The next day we got up early to get to the dive shop as we couldn't resist the temptation of the possibility of diving with whales and the guaranteed snorkeling with sea lions. We had hoped the weather would clear up for us, as the forecasted howling northern winds were not suited to diving. We get to the shop but no dice on the water activities.....we were a little dissapinted as we had geared up for the freezing water and the crazy opportunity....but we hopefully will go out before we leave.
We decide to head to a nearby beach, playa c..... (cant remember the name) This beach is quite steep and at high tied whales frolic within 10 meters of shore....we get dropped off by the cab with a scottish guy named Colin in tow and spend the next couple of hours flabbergasted by whales up to 15m long hanging out just meters from shore......WOW.
The next day we head down to to another beach to try and find an Elephant Seal colony. We get picked up by a minivan and head a hundred or so kms on dirt and unsealed roads. It had been raining a lot so the guide said we will try and get to the colony, although we might have some trouble on the roads. We get most of the way with no trouble except the odd snakey as the road is slippery and muddy as hell. The driver doesn't seem to experienced in the conditions as he continually is changing gear in large holes of mud when he shouldn;t be....then we get bogged...takes us a good, but fun, half an hour to get the van out...we thought the worse was behind us,,,but. We pass 4wd who stopped to tell us that the road only gets worse so the tour guide decides that we have to turn around and head back only 3km's from the Seals....DAMN IT! We get bogged once again on the way home and eventually get it out and home 6 hours after we left home.
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| bogged |
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| the problem.....nice road hey! |
The next day we head to Peninsula Valdez and on a whale watching boat. The whales are awesome up close, we had one right next to the boat just submerged - it was incredible to be that close to something that big. We had more close encounters before heading out to see a small elephant seal colony and spot some emu like birds, more camelids and a little armadillo - who was too quick for the camera.
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| baby Elephant Seal....the big daddys weren't around |
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| giant squid |
We ended up missing out on the diving/snorkeling before jumping on our last long haul bus back to Buenos Aires.
