Travesía vuelta al indio

At Playa Vesta beneath the Tehuelche Indian Monument in Puerto Madryn, the Travesía vuelta al indio gathers swimmers on the Patagonian coast of Chubut, Argentina, for an open water race in the sea beneath this dramatic promontory.

Playa Vesta: the race beneath the Tehuelche Monument

Organized by simonatacion, the event centers entirely on Playa Vesta, sending participants straight out into the sea directly beneath the monument dedicated to the native Tehuelche. The course layout offers swimmers two distances of 1,000 meters and 2,500 meters during the height of the southern hemisphere's summer in January. For those who stay in town following the main competition, the experience carries over into the next morning. An informal sunrise swim makes for a quiet, communal post-race ritual that lets you soak in the vast Patagonian horizon before heading on.

The Tehuelche monument and the Madryn shore

The Monumento al Indio Tehuelche, a work by the sculptor Luis Perlotti, stands on Boulevard Almirante Brown, facing the Punta Cuevas historical park in Puerto Madryn. Donated by the Unión Industrial Patagónica, the monument was officially inaugurated at a ceremony held on 28 July 2004. The Vuelta al Indio is described by the Chubut newspaper El Chubut as the traditional open-water swimming crossing of Puerto Madryn, with a new edition scheduled for 30 January 2027. Puerto Madryn sits on the shore of the Golfo Nuevo, and its beaches have transparent water with practically no swell. On the Puerto Madryn coast, an electronic thermometer on the Luis Piedra Buena pier reports the sea temperature.

Golfo Nuevo: Magellan, Fitzroy and the sheltered bay

The setting for the swim is Golfo Nuevo, a vast body of water framed by the hook of the Valdés Peninsula and the headland of Punta Ninfas. Along this coastline, sheer cliffs drop away to beaches of mixed sand and pebbles, creating a protected basin that feels markedly distinct from the open sea. In 1520, Ferdinand Magellan entered this natural amphitheater and bestowed the name Bahía Sin Fondo on its seemingly fathomless depths. Three centuries later, in 1834, Robert Fitzroy meticulously charted and hydrographically surveyed the gulf while commanding HMS Beagle. About eight kilometers north of Puerto Madryn, on the gulf's waters, stands the Golfo Nuevo lighthouse, which first entered service on June 6, 1917. Rising to an elevation of 34.5 meters above the sea, this 15-meter-high truncated pyramidal iron tower remains a silent sentinel guiding vessels through the outer reaches of the bay.

Punta Cuevas: cliffside caves of the Welsh pioneers

On July 28, 1865, a group of 150 Welsh settlers landed at Punta Cuevas aboard the tea clipper Mimosa. Seeking shelter against the fierce winds, the pioneers excavated and adapted the natural hollows in the cliffs into makeshift habitations, surviving within the rock face until the founding of Rawson later that year. Today, the area is formally preserved as the Punta Cuevas Historical Park. Those first families carved out an existence on the edge of the continent.

The coastline of El Doradillo: protected cliffs and marine life

North along the gulf's perimeter, the coastline opens into the Playa El Doradillo natural reserve, an expanse established in 2001 that protects 25 kilometers of cliff-fringed shoreline. This protected coast encompasses distinct beaches including Playa Canteras, Playa Bañuls, Playa Manara, Playa Punta Ameghino, Playa Casino, Playa Garipe, and Playa Prismático. Between May and December, the sheltered waters become a renowned gathering ground for southern right whales that enter the gulf to mate and rear their young calves close to the pebble shorelines.

The summer seafront of Puerto Madryn: sixty kilometers of beaches

Conditions are inviting for distance swimming without sacrificing the raw feel of swimming in Patagonia. The municipal seafront and its surrounding coast provide roughly 60 kilometers of accessible beaches tailored for water sports, drawing enthusiasts of sea kayaking, coastal sailing, and windsurfing alongside open water racers. Stepping out onto the pebbles of Playa Vesta after finishing your kilometers beneath the silhouette of the Tehuelche, you emerge into a vibrant summer beach culture where the vastness of the Patagonian sea stretches away under endless skies.