The name carries a quiet aristocratic echo. The settlers christened the port for Sir Love Jones-Parry, a Welshman who had helped fund and scout the expedition; Madryn was the name of his estate back in Wales. The Tehuelche, the indigenous people who had lived along this coast for millennia, were the colony's first lifeline - they taught the newcomers to hunt the guanaco and survive the meager steppe in the year before the Welsh learned to irrigate the Chubut valley inland. Puerto Madryn keeps that founding story close, even as it has become a modern city of roughly 145,000, its economy built on tourism, fishing, and the great Aluar aluminum smelter on its outskirts.

From June through October, the cold waters of Golfo Nuevo fill with southern right whales. They come to breed and to calve, and they come astonishingly close. From the town pier you can sometimes spot them blowing on the horizon, but the real magic happens north of the city. At Playa Las Canteras, within the El Doradillo reserve, whales cruise past at a hundred meters or less from shore - close enough to watch a 40-tonne animal roll and breach without binoculars. Entry is free; the trick is to arrive within an hour or two of high tide. For a closer encounter still, boats launch from Puerto Piramides on the peninsula, sliding out among the giants.

Puerto Madryn is the front door to one of South America's great wildlife sanctuaries. Peninsula Valdes, a hammerhead of land jutting into the Atlantic, teems with life through the seasons. Sea lions and elephant seals haul out on its beaches; in summer the elephant seals give birth on the sand. Off Punta Norte, in a behavior found almost nowhere else, orcas deliberately beach themselves to snatch sea lion pups from the shallows. At the EcoCentro, a sleek interpretation center perched on a bluff south of town, the whole marine drama is laid out for visitors before they head out to see it for themselves.

The sea here is an invitation and a challenge in equal measure. The gulf's water runs clear and currentless, ideal for diving, but it is cold enough to demand a wetsuit even in summer. Snorkelers slip into the water near the port to play with curious sea lions, who approach the boats out of pure inquisitiveness. Kiteboarders and windsurfers harness the famous Patagonian wind off the beaches. The beaches themselves are beautiful, if bracing - the water bites, the wind impresses, and the whole effect is exhilarating rather than relaxing. This is a coast that rewards the bold.