Finally my Magellanic Penguins: Cabo Dos Bahias

Magellanic penguin preening, Cabo Dos Bahias, Argentina.

I was happy to leave Caleta Olivia, and after being charged $100 pesos (or $6.50USD) for two cups of coffee in the morning at Hotel Granada (breakfast is usually included, at least in Chile, and even Peru), I could not wait to get out of town. I quickly was back on Ruta 3, heading north, and after a very annoying detour in Comodoro/Rivadavia, big place, I crossed the Pampa Salamanca, heading for Camarones and Cabo Dos Bahias. I was planning on finally seeing a nice colony of Magellanic penguins, for free. It was actually not a terrible drive, all pavement, lots of trucks and some wind, but the van was running great, enjoying a nice run on paved roads, hopefully no more ripio. 

​Camarones, 72 km east of Ruta 3, is a nice little town, not much going on, but that is always ok with me. I headed down to the municipal campground, again, right across the street from the ocean. And while aesthetically nothing special, the campground was fine, think it was $200 pesos, me and my van, bathrooms were clean, hot water available all day, and there was electricity available at most sites. It was pretty busy when I pulled in, but definitely not packed. I pulled out my bike, took a ride to explore town, which did not take long. Next day, off for Reserva Natural Cabo Dos Bahias, natural area southeast of town. After Peurto Deseado, and Caleta Olivia, I was looking forward to getting out there, exploring some natural habitats, and seeing some penguins.

I left Camarones the next morning, and for some reason, things had started to get busy in town. I think it was a Friday, so maybe just the weekend was approaching. But, I stopped in a store, the only one in town, to get some supplies, and learned that there was going to be an eclipse that weekend, cool, had not seen one of those in years. So I headed out of town and into the Reserva Natural Cabo Dos Bahias, 28 km from Camarones. The Reserva is part of a larger coastal protected area which includes 180 km of coastline, the Parque Interjurisdiccional Marino Costero Patagonia Austral. The protected area extends from Cabo Dos Bahias in the north, to Isla Quintano in the south. The Parque protects both terrestrial, as well as marine habitats long the central coast of Argentina. It is part of the Argentinian park system, but they did not charge me, libre, nice. I asked the ranger about camping, and he sent me to Caleta Sara, which cost me $200 per night, and place was, well, not a dump, but boy I should have just wild camped, would have been so much nicer. About the only good things about my night there was the big hairy armadillos running around outside of the fence (camping within a fence, never nice), and running into the two German brothers on motorcycles again. This was the third time I had seen them, Punta Arenas at the ferry dock, Chile, the gate at Monte Leon National Park in Argentina, and now at Caleta Sara in Cabo Dos Bahais, such a small world down here. Later in the evening, we drank a couple of beers, and chatted about our travels. The younger of the two was going to continue to travel for many months, the older, he was finished, three months was enough. It turned out to be an enjoyable evening, even if Caleta Sara was totally not worth it. I would wild camp the next night, for sure.

The next morning, while drinking coffee on my roof deck, did get some nice entertainment from a couple of locals, one on a powered surfboard like thing, and his buddy who was filming everything with a drone, Phantom 3, fun to watch. After the show, I headed for the Magellanic penguin colony down the road, which was ripio, but was not bad. There was a little ranger station at the colony, but nobody was home, and, I was the only one there at the time, it was a bit early for Argentinians. They have metal walkways down to, and really through the colony, so you could not actually walk through the colony, but could walk slightly above, only a meter or so at times. This is a pretty big colony, up to 12,000 pairs at peak, though it was getting late in the season by the time I arrived, so there were not that many birds. And for those of you who have never seen penguins in the wild, they are just fun to watch, comical at times, and always entertaining. Many birds were molting, and many also hid under the walkway, it was already getting pretty warm, and these birds, designed for life at sea in cold ocean waters, were struggling with the heat. There were also a few guanacos wandering around, and across a channel, there was a small sea lion colony as well; you could see and hear them, but you could not actually get to the colony. I wandered around and photographed penguins for over an hour, until other people started to arrive, and interrupted my special time with the Magellanic penguins. I would be back the next day for sure.

I drove until the road ended, about 5 or 6 km past the penguin colony. It was a rugged, and beautiful coastline, only me, rocks and waves, and a few guanacos. I then headed back, past the penguin colony, looking for a place to camp. There are a series of other "caletas", though none actually had facilities. I found a great place to pull off, just after Caleta Paton, nice road, and beautiful views. I was not right at the shoreline, but close, The Atlantic Ocean was in front of me, with a nice little bay beside me. A couple of other vehicles pulled in later, a camper, and then a young couple with a tent, but everyone kept their distance, and it was a great wild campsite, one of the best. It was windy, but not terrible, so the awning came out, wonderful place to hang. It would be a great spot to watch the eclipse the next morning.

The next morning, after breakfast and coffee, went for a ride on my bike, before setting up for a time-lapse shoot of the eclipse. I set up the camera, again set on Auto, pointed it at the sun, and hoped I would get something. The eclipse was supposed to occur sometime after 10:00 am, so I shot from well before 10:00 am, until after 11:00 am. I am not sure if this is the best way to capture an eclipse, but with the sun into and out of the clouds, I figure it was worth a try. The next post has the video, nothing special, but did get a very brief glimpse of the eclipse through the clouds. The camera struggled a bit, with the focus, and adjusting the exposure, especially as the sun move in and out of the clouds. It was interesting.

After the time-lapse sequence, I decided that I would stay another night, so I set up for another time-lapse sequence later in the afternoon, see if I could capture the incoming tide. But unfortunately, my quiet little campsite started to get busy, about 7 motorcyclists show up and pulled in right beside me, two other groups came in as well, and soon there were probably 20 or more people wandering around, including at least two who walked right into my time-lapse shoot. There was not much I could do. The eclipse had brought out the people, the weather was great, and it was the weekend, what would you expect?

I had planned to spend the night, but, the battery died during my time-lapse shoot of the tide coming in, bummer, and the place had gotten real busy, so I decided to pack up and head back to town. It was just after 5:00 pm, and had seen what I came to see, so thought I would head back, get a spot in the municipal campground, shower, and chill in Camarones one more night. I liked Camarones, and Cabo Dos Bahias was the best I had seen so far in Argentina. I still had Peninsula Valdes to visit, and north to El Condor, hoped that Argentina would provide more of what I had experienced in Cabo Dos Bahias and Camarones, it was an enjoyable visit.
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