Whale Watching at Peninsula Valdes, Argentina
Peninsula Valdes is famous for it's diverse wild life throughout the year. At different times of the year, there are different animals that can be seen there. Usually, from October till March, it's Penguins and Orcas and from June to mid-December it's whale watching season. At the time I went, it was time for the Southern Right Whales. These whales travel the whole way from the Atlantic to come to Peninsula Valdes to mate and give Birth to their pups and teach them the basics before heading back to the Atlantic.
The guide was telling us that at the time we were there, there was probably some 1500-2000 whales that had converged to Peninsula Valdes. In the tour, we first stopped at a Rock Beach. On that beach, you can see whales from the shore itself. The guide was explaining that the whales prefer these rock beaches to come and teach their babies the ways of life as there are less chances to get stranded on the Rock beaches than on Sand Beaches.
After the rock beach, we headed to Puerto Pyramides to board our whale watching boat. It was incredible to see their majestic huge creatures so close and personal. We saw quite a few whales and they seem very playful and playing around with each other. It's always so awesome to see these marvelous feats of nature up close - these whales can grow up to 18.5 metres and 130 tons !!! Interesting fact from wikipedia - "The testicles of right whales are likely to be the largest of any animal, each weighing around 500 kg (1,100 lb). " I guess that might be where the term "you got big balls" might have come from :)
Other inhabitants of Peninsula Valdes include sea lions, elephant seals, armadillos, pink flamingos, guanacos, maras and gray foxes which we saw along the way.
NOTE : Not all these pictures in this gallery are my pictures, but they are pictures taken during my boat trip. We had an official photographer on the boat who took pictures while we were watching and I bought a CD containing al the pictures he took at the end... so they are my pictures in a way as I paid for them.. but just not taken by me :)
