Puerto Madryn
We got back to the city around 6:30pm, it was roughly an 11 hour day, as you can tell, we went to a lot of places.
I ended up wandering the city for a bit, and went to the grocery store for some supplies before grabbing ice cream at Ignacia (recommended by my AirBnB) and then a pizza at local stop (that was recommended by the guide). Delicious, and super affordable, it was pretty large, and only came out to about $8.
Vibe Check
5 parts joy – beautiful day, very long and full, but a great day.
Feedback
Leave a comment or question if you have any thoughts! Anything you want to know about as we go around the world? Any things you want to share as feedback, or any images that particularly spoke to you. I’ll try to read all of them as time permits!
Matti 
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