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.