Ruta 3 and Whale Watching on the Valdes Peninsula

[4/11/15]  With Buenos Aires looming and nothing but Steppe for the day it was time for another transit day.  This was the longest day of the trip, 842 km from Puerto San Julian to Puerto Madryn Argentina.

[5/11/15]  While visiting the Valdes peninsula (or even riding past it) you have to stop for the whale watching.  Each season the peninsula is visited by hundreds of southern right whales, and November is prime whale watching time.

I took a tour where you were board a large zodiac and then they take you out to the bay and approach the whales.  A wonderful experience, the boat trip was first visited by a pod of dolphins and they jumped in front of the boat.  Then a mum with a baby were spotted  fairly close by.  The whale and baby hung around for about 30 minutes and the zodiac drifted with them.

Zodiac

Zodiac

It was truly amazing to see, I do remember that while there were 20 or so people, there was not much conversation going on while we were in the presence of the whales.

The coastline along the Valdes Peninsula

Dolphins in the water

Dolphins in the water

First sighting

Mum saying “Hi”

Whale

Mum and Baby

My only “tail” picture

Southern right whales are 15m long

Mum and Baby

Baby is waving goodbye!

After the whale experience, I headed out to see the local sea lion colony.  It just did not have the same appeal after the whales.

Sea Lions

Sea Lions

[6/11/15] Transit Day – enough said, but you could tell that I was heading north because I was finally out of the flat lands and found some mountains!

Sierra Grande – the first mountains I have seen in a week

[7/11/15] My last planned day of riding.  I had made the decision to stop camping go a little quicker to ensure I stayed within budget.  This exclusive use of hotels has improved my trip immensely; I really appreciate the trials that those who choose to travel and camp for years on end go through.

As this was the last day of riding, I made the most of the opportunity to savour every moment.  I was thinking of just how far I had come and where I might go next.  Just then a bee stung me on the left arm!  My second sting of the trip.  Somehow it seemed to hurt a lot more than the last one (as I write this 3 days later it still stings a bit).

Anyway, I did have an opportunity to think about what I have achieved and I feel proud to have done it.   The sense of autonomy and freedom that I have created for myself is unbelievable, I really notice it now when I have to give it up for whatever reason – more on this in a later blog post.

My last photo on the road