14 Mar 2023
We were visiting Puerto Madryn on our recant Antarctica Cruise and after 'googling' some options before we left home, decided to book our trip through Darwin Tours Patagonia. We had emailed them before booking to make sure they understood our need to get back to our ship in time (Punta Tombo is a fair journey from the port) and based on the excellent communication with Carina (who was also our guide on the day), we decided to book.
What a brilliant decision this was, we had a fantastic trip to the penguin rookery and Carina gave us loads of information on our journey there & back and accompanied us for part of the way around the reserve & visitor centre (this has toilets, an exhibition of the lifecycle of the penguins and local wildlife and a small shop), providing lots of information from her knowledge of the area.
One advantage of this small group tour, is they aim to get you to the rookery, ahead of the other tours and the meeting instructions they provided (just a short walk along the cruise pier after leabing the ship), were absolutely spot on. this way, we managed to arrive at Punta Tombo ahead of the coaches, which obviously need to wait until everyone is off the ship before departing.
They drove us in a comfortable vehicle which was air conditioned and had an audio system installed, so that Carina could point out places of interest on our way. This gave us plenty of time at the reserve and also, to enjoy a delicious packed lunch which she had brought along (which we hadnt expected), before heading back to the ship. We arrived back, with plenty of time to explore the local promenade near the port entrance before boarding. We would highly recomend using Darwin Tours Patagonia for this or any of the trips they offer if you are visiting, the service provided was very professional and Carina & our driver were lovely.