We decided to break the long journey South into Argentina with a stop in Puerto Madryn to see if we could spot the Orca's beaching themselves in an attempt to kill and eat a baby seal (sounds gruesome doesn't it?)

We had 2 days there so we hired a car and on day 1 we went to Punta Tombo which is a huge colony of Magellanic Penguins which you can get up close and personal to. We'd seen some pictures so when we got there I was expecting to walk through 1000's of penguins and Casson was expecting to walk through millions. Imagine our disappointment when we got there and started the walk to the beach only to spot the odd one or two hiding in the bushes, we spent the whole 20 minute walk moaning about being ripped off but when we got to the beach there were actually loads of them (but nowhere near as many as we were expecting)

We also wanted to go and see a colony of elephant seals but due to the condition of the roads (gravel, gravel and more gravel) we wouldn't make it in time so instead we drove back to Puerto Madryn and went for a drive along the coast to see a shipwreck and some sea lions.

The next day we were up and out early (6.30am) so we could be at the Peninsular Valdes in time for high tide for the best opportunity to see the Orca's. Casson had checked tide times and worked out we needed to be there for about 9.30am. We got to the visitor centre for 8am and it was about another hours drive from there so we'd made good time. However when we went into the centre we were told that high tide was at 1pm not 9.30am, Casson had checked tide times in Puerto Madryn and not Punta Norte!!!!!! Anyway it didn't matter as we went the opposite way round the peninsular and made it to Punta Norte for high tide at 1pm instead.

When we got there there were 1000's of sea lions on the beach so it looked like good hunting ground for the Orca's but you could only see them in the very distance with binoculars and then only if you squinted! Casson was happy as at least he'd seen them, that was until we started talking to someone who had been threre at 10am when we were originally going to be there .... they'd seen the Orca's swimming really close to the shoreline and to make matters worse she had videoed it so we could see what we had missed! Note to self, park guides are not always right!