Southern Summer, Argentina, Chile and Y Wladfa Gymreig 18th Jan

The days are now getting harder to chronicle because of overnight travel and lack of access to the Internet. I am calling this day the 18th but it will take in arrival at Puerto Madryn, that afternoon and the next day which is the trip to Penninsular Valdes.
I have described the transport arrangements and they served us very well. The apartment by contrast was disappointing. Rather cramped, no balcony as booked and wifi in the foyer area only. This makes a huge difference to me as I have to be online to write this. No doubt you are thinking, just stay offline!
We book the tickets for the trip tomorrow. It's a long day, 7.30 start,getting home about 12 hours later.
It turns out that there are only 4 of us on the trip. Daizie and Ruben, a Dutch couple and us. We can go in a smaller vehicle with just a driver /guide, who had terrific knowledge and spotted the wildlife immediately. Our first stop was the breeding ground of the Magallanic Penguins but on the way we saw;

Llamas or Guanaco as we call them over here.

Choique or Lesser Rhea.

Patagonian Cavy

Larger Hairy Armadillo

Sooty Shearwater  (wing span 95cms)

Female Vermillion Flycatcher living up to its name. The males have a beautiful bright red front.

Neotropic Cormorant and now,the stars.

 See how close you can get to the chicks, no zoom used here. The adults stand 44 cm tall and the chicks soon reach this height.

 Parent and juvenile who has not made the shoreline yet and will soon be left to get on with it. It's swim or starve.

These two are not sunbathing, but keeping cool by panting like dogs.

Parents and juveniles who have made it to the shore and should make it until the Elephant seals, the Sea lions or the Orca get them. Also at this point on the coast are Elephant Seal breeding grounds.

Next we head for the North Point where there is a large Sea lion breeding colony. This is not only a visual feast, but an aural one as well. The roaring of the males in defence of their harems is distinctly leonine,as are their bushy manes. This beach is the only place in the world where Orcas are known to land on the beach to feed on the sea lions. This was caught on film by National Geographic  (thanks Fi), try Utube.
Next we drive to the south to Puerto Piramide for lunch followed by a boat trip.

 The boat allows us a very close encounter with more Sea Lions, we can see them, hear them, but especially smell them.

This little chap was running around unsuccessfully trying to find its mother. 

Above the Sea Lions,  a colony of Blue Eyed Cormorants nest on the cliff. 

Finally we look at Homo Sapiens at play. This activity is called snorkeling, where they search for prey and we can also observe a predatory activity called bombing. Here a Ruben bombs a Nigel!

This penninsular is most famous for observing the Southern Right Whale  (season finished mid December) and Orca  (season starts end of February). Frustratingly we know that Orca were spotted the day before we arrived and as we left we spoke to an Isreali couple who saw four trying to catch an Elephant Seal just where we were yesterday. The Elephant Seal escaped.