Puerto Madryn, Argentina

Wednesday, March 15, 2023

Our family was up early this morning for a fun day in Puerto Madryn, Argentina. The cruise ship was docked in the harbor with the gangplank down before 7:00am, ready to let passengers off the ship to explore this area of Argentina’s Patagonia. Through our travels in Argentina, I learned that the region of Patagonia encompasses more than just the Andes Mountains on the western side of the country; Patagonia extends from Bariloche’s lakes in the west, over to Puerto Madryn’s coastal peninsula in the east, and throughout the entire southern part of Argentina. Patagonia is not a province (or, state) in Argentina, but the name of a geographical area.

To begin the day, I woke up at 5:45am to workout in the ship’s fitness center. Going there as soon as the gym opened at 6:00am proved beneficial; I almost had the place to myself. It was quiet and peaceful exercising with the glow of Puerto Madryn’s city lights through the windows.

At 6:45am, I returned to our staterooms to find Andi getting the kids up and dressed for the day. They grumbled a bit about having to wake up so early, but we had a full day planned in Puerto Madryn and needed to get moving. To save time this morning, Andi ordered room service to our staterooms. The porter delivered two omelets, pancakes, bacon, fruit, coffee, and tea to our rooms at 7:30am. We ate breakfast on our beds, and then made our way off the ship at 8:00am.

Today, Andi hired a driver to take us from Puerto Madryn to the nearby Península Valdés Nature Reserve. The peninsula is an animal haven for whales, penguins, sea lions, elephant seals, armadillos, maras, guanacos, and more. This is the natural habitat for the endangered southern right whale, and is also home to orcas in the months between May and December when they breed and then raise their young in the peninsula’s calm, protected waters. Unfortunately, we weren’t visiting during whale season, but we were still able to see many different animals including the largest Magellanic penguin rookery in the world.

The temperature in Puerto Madryn as we departed the ship was a pleasant 65 degrees and sunny. As we walked from the ship into the city, Tory and I spotted penguins swimming in the water. We thought they were ducks at first — nope, they were penguins!

Andres, our driver for the day, picked us up at the port entrance. We connected with him through Erin, an expat originally from Texas, that Andi met in an Argentina Travel Facebook group. As Andres led us to his car, he said, “Hop in, we’ve got a long drive ahead of us today.” I guess I didn’t realize just how far it was from Puerto Madryn to the Península Valdés — it took us 2 1/2 hours to drive to its northern side, Punta Norte. Oof.

As we’ve experienced many times in our Argentine travels, most of the roadway to the peninsula was gravel. The province does a great job grading and maintaining the gravel roads, but it was still two hours of riding in a bumpy backseat. I honestly felt a little carsick by the time we arrived around 11:00am. For some reason, none of us could keep our eyes open on the drive either. Just when Andi would fall asleep, Andres would slam on the breaks to point out an animal sighting on the side of the road. We did appreciate his keen eye for spotting animals; we saw lots of guanacos, foxes, and maras (a large rabbit-like rodent).

Our first stop was to Península Valdés Visitors Center near the small town of Puerto Piramides. Inside, we saw several displays explaining the history of whaling on the peninsula, as well as information about the endangered southern right whale. Once abundant in these waters, the southern right whale was hunted to near extinction for its meat and high oil content.

Looking at the maps on display at the visitor’s center, it’s easy to see why marine life thrives around the peninsula. The protected Gulfo de San Jose and Golfo Nuevo provide calm waters perfect for breeding and survival of the young.

Near the visitor’s center, we paid $2,800 Argentine pesos/each ($7 USD using the Blue Rate exchange) for adults and $1,400 pesos/each ($3.50 USD) for the kids to enter the Valdes Peninsula. Then, we continued our drive to Enstancia San Lorenzo in the Punta Norte to see over 600,000 Magellanic penguins who nest in this area of the peninsula.

We almost didn’t get a chance to see the penguins! When we finally arrived to Estancia San Lorenzo after a grueling 157 km (100 miles) of driving, a park ranger informed Andres that the reserve was closed for a large party of guests from the Celebrity Infinity cruise ship. Seriously?! It’s true that one of the options on the cruise ship’s shore excursion list for Puerto Madryn was to visit Estancia San Lorenzo’s Penguin Reserve. The tour also included a traditional Patagonian BBQ lunch on the ranch. Andi and I chose not to sign up for this excursion (or any of the cruise ship’s shore excursions, for that matter), mainly because they are really expensive and we don’t want to be trapped on a bus with a bunch of people all day. Plus, we’re capable of planning our own activities; we don’t need the cruise line to handle transportation and activities for us.

Fortunately, Andres (our driver) knew the park ranger and asked if our family could be allowed to enter the penguin reserve. The ranger radioed back and forth with someone, and then agreed to let our family enter the property. We paid $3,900 Argentine pesos/each ($10 USD) for access, and then Andres drove us down a dirt road toward the coastal shore. Along the way, we saw a rhea run across the road (a rhea is an endangered ostrich-like bird native to Patagonia) and several penguins nesting in the bushes. The kids and I were so excited to see the penguins, I rolled down the car window and started taking pictures. “Just wait,” Andres said, “It gets even better.”

Do you see the rhea on the right side of the road? They are a quick flightless bird that runs over 50 mph.

Andres was right — the penguins were amazing! There were so many Magellanic penguins waddling around everywhere we looked. Tory and I both commented that we expected to see a few penguins swimming in the water, but nothing like this — there were hundreds of penguins walking around or nestled together under bushes and holes in the ground. Because the largest threats to these penguins are orcas, seals, and sea lions, Andres said they feel safer on land and aren't afraid of people. This allowed us to get really close to them which was such a neat experience.

The colony of Magellan penguins were in the process of molting their feathers. This happens once a year in what is called a "catastrophic molt." The entire area looked like a down pillow exploded — there were feathers everywhere! It takes a couple of weeks for the penguins to shed their features and replace them with new ones, and only then are they able to hunt and swim again. Once their feathers have been replumed, this group of penguins will migrate north to the warmer waters of Uruguay and Brazil to reproduce.

Having our own guide & transportation paid off when a big tour bus of people arrived about an hour later, and we were able to leave. There’s nothing wrong with sharing an experience with other people, but often times it’s more impactful when we have the space and freedom to enjoy it as a family.

By now it was 1:30pm, and Tory and I were still feeling a little nauseous from the long car ride. Andi asked Andres if he knew of a place we could grab lunch. I would have loved to try the traditional Patagonian BBQ cooking over the hot coals at Estancia San Lorenzo, but of course we didn’t pay for that package. Instead, Andres drove us to the small town of Puerto Piramides located along the Golfo Nuevo. This is the only established town on the peninsula, and what a cute place it was! I imagine this village of 450 people comes to life during the height of the whale season May-December. Today, it was a quiet place with only a few tourists milling around.

Given that we still had a two-hour drive back to Puerto Madryn and needed to be back to the cruise ship by 4:30pm, we didn’t have long to wander. We walked down the main street Puerto Piramides looking for an open restaurant when a man called to us and invited us into his establishment called Zorro Gris. “Would you like to eat lunch here? We can speak English to you,” he said. Haha — I love how that’s a selling feature. Andi and I shrugged our shoulders to each other with a nonchalant, “why not?” No other lunchtime options were calling to us in such a way.

The four of us sat in the brightly-colored blue and white restaurant for lunch. It was now evident that this was a seafood restaurant. Not sure that’s what I was hungry for on a somewhat upset stomach, but here we were. A friendly waitress came to our table and in broken English asked us if we were in a hurry. We explained that, yes, we needed to leave in an hour for Puerto Madryn. “Ok, then,” she said. “I will bring you small seafood dishes. OK? For the kids, spaghetti and hamburgers.” Not 100% sure what she said and without a menu to view our options, Andi and I shook our heads and said, “Sure, sounds good.”

A few minutes later, plates of food began to arrive. The waitress brought a bread basket for the table. She presented Aden with a bowl of spaghetti and Tory with a cheeseburger and fries. In front of Andi and I, she set out two small plates of mussels and a small silver fish that honestly looked like minnows. I think it was called merluza, or hake. Good thing we were hungry because, ready or not, here’s lunch!

The little minnows — ahem, merluza — looked disgusting, but they were actually very flavorful. We also ate shrimp (which Aden and Andi loved), calamari, scallops, and some sort of white fish bathed in a butter sauce. I’m not a huge seafood fan, and I was impressed. The fish was fresh and delicious.

We had enough time to see a sea lion colony sunning themselves on a cliff just outside the town of Puerto Piramides. We weren’t very close to them, but we could see small sea lion pups born in December splashing and swimming in small ponds. Their loud barking sounds were unmistakable.

From Puerto Piramides, we drove two hours back to Puerto Madryn with Andres. It was a long drive, not going to lie. I would have liked to see more of Puerto Madryn, but unfortunately we needed to return to the cruise ship. We had just enough time to use the bathroom and grab an espresso for Andi at the coffee chain, Havanna. Then, the four of us walked back to the port. Along the way, we saw lots of locals hanging out by the water & a few of them playing games in the sand.

Back on the ship, we changed clothes and then headed to the Celebrity Theatre for a tango show. Seeing Argentine tango was on my bucket list in Buenos Aires, but it didn’t happen. I was so excited to see the show offered as part of the nightly entertainment on the ship!

The tango show was outstanding, and perfect for our family because it was early in the evening, included in the cost of our cruise, and only 45 minutes in duration. Tango shows in Buenos Aires range from $85-$150 USD/per person and don’t even start until 10:00pm. Plus, there were no logistics in getting to the show — we literally walked down four flights of stairs, found a seat in the theatre, and enjoyed the show.

After the tango show, Andi, Tory, Aden, and I ate dinner in the Oceanview Cafe for dinner. We probably could have waited in line for the main dining, but didn’t feel like fighting the crowds tonight. The bright side of eating at the buffet for dinner is that it isn’t very crowded.

Tomorrow is another “day at sea” as we travel farther south to Cape Horn, Chile — the end of the habitable world!