Day 6 - 7 The Great Atlantic Coast Wild Lives

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Photo Album: The Atlantic Wild Lives
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Finally, we had a restful night at Sierra Grande, the jet lag had dissipated, and the long day driving had helped.  Refreshed, after breakfast (with the help of Google Translate), we left for the border, crossed into the Province of Chubut on Rt 3, a meager 46 Km later.

It was another 90 Km further, less then 10Km before Puerto Madryn, we turned seawards, and headed into Valdes Peninsula on local Rt 2.  A few kilometers down the road, we met the gate to the UNESCO World Heritage listed Peninsula Valdes reserve, and paid the entrance fee.

With the help of the ranger and this guide map, we quickly identified the interesting spots to visit, given the one day we had time for.

Straightaway, on the side of the road, we could make out more and more Guanacos, and there were fences along the road, probably to keep them from wandering onto traffics.

But to some, the fence was no obstacle.

Gradually, the sealed road were replaced with white gravel roads, but were quite easy on the suspensions.

Not far from the gate, is an location overlooking Isla de los Pajaros, with an all white historical Chapel Fuerte de San Jose, with this little local inhabitant.

Further down the Peninsula, there is the sea lion / elephant colony at Puerto Piramides.

Puerto Piramides provided a good location for a quick seafood lunch, and we cast our eye on potential accommodation options for the night.

Here is the route that we used for this part of the trip.

Then it was off to Punta Cantor for some fauna sightings, and it did not disappoint, but one has to have sharp eyes for some, especially along the drive from there to Punta Norte, overlooking the Caleta Valdes.

It was dirt and dusty roads all the way, but pretty flat and easy.

An endemic Guanaco.

Fox ?

A very shy Pangolin ?

Emus, they certainly are among the smallest I had seen.

The friendly and cute Magellanic Penguins, endemic along this part of the Atlantic coasts.

And of course, seals and sea elephants.

But this colony is quite small, compared to across the other side of the Atlantic on the Namibian coast,  see a blog post from my Southern Africa Adventure ,

http://2014southernafrica.blogspot.com.au/2014/08/day-27-28-from-deserts-to-atlantic.html.

At sunset, we retreated to Puerto Piramides village and stayed for the night in an roomy rooftop apartment. 

Next morning, we left for Punta Tombo further south, about 400Km away on the coast, where a huge Magellanic Penguin colony is the attraction.  After a 4 hour drive along RN3, then RP75, RP1 and RP42, we were there.  the road condition was quite corrugated particularly on RP42, but quite safe with due care.

This penguin colony has only one description, compared to what we had seen so far; HUGE !  This picture only covers about half of what our eyes could reach.

Upon entry ( fees paid ), we walked a few hundred meters before having any close encounter with them.  In order to protect their habitat and health, we were only allowed on the marked path, and under no circumstances were we to feed or touch any of them.

With a pleasant weather, it was one of the best ways I can think off, spending a few hours, mingling and seeing them interacting with each other and wandering around as if us humans were transparent.

But after just over two hours, we realised we had a long way to go to get to Comodoro Rivadavia, the next town, nearly 400 Km down the coast, especially, we still had not idea where to find accommodation.

It was just before 8 pm, day light were still available, 4.5 hours later before we settled into our hotel in Comodoro Rivadavia.

Comodoro Rivadavia seems to be quite a populous city, with modern buildings, quite crowded with tourist, it seems.  After another long day of nearly 12 hours, covering 666 Km, we only wanted an early night after dinner.

So far, our footprint covered nearly 3,000 Km in just over 5 days of driving.

Next Post : Down Santa Cruz on Atlantic
Other Posts: Index - 2013 Argentina-Chile self drive.