Whale Watching from El Doradillo Beach

After crossing the entire city towards the North, we passed by the industrial quay and entered El Doradillo Beach through a detour.

Declared municipal protected area in 2001, El Doradillo shelters the land and sea landscapes spreading fronm Punta Arco to Mount Prismático, along 30 kilometers of coast.
This is one of the few places where southern right whales may be watched from the shore. On the beach, chosen for its calm and warm waters, the females give birth to their young and breast-feed them between June and November.

The whale calves do not develop the fat layer that enables them to float until they are from 30 to 40 days old. Therefore, their mothers carry them around on their fin in the area near the shore and have a rest on the pebble bed.

We had been told that the ideal time to see the whales is when the tide begins to rise. We had to be patient and wait for these incredible mammals to be ready to come near. We were not the only ones. El Doradillo is visited by residents as well as by foreign and domestic tourists who wish to witness this privileged show. As we waited, we took some time to have a look at the coast scenery and its mild beauty.

On the Northern end, on one of the tips of the cliff, there is a booth that enables biologists to count the whale population that approach the Nuevo Gulf every year. From this control post, the arrival of the first specimens is watched in May and they can be watched all along the coast until December.

That afternoon, few whales came along but we stayed there anyway, beholding the quietness of the beautiful beach until the cold breeze of the sea began to blow.