Today is Monday, January 7th and the Star Princess
docked at Piedra Buena Pier, which is located in Puerto Madryn, Argentina, in
the province of Patagonia.
It is summer and the temperatures range to the high
60s. This is a small coastal city with
beautiful beaches and icy blue Atlantic waters.
Most people enjoy coming to this area to see the wildlife, including
Magellanic penguins, sea lions sunning on rocky cliffs and the large numbers of
elephant seals basking on the beaches.
What is interesting about Puerto Madryn is this small
community was established in 1865 by 150 colonists from Wales. They were seeking to escape from religious
persecution in Britain. The Argentina
government promised to give them 100 squares miles of land along the Chubut
River. The settlers named it Port Madryn
in honor of Baron Madryn of their native Wales.
Today this town, population of approximately 100,000, is one
of the fastest growing cities in Argentina due to the opening of Aluar aluminum
factory, fishing and tourism.
There were many different excursions one could choose from
at this location. The tour that Kenny
and I selected was visiting Valdes peninsula.
This peninsula is one of the Southern Hemisphere’s major wildlife
preserves.
We drove about 30 miles outside of Puerto Madryn before
exiting off on a dusty, rocky road that lead to the peninsula. It would be another 1 1/2 hours before we
would reach the destination of the sea lions.
As we traveled on this road, we begin to see guanacos (related to
llamas) running through the rugged coastline and plateaus. Driving through this region, the terrain
reminded me of Big Bend National Park in Texas. Our guide told us that this area only gets about 200 milliters of rain
per year.
Our first stop was Puerto Piramide, which is a small fishing
village on the Golfo Nuevo. As you
looked at the rocky cliffs, you could
hear the sea lions in the background.
The cry of the baby sea lions was the sound of a bleating sheep. The sea lions live here year round and their
breeding time is in the summer.
Males weigh from 600 to 700 kilograms and females are half
that size. Their life expectancy is 20
years. Gestation is 11 ½ months. The pups weigh approximately 4 kilograms at
birth. During their first two months
they live on land and the female feeds them.
After two months, they enter the ocean to begin to look for their own
food.
We loaded back into the bus and headed to where the
Magellanic penguins reside during the summer months. When we arrived the penguins were waiting for
us as we walked along the boardwalk to observe them.
The Magellanic penguins inhabit the coast of Argentina and
Chile, during the breeding season. In
some areas, there are around 46,500 couples. These penguins keep the same mate for
life. The males arrive first in August
and take possession of their nest area (the same nests that they had a year
ago); using the same stones to build and protect the nests. The females arrive in September. The couple incubates between one to three
eggs for 40 days. Both male and female
share the preparation and protection of the nest.
The baby chicks are born with gray, downy feathers and after
two months their feathers are coated with the protective oil that allows them
to enter the water. The chicks can then
begin to find their own food. April
begins their annual migration to winter homes.
Magellanic penguins swim as far as 600 km from their nests
to feed and to obtain food for their chicks.
On average they can descend 12 m for approximately one minute. They hunt anchovies, squid and other types of
water creatures.
It was hard to leave the penguins, but we wanted to see the
elephant seals before we had to be back at the ship.
Back on the dusty road we went. Next stop was Caleta Valdes to see the
elephant seals. We arrived and headed to the board walk to observe them from
the top of the cliff. These huge
creatures lay up and down the beach, close to the surf and basking in the
sun.
When the elephant seals give birth, the females nurse their
pups for twenty-three days and then they are on their own.
Our 2 ½ hour drive back to the ship was quiet as everyone
was sleeping. I enjoyed looking out the
window looking for more guanacos and hoping to see a Darwin’s rhea. The rhea is a large, flightless bird that
reminds you of an ostrich. This was the
first time I had seen one.
Arriving at the port, we saw the Star Princess and locals
and tourists playing on the beach and sailing boats across the windy water.
Tomorrow we are at sea and in two days we will be exploring
the Falkland Islands.
Guanacos
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