North by North East

Time to move again and cross another border, yet more entry and exit stamps in the passport. It doesn’t take long as once your details are in their computers we are easy to track. Even crossing a regional line or arriving into a major town in Argentina involves a police passport check, with details logged into their computers. At least you know that if anything happens they know where you are.


From Pueto Natales we crossed back into Argentina and rode through all four seasons again and headed for the little port town of Santa Cruz on the windy Ruta 3. Basically somewhere to stay on our way to north. Lucky for us we had the wind from the rear left quarter so we were able to put in some descent kms.

We briefly stopped at Puerto San Julian the next day to check out the full size replica of Magallanes ship. Very well done, but due to a power fault we could not get on board, but then as we were leaving the town we noticed the street lights came on. Oh well.

That night we stopped in Comodore Rivadavia. We had trouble trying to find somewhere to stay where we could park the bike. After an hour of fruitless searching someone told us of a hotel on the outskirts of town. By now it was drizzling and the streets were slippery with diesel. On an uphill grade with a Give-Way at the top and me wanting to turn left it was going to be interesting. To add to the excitement a huge tar mound had to be crossed. You know what comes next. Not wanting to stop and do a hill start with a loaded bike on a wet road I decided to push my way into the traffic but the front wheel slid off the tar hump and we damn near had our first “off ” of the trip. Good thing all that ice riding in Ushuaia had sharpened the reactions and the situation was saved with a quick twist of the throttle. That “Twisting Throttle again”. The beer sure tasted good that night.

Next day we turned inland for Barlioche and stopped for the night at Sarmiento, famous for dinosaurs. We met a German couple who had been at Puerto Madryn and watched the whales at Peninsular Valdes. Having never seen a whale in the skin and with the whales still there till the end of the month we decided to head that way and see what all the fuss was about.

With three nights at Puerto Madryn I have to say it was truly amazing what we witnessed.

We were again advised to leave the bikes behind as the route around the Peninsular involved nearly 500 kms of gravel, which would not have been a problem, but all the other cars and buses would make it an unenjoyable day of eating dust. A small bus tour was booked that night.

Next morning we are advised that the bus had been over booked.

Damn!.######, Damn!

"No problem, Senor."

An English speaking driver will pick you up by car and give you a personal tour of the Peninsular. We could not believe it, our very own tour guide in a chauffer driven car. No 50 kmh bus speeds here. It was 100kmh all day. Starting at 7.30am and finishing at 7.30 that night. That was really beyond what they had to do as most companies would shrug their shoulders and place you on the next bus.

Not only the whales but all the wildlife use the Peninsular as a breeding ground as it is a very rich area for seafood. This is the area where the Killer Whales slide up onto the beach at high tide to catch seal pups.

The whales were something else altogether. You could stand on the shore and watch them swim by. Southern Rights come here every year from June through to November to calve and fatten before heading north. We picked up the tail end of the season but within 200 metres of the shore we were watching the young leaping out of the water, tail and fin slapping and we were getting hit by the breathing spray. The amazing thing was that the boat, and it was only a little one, just sat in the water, no motor running and these great monsters would swim over, check the boat out and swim directly underneath us. No wonder this has been described as one of the best whale experience destinations in the world. Every direction we looked we could see whale movement, from shoreline to the horizon in the bay. A very memorable day.

Two hours was not enough.

From here it will be onto Ruta 25 heading to Bariloche with maybe some more bike photos for you hardcore Devils.