I am happy to report that the experience for myself and that of my group at Campo Cortez was possibly the high point of our 13 days tour and completely exceeded my expectations! Not only did we have fantastic interactions with the Whales, we were impressed by the attention to detail in terms of the logistics and general comfort of the visitor. I did a fair bit of preparation with my clients prior to getting to the camp (I was happy that I had visited briefly last year) that I am sure paid off in terms of managing expectations. I think all of my clients were pleasantly surprised at how comfortable Campo Cortez was! I also know that bird watchers do tend to be capable of handling a lot of adversity, but there was very little of that adversity at Camp Cortez! Sure the cabins are small, but far more spacious and quieter than a tent and I found them to be very comfortable and homy. It might have been a bit more interesting if I had had to share that space with another large person, but fortunately I did not have to do that.
The staff was fantastic. Lorna and Rodrigo were great! They made us feel welcome from the minute we arrived and were always available to answer questions and come up with ideas beyond being with the whales. My group became a bit addicted to hunting for as well as eating the clams from the bay! For us this was a wonderful pre happy hour activity! They were both super knowledgeable about the whales and their natural history. I did have the thought that it might be good to have an initial sit down “slightly more formal lecture” specifically about the natural history of the whales given by both the guides to the group prior to going out on the water. Being that we were a big group, we needed two boats and I’m not sure that all of the good information that both of them had was getting dispersed to everyone equally.
David Mackay
www.solipaso.com