Peninsula Valdes Highlights

The warm welcome at the ship's pier was just the beginning of a fun day on Peninsula Valdes. The hospitable guide was enthusiastic about the area & shared an assortment of maps, history and descriptions of the animals and flowers as the made our way to the sea. We saw sea lions, elephant seals & the charming Magellan penguins. A delightful day plus we learned a lot.

We were there in early February. There were some seal lions and elephant seals, along with the ubiquitous Magellanic penguins. The area is known for Orcas beaching themselves to catch seals. We did not see Orcas. The important thing to know is that the animals change with the season, so depending when you visit the peninsula, you may not see Orcas, seal lions, etc. Do you homework to maximize the chance of seeing the animals you want to see. That being said the excursion operator was very good. The guide spoke excellent English and was well versed in the flora and fauna of the Valdes Peninsula. During the hour or so trip to the peninsula, he informed us about everything one would want to know about the area. The reason we did not book the excursion thru Celebrity was the price difference. We saw the same things the Celebrity people saw and were not part of a 50 person excursion bus. Our bus held fourteen people. It was more personal.

The guide was very knowledgeable. We enjoyed the walking and the nature aspects of the tour. It could have been longer and at a faster pace but with a large group of various degrees of mobility, this would be almost impossible to achieve. Perhaps consideration could be given to an additional tour which caters for the fitter participants. The guide was certainly fit enough and kept trying to push people along to keep to the time line.