Puerto Madryn.

 Following the night at Buenos Aires, we flew down to Puerto Madryn where we had 3 nights before the cruise started.

After a comfortable night, the lady that owned the apartment we were staying in, drove us out to Punta Loma, a nature reserve that had a beach with a colony of South American Sea Lions. We had decided we would walk back from there, but as she drove us out to the site, it seemed a heck of a walk back. However, we did it, despite it taking around 7 hours!!

Around the bay where the Sea Lions were, there were some lovely views, birds and the odd animal around. These included Chimango Caracara, Rock Shags, Giant Petrels, Lizards, Rufous-collared Sparrow and several unidentified birds.

American Sea Lions at Punta Loma.

The weather was very warm on the walk, and of course, because we were on a trip to Antarctica, we hadn't actually packed much for hot weather. However, we just about got away with our clothing.

As we did the slow walk back we were surprised how many Rufous-collared Sparrows there were. A delightful species.

Rufous-collared Sparrow.

We also saw a small group of Long-tailed Meadowlark. The males of which were very attractive.

Long-tailed Meadowlark.

We also saw several butterflies, but these kept on just flying by. All we could see was that they were orange in colour. However, eventually we found a couple that were nectaring on some vegetation at the back of the beach, and they turned out to be American Painted Lady. We also saw a couple of whites that were probably all Peak White. Finally a small female blue butterfly was seen egg laying. As yet I still haven't managed to identify this butterfly. I didn't take the macro gear on the trip, so was only able to photograph the butterflies with the zoom lens , which wasn't really ideal.

American Painted Lady.

Peak White.

Unidentified 'Blue' butterfly.

Once back to the apartment, we were both too tired to go out for a meal, so we made do with a takeaway pizza. After we watched an amazing storm arrive, which flooded the roads outside. Almost a monsoon!!

The following day we spent some time on the beach, photographing a few birds there. Once again, it was a hot day, and a heat haze on the beach made photography difficult. Lots of Southern Plover and a really nice Black-necked Stilt were feeding on the sand.

Black-necked Stilt.

We then decided to head along the beach and have lunch in one of the beach restaurants. One of the most memorable moments then happened as we were munching away on our pasta, when Lisa spotted a whale out in the bay. We saw it breach 3 times before the tail fluke showed as it dived. It was not even that far out in the bay. It was a Southern Right Whale, and despite continuing to watch for the following walk along the beach, we didn't see it again.

Southern Right Whale in the bay. (A good view must have been had from the small boat)!!

The walk along the beach was excellent with some great views of  Chilean Flamingo's, Magellanic Oystercatchers, a Great Kiskadee and a couple of flocks of Baird's Sandpiper.

Chilean Flamingo's.

Magellanic Oystercatcher.

Great Kiskadee.

Baird's Sandpiper.

We had also had the welcome sight by now of our home for the next 3 weeks, as the ship had turned up, and was moored on the pier. The following day we would be going aboard.

Before then though, we had one final morning in Puerto Madryn. Lisa fancied trying a small park a few blocks in from where we were staying. While here I just chilled out for a while whilst she walked around photographing some of the birds. After a while we both got quite hot, so we headed back to the beach, and headed to the same beach restaurant where we had seen the whale the day before. Needless to say, no whales were seen this time. We had by then though seen a delightful Austral negrito, a small bird similar in behaviour to a Wheatear. This bird was feeding near the top of the beach, and gave us some great views.

Austral negrito.

Time soon ticked away to 4 o'clock, the time to embark on the ship. An extremely warm and friendly welcome from both crew and fellow passengers, and we very soon had set sail out of the bay, heading for the Falkland Islands.

The M/V Plancius. Our home for the next 20 days.

20 Days to look forward to!!