We docked early and were cleared for tours & passengers to disembark between 7 & 8am.We met Shirley, Annie and Alan and finally got Ruth and her scooter off a very slender, steep and bumpy gangway even though officers told us they thought it may be too steep . . . Where there is a will there is a way!
Then we inspected all the free shuttle buses & decided the littlest one would work the best . . . so we waited & waited & waited for it to return.
The city of Puerto Madryn lies in the northeastern region of the province of Chubut, on the wshores of Golfo Nuevo. Founded on 28th July 1865 when 150 Welch immigrants arrived. The port is named in honor of Sir Jones – Parry whose estate in Wales was named “Madryn.” Today it is an important centre for tourists visiting the natural attractions of the Peninsula Valdez and coast plus a major port for aluminum processing & fishing.
The main places to see in Puerto Madryn are 1) Punta Loma: a sea lion rookery, 2) Peninsula Valdez: a UNESCO World Heritage Natural Reserve & 3) Punta Tombo ~ the biggest continental penguin rookery. To get there you drive over & back on dusty, bumpy roads & then a fairly long walk over sand & aggregate – which we elected not to do at this port. Information, prices & reservations for these tours can be found at http://www.southernstargroup.com.ar/ or southernstargroup@gmail.com.
3 km south of the city is the Puerto Madryn Eco Center with a $6 entry fee & an Oceanography & Natural Science Museum with a $2 entry fee.
Once the little shuttle appeared a young good looking Puerto Madryn man picked up Ruth & placed her in the seat in the bus while I assisted the driver with putting the scooter in the back trunk.
Once our group was boarded onto the shuttle they let the passenger line fill in the rest of the seats & we drove toward the beach on a very long pier that passengers & crew were absolutely not allowed to walk on & turned left & soon thereafter we were paralleling the beach.
It was about 15 min drive to the shuttle stop of downtown. Along the opposite side of the beach were many very nice handicraft stores where they sold Leather goods, Wine, Alpaca wool Indigenous Artwork, Patagonia wool clothing, silver & an assortment of Mate cups & Bombilla spoons.
I found an internet café that sold time for $1/hr & I even got change back from my $1.
All street curbs had ramps but many stores had a step up to get in. In the middle of town was a very modern 2 story mall.
We walked southwest into the city about 2 blocks to a open air marketplace in a park where the trinkets were much less expensive than the stores across from the beach & you began to notice more & more trash left laying around on the ground.
Shirley waited in a long line to have a local finger artist paint a tile in 3 min for her ~ the Orsono volcano, penguins and a hungry orca were displayed! It turned out beautiful.
Around 3pm we were on our same little free shuttle headed back to the ship.
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