Punta Ninfa - Elephant Seals and Orcas

After our great day trip around Peninsular Valdez we did wonder if it was going to be worth the money for the half day trip to Punta Ninfa to see elephant seals.  They looked pretty inanimate and a bit boring, but at least we would get to see them up close, at least we hoped so.  It was a long dusty drive out there, across the almost completely flat Patagonia plains.  The occasional estancia was like an oasis in amongst the low scrubby bushes.  There was some wildlife; guanacos (related to llamas), rheas (large flightless birds like emus), maras and of course sheep and horses.

Finally we arrived at the end of the peninsular, ready for a steep scramble down to the pebble beach

One woke up, had a stretch . . .

. . . checked us out and decided we needed closer investigation.

The somewhat undignified but surprisingly quick elephant seal shuffle

The large eyes and soft fur made these guys incredibly cute

Suddenly we were very close . . . 

. . . a brief pause for a scratch before a serious investigation of my boot . . .

. . . and before I knew it I had a new BFF (best flippered friend).

One of the enormous (and slightly funny looking) males was keeping a close eye on us all

Smitten!

I could have happily sat for hours with my elephant seal, who kept getting closer and closer and really wanted to sniff more of me than just my boots.  I, in return, really wanted to stroke him, but didn't think that would be the best plan.

However, there were more elephant seals to see, so reluctantly I said goodbye and we walked on down the beach, looking somewhat like strange Indian hunters as our guide made us walk crouched over to prevent us looking threatening.

The amazing size difference between the females and the males

Elephant seals come with some extraordinary statistics, to go with their extraordinary selves:
Males can get up to 4.9m and 3,000kg, females are a much smaller 3m and 900kg
They can hold their breath for nearly 2hrs
The deepest recorded dive of an elephant seal is 2,388 metres but generally dive between 300 and 600m

The males make a peculiar noise that reverberates round their strange proboscis

We were all engrossed watching the elephant seals when my eye happened to be caught by something in the waves - orcas!  The orcas in this area are famous for hunting seal pups off the beach by intentional stranding, where they rush up with the wave and grab their prey, then wiggle back into the water.  After watching videos of this in our hostel the night before it looked pretty violent (especially given how cute the elephant seal pups were!) but we headed down the beach after the tall dorsal fins.

The large male elephant seal seemed to be standing guard as the orcas scoped out the possibilities

After five or ten minutes of circling in the shallows it was clear that none of the seals were close enough

We pressed on down the coast after them . . .

. . . marvelling at how close they would come to the beach and how easily they cut through the waves.

Finally they got too far ahead of us and we had to turn around.  No actual lunges up the beach were made while we were watching - I was a bit relieved but the photographer was slightly disappointed.

On the way back we watched two males having a face-off.
The one nearest the water quickly gave in and reversed into the surf

My friend from earlier having a splash

Another cub was very interested in us

We felt incredibly privileged to have been able to spend an afternoon in the company of such extraordinary animals.  Our group, which was only five people, were the only ones on the beach until another two people turned up as we were leaving.

It was an amazing, unforgettable afternoon!