Puerto Madryn, Argentina: Southern Right Whales, Penguin Colonies, and Patagonian Sea Life

Peninsula Valdés is the attraction that draws nearly every cruise passenger: a near-island of windswept steppe and sea cliffs attached to the mainland by a narrow isthmus, with wildlife concentrated along its shores in quantities that reflect the protected status the peninsula has held since 1974. Southern right whales use the protected waters of Golfo Nuevo and Golfo San José for calving and mating from June through December; the population has grown from approximately 200 animals in the 1970s to more than 3,000 today, and Puerto Madryn is one of the best places in the world to see them at close range by zodiac or low-impact boat. The whales are inquisitive — they sometimes approach boats — and calves born in these waters can be seen nursing and playing alongside their mothers.

The Magellanic penguin colony at Punta Tombo, 180 kilometers south of Puerto Madryn on the Patagonian coast, is the largest continental penguin colony in the world: approximately 500,000 animals during the September-through-March breeding season. The penguins burrow in the scrub and walk to and from the sea in columns, passing within arm's length of visitors on the marked path. Punta Tombo is a full-day excursion from Puerto Madryn; most ships that call offer this as an organized option. A smaller penguin colony exists on the Valdés Peninsula itself at Caleta Valdés, closer to the city and often visited in the same excursion as the sea lion and elephant seal colonies.

Southern elephant seals haul out on the Valdés Peninsula beaches at Caleta Valdés (the largest colony, with males reaching 4 meters and 2,000 kilograms) and Punta Delgada at the peninsula's southern tip. The breeding season (August through November) is when the enormous bulls fight for territory; the rest of the year they lie in groups on the beach in a quieter, blubber-heavy patience. Southern sea lions are present year-round at Punta Pirámide on the peninsula's north coast. Orcas hunt sea lion pups by intentionally beaching themselves in a maneuver specific to the Valdés Peninsula population; the behavior is most often observed at Punta Norte in March and April, though sightings are unpredictable.

Madryn itself, the town, has a seafront boulevard (Avenida Julio A. Roca) lined with restaurants specializing in the coastal Patagonian seafood that the Golfo Nuevo provides: centolla (southern king crab), merluza (Argentine hake, the most ubiquitous fish on Patagonian menus), and mejillones (mussels farmed in the calm gulf). The Ecocentro Madryn, a marine research and interpretation center on a headland at the south end of the bay, covers the ecology of Patagonian coastal waters in well-designed galleries with a particular focus on the whale population and its recovery. The center is a useful introduction before heading to the peninsula.