Whales, seals, penguins and guanacos, oh my…
08
Nov
After the incredible morning with the whales, we took off into the peninsula to see other wild animals. Driving on wet dirt roads, we stopped at several viewpoints. Elephant seals were fighting a 100 meters beneath us, and when we stopped at the Penguin site, i took out the 300mm lens only to found out i had to watch out not to step on them
Whales at Peninsula Valdez
08
Nov
After waking up to pouring rain, we started driving the 150km to our next point of interest. Halfway, we drove to the coast on a dirt road, and thru the open window (winds at 80km, rain…) we saw our first whale breeching 200 meters off.
70km later at Porto Pyramidas, we found out the port is closed and no boats are going out to see the whales. Maybe tomorrow, morning or evening, or the day after. Still raining.
Ran found us a ‘motel’ room with a big window to the sea, and we sat down and watched the whales jumping off the coast.
Early the next morning we took the first boat out in incredible sunny weather. The first whale and her calf were floating a meter off the boat and we had to back off not to run them over. Twice as big as the boat (wikipedia it; southern right whales), we followed them for the next 20 minutes, and then turned to follow others, which were breeching all around us.
Crossing the pampas eastwards
04
Nov
According to the plan we were supposed to cross the desert pampas all the way to the coast on routa 12, a 900km stretch of wide dirt trail. As the temperature dropped to almost zero at night and it started raining, a three day boring dirt ride didn’t sound so good. Then we found out that routa 25 (250km south of us thru the snowy Andes) is almost certainly paved by now, and we immediately drove there.
It turned out to be an amazing drive, full of wildlife (we saw Guanacos, Flamingoes, Hawks, eagles and vultures). The desert around us was full of water, small meltwater lakes and marshes full of water birds, and sheep, lots of sheep. Along the Chubot river we saw amazing rock walls without names, in Israel they would’veo been a national park, here they are inconvenient.
We also had the sky half full of rain, which gave us a rainbow for the last 400 km.
Arrived in barriloche:Quick update
02
Nov
After almost 40 hours of flights,airports,taxis and coffee we finally arrived in Barriloche, the switzerland of Argentina.
A young guy with a sign and no english waited to give us an almost new Toyota Hilux 4×4 pickup for an unspecified amount of US dollars, 10 minutes later we shook hands and drove to town to gear up. This ski town is full of chocolate, meat and shopping, and also teeming with Israelis. (we met 20 or so already). So early tomorrow we’re leaving on an 800 Km drive thru mountains, lakes and pampas to the coast to see whales. Pictures will follow soon…
Posted from Neuquen, Neuquén, Argentina.
Too much photo equipment
29
Oct
In last years trip to Australia, i took the Nikon D300 and 2 lenses (Nikon 18-200mm and Sigma 10-20mm) plus a tripod and some cables. I have taken some amazing pictures with this combo, and I still managed to miss a few shots by not having the right lens on or having the wrong settings (like manual focus or HDR on , duh).
I spent last year getting better at photography and stocking up and practicing with pro lenses (see my portfolio link on the side). As this is my first full-on photo trip I’m taking everything I have (and buying lots more accessories), and it’s been a huge hassle to amass what seems now like a huge pile of equipment that I will have to handle throughout the trip.
At least this time I have an iPad to backup and edit the photos on the way, instead of a 15″ Macbook Pro
practicing our kayaking skills
10
Oct
thanks to Rony at www.kayak4all.com, we’ve been waking up at ungodly hours and spending several hours a week in sea kayaks. It’s also a chance to check the waterproof camera.
kayaking to Bat Yam
Posted from Tel Aviv, Israel, Israel.
Finding a 4×4 in South America
25
Sep
apparently, getting a 4×4 in South America is more complicated than expected. After more then a month of email, skype calls and friends we have a reservation in one of the independent car rentals in Bariloche. Besides Hertz (which is always more expensive) only half the rest returned our emails (there is no online reservations system), most of which didn’t have a 4×4.