Big Skies and Silly Birds Abound in Argentina’s Península Valdés

Arranging our family vacation to Península Valdés was a nightmare—travel agents didn’t return calls or e-mails; some suggested tours that lasted 11 hours (at least half of that in a vehicle—with a 3-year-old); and the first one who did respond quoted a staggering US$1,700 for four days. Per person. Not including flights.

Some five weeks later, after consulting endless guidebooks, various Web sites, different travel agencies and downing several pint-sized glasses of Malbec, I negotiated and agreed upon a per-person price of $700, including flights, with the first travel agent. This was the day before we took the two-hour flight from Buenos Aires to Puerto Madryn, the gateway to Península Valdés.

Phew, Touchdown

Luckily, all the trauma was worth it. Península Valdés is a UNESCO World Natural Heritage site located on the Argentine coast of Chubut province in Patagonia. It’s as if someone folded Argentina in half and tipped all the country’s marine life into this one spot.

Huge colonies of penguins, sea lions and elephant seals return each year for rounds of feasting, mating and birthing. Pods of dolphins and whales play offshore. Mother orcas (killer whales) teach their babes some cruel but strategic hunting games with seal pups. It’s all happening in this one place.

• Whale watching is a popular activity in Peninsula Valdes, especially because of the areas rich wildlife population.
• pululante

The skies—the skies in Patagonia are enormous; the land is flat, scrubby steppe with little to distract the eye. Clouds seem to wisp away into eternity. You turn 360 degrees and see such similar landscape that it seems only the sky is changing. The wind whips tension right out of you. It’s the perfect place to unwind.

Whale Watching

The highlight was definitely a sunset whale-watching expedition—female Southern Right Whales carry their babies for a year, then spend the next one teaching them how to maneuver their bulk in the water, hold their breath for long stretches submerged under water and escape from the pesky seagulls that like to peck their backs for the blubber under their skin (I know, gross). I can’t imagine how much fat is in whale’s milk—the babies drink 100 liters a day and double their weight from one ton to two in their first year. 

But choose your tour carefully—sightseeing boats vary from a capacity of 70 pushy people to 20 relaxed ones (we encountered both). Our first tour with Jorge Schmid (puntaballena@puntaballena.com.ar) involved a large boat, choppy water and only one sighting of a whale and its baby. However, our daughter was thrilled to be on a boat, and her keen eyesight meant she was better than us at spotting the whales. However, the concept that one of those huge, torpedo-like creatures was a baby was a bit of a stretch for her!

Our second tour, a two-hour sunset cruise with Tito Bottazzi (A$150/US$49; sunset@titobottazzi.com), was booked on the spot five minutes before the boat left. It was fantastic: four different whales with their babies, a small group of sea lions and the most amazing skies as the sun flamed across the horizon. One whale was very playful, swam close to the boat and thrilled us with the classic tail flip. Others were a bit more coy, poking their heads above the water and turning sideways to flap their fins.