Punta Norte (Argentina)

During our trip to Argentina, we had planned to go to the Valdés Peninsula in the hope of taking some photographs of the whales which are emblematic of the place. What we found at Punta Norte simply left us speechless. After a good hour on a really bad road we finally arrived on the edge of a cliff. On the beach below were dozens of sea-lions, as far as the eye could see. In the distance a whale and her baby were peacefully swimming along. So up to then, business as usual. You can see sights like these any day on the Valdés Peninsula. But what was waiting for us was something else altogether.

After waiting, glued to our binoculars, for an hour, we suddenly saw the stars of Punta Norte: orcas. And lots of them! It was a big pod that started to swim along the beach...with the sea lions within reach. We were expecting an attack. Orcas are famous for coming up on to the beach to get their prey, and going back into the water with it afterwards. Everyone waited silently. But contrary to what we were expecting, the orcas turned on the whales and started circling them. They wanted to drown the calf. This was the sort of thing you only expect to see on TV... not for real. You won't be disappointed by Punta Norte. Completely exceptional (and incidentally, the whale was ok - they didn't succeed that day).