Beaching Orcas Trip Report 2026

Patagonia, Argentina
March 31 - April 6, 2026

April 1, 2026. Day one.

We left the ranch at 6:40am and headed to the lighthouse to start scanning the area for orcas.

The lighthouse sits high on a hill overlooking a huge area where the orcas often attack the sea lions.

Juan, our host, likes to be out here right as the tide is slowly starting to rise. High tide is at 11am. If the orcas are planning to show today, it will be during these times.

They can only hunt during high tide.

We have done this trip once before. Sadly, we were unsuccessful. We saw an orca on day one, but we didn’t see any predations.

But this is our year to experience this.

A successful hunt is what this trip is all about.

It is brutal to watch orcas hunting and killing baby sea lions, but that is nature and how the orcas eat.

This behavior is unique, and the only place in the world where this happens.

Super excited to be here to experience this event.

11:00am

It’s high tide, and still no signs of the orcas yet.

A lot of waiting around, looking for signs of the orcas. We are watching for blows and dorsal fins breaking the surface.

So we will keep waiting… as long as possible.

So far we have entertained ourselves with a couple of peregrine falcons flying around, chasing off the turkey vultures.

The orcas were a no-show, so we left and went to the penguin colony.

It was filled with penguins. More than I remember. The colony is getting bigger and bigger, which is a great thing.

In places like South Africa, the penguin population is dropping to dangerously low numbers due to overfishing by humans.

Here, the penguins are thriving and doing well.

The day grew hot, and many of the penguins walked to the ocean to cool off.

There were thousands of them.

It was a hell of a sight to see.

This is the first time we witnessed this, and it was so amazing.

The sun was high in the sky, so the heat created a haze over the birds, making them difficult to photograph, but it was still a lot of fun.

April 2, 2026. Day two.

6:37am and we are off, heading to the beach to find the O’s.

Today we head down to the beach to wait and see if the orcas are attempting to hunt here.

They don’t mess around here.

If you are not in the truck by 6:40am, they are leaving without you… or us.

Here, the chance of seeing orcas attacking sea lion pups happens fast.

We have to be fast… always… if we want to be there when it happens.

Because as quickly as it happens… it can end just as fast.

Off we go. The day begins…

7:00am

We are sitting on the beach, waiting to see if the orcas arrive.

The sun is rising behind us.

In front of us is a full moon, setting over the big colony of sea lions.

The sounds around us are nice.

The waves are beating the shoreline.

A hundred sea lions are crying and complaining about 60 yards away from us.

It’s windy, but not terrible right now.

A perfect Patagonia morning.

8:46am. We are back at the lighthouse.

High tide is rising higher on the beach we were hanging out at, so we moved back to the lighthouse to scout the surrounding area and search for signs of orcas.

More hurry up and wait going on this morning.

Sadly, the orcas were a no-show today.

We are heading back to the ranch house to listen to a talk by Ingrid Visser to see what is being done to help protect the Argentina orcas.

Ingrid is a legend and an inspiration for orca conservation.

Her work with orcas is amazing.

Definitely an ocean hero.

Tomorrow is our day for orcas…

I can feel it.

April 3, 2026. Day three begins.

We are back out on the beach, waiting to see if the orcas arrive.

It’s 7:00am, but still very dark out.

A lot of young sea lions are right by the shoreline.

So if the orcas choose today to arrive…today would be a good day. 

Not for the sea lions of course but definitely for the orcas. 

8:30am

Still on the beach.

It’s a chilly, windy morning.

A lot of young sea lions are by the water right now.

They are making a huge racket.

The orcas can hear for miles underwater.

So if they are around…they will definitely hear them.

We left the beach and headed back to the lighthouse.

The orcas were a no-show, and the tide is rising, so we have to leave the beach.

11:30am

We have orcas!

We got reports that the orcas were passing near the attack channel, which is the public access area to see the orca predations.

Hundreds of people gather here each day for a chance to hopefully view a predation.

It is a wonderful thing the Argentina government did for people and the orcas.

Where we are is private land, so it is just us out here, which is nice.

WAY NICER!

The orcas have arrived.

Pao is the big male orca and a confident hunter.

He is with another orca, Shekei.

They cruised by the attack channel first and are now making their way along the coastline, which is the private property that we are on right now.

The orcas swam by us, checking out the area.

The seas are way too rough right now, so the orcas took a look and then kept swimming.

The orcas are now scanning the other sea lion colonies along the beach to see where they might have the best opportunity to hunt.

Our hope is that they return to the colony where we are.

4:00pm

Sadly, we waited and waited, but the orcas did not return.

The good thing is the direction they went gives us a strong chance they will return tomorrow morning.

Until then…

April 4, 2026. Day four.

6:36am. We are off… heading back to the beach in search of those O’s.

We are all dreaming of seeing this unique predation, which is awe inspiring. You can’t help but feel bad for those cute sea lion pups. 

But this balance is required to support both species.

Sea lion numbers must be controlled to ensure they do not overwhelm the food supply that feeds not only them, but other species of fish and birds as well.

It is a delicate balance that can easily break.

So the orcas must hunt.

8:00am. Lightning struck!!!

Two orcas showed up.

Pao and Shekei.

Pao attacked and caught a baby seal.

It was insane.

The light was perfect. Our angle was spot on.

Pao exploded out of the water. He missed, but turned and tried again… and caught one.

All the sea lions bolted away from the water for safety.

30 minutes later, most had already forgotten the danger that lurks… and there were 20 pups back in the water again.

Sadly, the orcas are now cruising the coastline far away from here. I can still see their blows.

I do hope they return at least once more.

We stayed, waiting to see if they would return, but they did not.

So we went to the lighthouse to get a bird’s-eye view of the beaches below.

We got a radio call…

The orcas had moved to our second viewing spot and were hunting there.

We jumped in the trucks and hauled ass to the beach.

When we arrived, they were already there and hunting.

We moved quickly down the trail to get to our spots, just in time to watch them stalk and try to catch a few sea lions.

So far, they have been unsuccessful…

but they are trying.

The photo opportunities today have been golden.

We are all just floored by what we have been witnessing.

This is the only place in the world where you can witness this very special behavior.

The orcas are pacing back and forth, waiting for an unsuspecting sea lion to swim by.

A few sea lions swam right in front of us, less than 40 feet away.

The orcas didn’t waste any time, they attacked… and missed. 

They missed quite a few times.

Just incredible to witness.

They eventually left toward the attack channel, and we lost sight of them.

We waited for almost an hour for them to return, but they never did.

So we returned to the lighthouse to keep an eye out for them.

They eventually swam by, we could see them in the distance.

They passed a few sea lion colonies but didn’t stop.

They kept moving north.

The direction they went gives us high hopes that we will see them again tomorrow morning.

Can’t wait!

April 5, 2026. Day five.

7:00am. We are back on the beach. The sun is slowly rising. We are sitting here in the dark, waiting for orcas to show up.

There are already a good 10–15 sea lion pups playing in the shoreline water. When the sun comes up, more will join.

There is a north wind today, a slight breeze that is warm. Yesterday there was a south wind that was much chillier.

The pups are in sea lion school right now. There are a couple of adults supervising the sea lion pups, keeping an eye on them.

8:40am. The radio chatter begins.

It’s been silent all morning, but someone finally called it in.

Juan, our host, has people with eyes out there helping us spot for orcas.

We decided to leave the beach and head over to the lighthouse to better search for them.

We got a report that they are near the attack channel, which is the public lookout.

So we will see which way they go.

It’s still early, and high tide has not arrived yet, so we wait and see where they move.

11:00am. We went back to the lighthouse and had been there about an hour when we got the radio call… the orcas were by the attack channel.

This time, five orcas were seen.

So we high tailed it to the canyon, which is where we were yesterday.

We are now sitting here, waiting for a sighting.

They are still at the attack channel area, so hopefully they will come this way.

The orcas came and went.

It turned out to be a pod of eight orcas. They swam by us and kept going.

Pao and Shekei were among them.

The pups in all the colonies were scared and not getting in the water.

Juan thinks the orcas hunted during the night.

It was really cool seeing them, though.

We have now seen orcas three out of five days, which is great.

When they passed us, there is a big sea lion colony near us.

One of the orcas started tail-slapping and then did a spy hop, which was cool to see, clearly trying to see what the sea lions were doing.

After that, they kept going.

We are now waiting, hanging out at the canyon, seeing what the orcas will do.

Our hope is they return to try and hunt here.

An hour later, the orcas returned and passed by us about a half mile offshore.

They kept going, passed in front of the attack channel area, and are slowly moving south.

We got back into the trucks and drove to Sneaky Hill, a lookout spot that helps us see what direction the orcas are headed when they go south.

There is one more sea lion colony to the south, right in front of Juan’s ranch house.

The orcas stayed offshore and out at sea, so we decided to call it a day.

Tomorrow is our last day.

We have half a day before we pile into the truck and head for Trelew.

Hoping we leave this amazing place with a bang.

April 6, 2026. Day six and departure day.

6:40am. The winds were howling from the north, causing the seas to foam up along the coastline.

So Juan told us we were not going to the orca beach this morning, which was a bummer, and instead we would go watch the sunrise at the penguin colony.

Okay… sadly, this meant our orca adventure was done.

But penguins are always fun, and the chance to see and photograph the South American grey fox, and maybe armadillos, was something I was still hoping for.

It was still a bit dark out when we arrived, and we all went for a walk in different directions to find a nice group of penguins to photograph when the sun rose.

The sky was filled with dark, moody clouds, though, so I wasn’t sure how much color we would get.

I walked around, and off in the distance I spotted something small slinking around on all fours.

A fox.

I looked around me, and there was no one within earshot, so I continued on.

As my eyes adjusted better to the dark background, I realized there were four foxes.

One was lying down in the gravel field looking at some penguins.

I laid down… and it stayed.

It was too dark for any nice photos, just proof of life images.

So I got some video, then got up and slowly moved closer.

Stopped.

Filmed.

Moved closer again.

I kept working my way in until I got as close as the fox would allow, which was great, and then I waited for the light to improve.

I snapped image after image of the fox.

Then it got up and moved toward one of the penguin bush islands.

I thought… oh man, it’s hanging out with the penguins.

Until I realized there was another fox there…

eating a freshly killed penguin.

Adrenaline hit.

I slow-crawled forward, getting as close as I dared.

The fox kept eating.

A second fox was lying down nearby.

I stayed there photographing for another 30 minutes as the light slowly improved.

My ISO was still really high, sadly… hoping I can clean up the noise in post.

But I kept shooting and shooting. The foxes tolerated me, because I was quiewt and moved very slow.

I was lying down in the gravel field, creeping forward. I would stop to shoot, then continue to creep forward.

The light slowly improved.

After a few more minutes of shooting, I slowly got up, backed away and went to let my friends know what I had found.

They all came running.

They got a quick look… and then the fox disappeared into the bushes.

They didn’t get photos.

But they saw it.

Nathan and Angiolo went off to try and find it again.

And they did.

They filmed a fox with a penguin head in its mouth.

The footage Nathan showed me looked so good.

Super happy they got it.

We finished photographing the penguins and then jumped in the trucks to try and find a Magellanic horned owl.

One last animal before we called it a trip.

They knew where there was a mating pair and took us there to see if they were home.

They were.

We found one of the owls and had a great time photographing it.

Such a beautiful animal.

The encounter was short…but sweet.

After photographing the owl, we went back to the lodge, had a quick lunch, and then listened to Ingrid Visser talk about her whale stranding rescues and her work with whales in New Zealand.

There, strandings happen almost weekly, so the team is constantly busy.

It was such a great way to end this adventure.

Sitting there, listening to someone who has done so much for whales and their protection around the world… is awe inspiring.

After the talk, we packed our bags into the truck, said goodbye to Juan, Ingrid, and the incredible crew, and headed out…

back to civilization.

Patagonia is such a special place.

And the orcas, and all the wildlife that fills this landscape, are truly the stuff of dreams.

A huge thank you to our hosts and my friends for joining me out here.

This was such a great trip.

Thank you for the laughs, the conversations, and the shared moments.

Until the next one.

We just left…

and I already miss everything about this trip.