Kauffman Commentary

The last two days have been sea days. This morning we docked at Port Madryn, Argentina.

Port Madryn began as a Welsh colony, called “Little Wales”.  Founded in 1865 by the arrival of 1,500 Welsh immigrants, who named the natural harbor Port Madryn, after Sir Love Jones-Parry, whose estate back in Wales was called Madryn.   

It is known for its sea lions, penguins and southern right whales. 

In the south of Argentina, the whales come within 200 m (660 ft) of the main beach at Port Madryn. They do not have teeth like the orcas, but they have baleens that work like a filter to pull in the krill and push out the water. These whales can live to be 80-90 years old.

Today we saw and smelled Sea Lions, they stink.  Port Madryn set up this wildlife reserve and rookery in 1967.  The sea lions eat squid, fish, octopus and penguins. Sea Lions have external ears, seals do not.  The larger, sometimes 700 lb males, can kill their pups by accidentally laying on them. The pups rely on their mothers to nurse them for a full year, but they start to go into the water at 2 months to learn how to find food.

After our morning tour, we came back on board and heard that the weather near the Falkland Islands was going to prevent us from leaving this port. Tomorrow we will have another day in Port Madryn. We are all for keeping us safe.

We finished the afternoon by checking out an Argentine grocery store.  They package so many items in milk carton type containers. This store had most items, like a small Walmart.