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Puerto Madryn is located on the coast of the Golfo Nuevo, of an intense cobalt blue, Puerto Madryn is 67 km from Trelew. The Welsh settlers named it after a Welsh castle that belonged to Sir Jones Parry, who made an agreement with the government in 1863 for the settlement of the colonies in this area. Puerto Madryn is the so called "capital of the sub-aqua activities". The calm and transparent waters of the Golfo Nuevo, with an average temperature of 17C in the summer, permit the penetration of sunlight to a depth of 70 meters. This is the ideal environment for the exploration, filming or submarine photography. Led by expert guides, it is possible to visit different submarine parks.
In addition to the nautical sports, it is possible to enjoy mountain bike and trekking tours in this area. The city has an important Oceanographic and Natural Science Museum. From Puerto Madryn and along a 17-km winding road that borders the sea, you arrive at the Punta Loma Fauna Reserve, with access to a belvedere. There is a small rise of 15 m. where a superb view of the one-hair sea lions' reserve can be admired all year round. The sea lions (Otaria Flavescens) gather in promontories and tongues of land. The adult males are from 2 m. to 2.5 m. long and they weigh about 500 kg. 77 km away from Punta Loma is Punta Leon, scientific area and habitat of sea lions, sea elephants and several bird species. To visit this reserve, it is necessary to obtain a previous permit. Departing from Puerto Madryn, a few kilometers to the north is the Peninsula Valdes.
Peninsula Valdes
This is the largest peninsula of the Atlantic Coast. It looks like an island linked to the continent by a narrow strip of land called Carlos Ameghino
Isthmus, separating the San Jose and the Nuevo gulfs to the south. A few kilometers after the isthmus is the access to the Isla de los Pajaros Natural Reserve, one of the three first fauna reserves of the continent. It was created in 1967 due to the need to protect one of the few ecosystems that allows the grouping and reproduction of a wide variety of marine birds. The San Jose Gulf has a tide amplitude that reaches 8 m. approximately, connecting the island to the continent twice a day. The island was declared intangible area, so the access of the public is not allowed to avoid the emigration of birds produced by the flow of tourists. The species may be watched from the isthmus.
108 km from Puerto Madryn, on the Golfo Nuevo, is Puerto Piramide. Its beach, with calm transparent water ideal for the practice of aquatic and sub-aqua sports, is protected by high natural walls that resemble pyramids. Here, there is a paleontological field from the Tertiary with fossils and huge Patagonian oysters. A small pier on the beach of the Golfo Nuevo is the departure point for the boats authorized to offer rides for the whales-watching tour daily. In order to avoid alterations during the breeding and mating season, the navigation is only allowed in the Golfo Nuevo. The whales appear on the coasts of the Peninsula Valdes and within the Nuevo and San Jose gulf from June to mid-December. These are the Southern Right Whales (Eubalaena Australis), belonging to the suborder of the cetaceans called Mysticetus and which have chills instead of teeth.
It is called "right whale" in English because this is the "right" whale to hunt. It was declared Natural Monument in 1984 with the objective of protecting this endangered species. Right whales come to Peninsula Valdes to mate, give birth and breed the young in calm waters. Births take place between August and October, giving birth to only one whale calf every three years. The adults reach a weight of 40 tons, eating one ton and a half of krill and plankton every day. The average population is of 3000 specimens. The females with reproduction capacity return to the Peninsula Valdes area in three-year intervals in search of security and calm. The adult males, on the other hand, return to the peninsula every year. The maximum concentration takes place between October and November, period in which there are up to 350 to 400 specimens in the Puerto Madryn area.
Some 4 km from Puerto Piramide there is a fauna reserve of one-hair sea lions that gather here during the summer for their reproduction, attracted by the calm waters of the gulf. Most births take place between January and February, the emigration beginning by mid-May. The colony may be observed from a natural belvedere located on a cliff that protects the beaches. The same road, further to the east, leads to Punta Delgada, where a lighthouse indicating the course to the sailors stands. There is a sea lions' reserve on the beach.
To the north, Caleta Valdes and Punta Norte, 77 km further on the northwest extreme of Peninsula Valdes, are the only continental sea elephants' reserves. This is an endangered species whose colony stays here all year round. They differ from the sea lions in the way they move: while the sea lions walk on their four extremities, the sea elephants must creep to move on the ground. They are called "elephants" due to the characteristic trunk that the males have and to their huge corpulent body. The adult males may be over 6 m. long with an estimated weight of 4000 kg., while the females do not surpass the 3 m of length and 700 kg. of weight. By August-September, the birth of the babies take place and it is possible to watch them until March-April. In Punta Norte, we find the only orca population under study.
Punta Tombo, located on the Atlantic Ocean, only 120 km from Trelew city, it is the place where the wonderful spectacle of the Magellanic Penguin's organized life can be observed. This is a swimming migratory bird that lives in the southern hemisphere. It differs from the rest of the penguins in the two stripes of black feathers that it exhibits in the neck and on the chest. This species lives mainly on the sea coast of Chubut province, forming colonies that settle in Punta Tombo, Bahia Camarones and Cabo Dos Bahias, the Punta Tombo reserve being the most important among them. Here, thousands of penguins arrive in early September to nest and stay here until April (two baby-penguins per couple, 500 baby-penguins per year approximately).
The arrival of the colonies keeps a certain order. First, males go up the coast and then, the females follow them. They spend most of their time in the water and even sleep there. They can keep up a swimming speed of 8 km per hour, reaching their highest speed in short periods when they jump out of the water like dolphins. The adult penguins normally weigh about 5 kg. and have an approximate length of 70 cm. The males are slightly bigger and have a longer and thicker beak than the females. Penguins stay on land during the reproduction and moulting season and they use the large Punta Tombo beaches for this. In the early morning and at sunset, the beach is full of penguins bathing and fixing their plumage. The non-reproductive penguins spend most of their time swimming, sleeping, sun-bathing or resting under the shade of the bushes | |
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