The elephant seal colony
Enjoyed a large and delicious breakfast and set off for an elephant seal colony on the south eastern corner of the peninsular. A small group of buildings and a light house called Punta del Gada. It was another sunny and still day (which is quite unusual here) which helped make the drive less arduous. It was actually quite exciting to drive on gravel roads...even at 50km/hour which is the speed limit (not that the buses take any notice!)! Any inadvertant twitch of the steering or brakes would send the rear end sliding (a bit like driving on a slightly icy road) so after 1 1\2 hours of dirt road John was relieved when we arrived at the viewing area and I could uncurl his fingers from sides of the seat. We called at the restaurant where we were advised that we needed to buy a meal before we could get access to the beach! Despite our initial reservations about the exclusivity allowed to those who could afford to pay for a meal we did actually enjoy learning lots of interesting facts from an enthusiastic and very interesting guide who spoke excellent English and took us down to within 20m of the colony. Apparently, when they return to the sea their diet is mostly squid which is why they have to dive to over 1500m. The females are short and weigh about 500kg and the males weigh up to 3-4 tonnes reaching a gigantic 6m long!! John and I could instantly relate with them. We had a long drive back to Puerto Madryn and returned a v. dusty, stone chipped car with an extra 530km on the clock. We tried a few local cabanas with no joy and ended up back at the Hotel Gran Palace! We had a different room this time with a bed that collapsed as soon as John sat on it! We almost suffered of a cheese overdose when we followed the advice in the Rough Guide for the best pizzas in town…they seem to like a bit of bread and tomato with their cheese ….it was so bad we both left most of it .....which is a first. Whilst sat in the window we turned our heads to see a collie dog stood on the roof of an old car doing about 30 miles an hour down the main street, adjusting his paw positions as it swerved! Either the driver didn’t know there was a dog on the roof or it was the dogs favourite position as he seemed to be enjoying himself!
A typical ACA sign.
I see no ships!
The more petite females!
Walking to the beach.
