Argentina - Whales and Sea Lions

The whales, which may be up to 16 meters long and weigh 40 tons, usually show up in June at this part of Argentina’s coastline located in  its Chubut province and stay there until December (the southern hemisphere’s summer) to mate and to give birth  to their offspring. September, October and November are very favorable months to visit the area where the whales get together, as this is the spring season in the southern hemisphere.

The tourists on board of a motorboat hold their breath. An enormous whale moves silently along and underneath the boat, a few millimetres away, without touching it.

A few meters beyond, its head appears and it squirts  a stream of water in the shape of a “V” into the air, amidst wondrous  shouts of the witnesses. Each year about 600 whales get together in these waters and become the protagonists of this unforgettable display that attracts an increasing number of visitors to these eastern shores of Argentine’s Chubut province.

During these 45 minutes long tours on high seas, operated by area companies, one approaches the whales taking care not to bother them. One gets so close that occasionally stretching out one’s arm suffices to touch their rough skin. It is overwhelming to behold how these friendly mammals uphold the gaze of the visitors from the cold waters into which they dive once and again. The females and males can  reach a length of 16 and 15 meters, respectively, and they weigh about 40 tons, ten times more than an elephant.     

The mating ritual is preceded by a courtship in which one female is courted by several males who compete intensely for her favors. In the end it is she who selects the one she will mate with.

The first offspring is born as early as June and this period extends to the month of October. During this period the peninsula turns into a kind of kindergarten in which the cetaceans spend the first three months of their lives.  

In December, with  the arrival of summer, the whales bid goodbye to the shores and start their voyage to the feeding areas farther to the south, where they devour enormous amounts of shellfish and microorganisms which enter them through their bearded mouths.   

Much more to see

A trip to the Valdés peninsula -which has been named as a Heritage of Nature to Humanity by the UNESCO-  also deserves a visit to the reserves and refuges of other Patagonian animal species. At Punta Pirámide there is a station of sea lions and at Punta Loma, about 14 kms. away from Puerto Madryn, there are populations of sea lions and sea elephants.

In turn,  Isla de los Pájaros, Caleta Valdés, Punta Norte and Punta Delgada are natural reserves where  tourists can visit refuges of sea elephants, birds, and killer whales. Isla de los Pájaros, for example, protects thousands of cormorants, sea gulls, herons,  while Punta Blanca is a refuge of  sea lions and sea elephants.

Magellanic  penguins, sea lions and sea elephants gather at Caleta Valdés.  About  180 kms. south of Puerto Madryn lies Punta Tombo, the largest continental reserve of Magellanic  penguins with an adult population of more than 400,000 animals.