Saturday, February 28, 2015

To Ushuaia, Argentina

Last night we enjoyed pisco sours with Joyant and Storm Bay at the bar at Micalvi. During the night the winds kicked up and we were not sure if we would be able to go to Ushuaia but it calmed some in the morning.

We walked into town and had our passports stamped and the boarded a van for the 35+ Kim drive to Navarino at the west end of the island. We met Kamil from
Poland who is spending his vacation hiking in Chile. At one point the van stopped, the driver opened the hood and steam was pouring out. The driver was prepared with several bottles of water to pour into the radiator. At another stop he went and checked on his mother. After a 2 hour ride we arrived. At Navarino we boarded a ridged inflatable dingy for a bumpy ride with whitecaps across the Beagle Channel to Ushuaia. Put on your life vest and hold on! We have a few days here before we board the cruise ship to Antarctica.

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Still waiting, but...

We are still at Puerto Williams, still waiting for a weather window.

Our friends on Karma Waters left a few days ago. They are from Australia and have a house in Yeppoon, which was damaged in the cyclone that hit there recently. They had some anxious moments waiting to hear from the caretaker. Apparently part of the roof is gone but otherwise, everything seems okay. They are pressing on to Valdivia to leave the boat before returning to Australia. We wish them good speed and safe travels.

Meanwhile Joyant and Storm Bay have arrived. We last saw Joyant in Puerto Montt and they have been carrying our Chilean chart book, which arrive after we left in December. We parted company with Storm Bay just after Puerto Aguirre. We are enjoying reconnecting, going out to dinner and showing them Puerto Williams, chuckle. Tonight we are having a progressive dinner, appetizers on Joyant, dinner on Storm Bay and dessert on Windarra.

We have been continually looking for weather windows for the Horn. Any possible ones we have seen are only for a few hours, not enough to go there and return safely. So we have decided to go somewhere else instead. Antarctica!

What you say? Can't go to the Horn but you can cross the Drake Passage and go to Antarctica on Windarra. Are you crazy? What are you thinking?

Well, we were able to book passage on the Quark Expeditions ship, the Sea Spirit for a 12 day trip. We leave Ushuaia on March 5 and return March 15. It will be fun having someone else worry about weather, standing watches, cooking, anchoring, etc. You can look it up on the web at www.freestyleadventuretravel.com. We may not be able to provide daily position updates but we will see what we can do. Windarra will remain at Puerto Williams at Club Naval de Micalvi. On Saturday, Feb. 28, we will stamp out of Chile, ride a van to Navarino, 35 km west of here and board a rigged inflatable boat for the trip across the Beagle Channel to Ushuaia where we will stay in a hostel and check out the sights before we board the ship on the afternoon of March 5.

oh boy!

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Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Puerto Williams

Yes we are still here at Puerto Williams, waiting for weather, as usual.

Puerto Williams is a town of about 2000 people, or should I say a Chilean Armada base with a small town around it. A large section of the housing is military, similar to what you would see in the US, as well as a special commissary for Armada personnel and their families only. The town has four small grocery stores, which provide the basics with frozen meat, fresh fruits and vegetables which are replenished by the supply boat on Saturdays. I am assuming this is from Punta Arenas, on the Chilean mainland. The stores also have liquor and wine.

We were able to find a woman who does laundry, but charges by item, not by kilo. Our two thirds full bag of laundry including jeans, shirts, underwear and socks cost 38,000 pesos or $61 USD, ouch. Needless to say, I did a few pieces of laundry by hand using the hot water in the showers on the Micalvi but it did take two days to dry. Yes, it is summer here but not always very warm.

Today we got some diesel from the Copec station. Francisco, who runs the Club Naval de Yate Micalvi, schlepped us and our 9 jerry jugs to the station to fill up. The diesel cost 625 pesos/liter. Unfortunately we could only make one trip as there is not enough diesel until Saturday and the same supply boat replenishes the supply. Francisco also took one of our propane tanks to be filled at 9am and no problems with our American fittings.

The town also has a few gift shops and one restaurant that serves the menu of the day for lunch. There are also some hostals which will serve dinner, reservations only, and again, only the entree of the day, no choice. The club has wifi but very slow. The museum up the street has much better wifi, so we walk up the hill and use it there. Our Entel phones work for internet as well and we have recharged a couple of time as 100MB gets used up fast.

Most of the streets in town are dirt and are torn up now as the public works projects to install new water pipes and pave the roads is in full swing. Another project is building a cruise ship dock and a small harbor. Both will be a great addition to the town and should bring in more tourist dollars. Many backpackers come here to trek across Isla Navarino. We even heard of one intrepid fellow that brought a surfboard so he could surf in the southern ocean. Getting here and away is difficult to and from Ushuaia as there is no regular service between Puerto Williams, Chile and Ushuaia, Argentina. There is a large rigged inflatable that goes sporadically between the town of Navarino, 30 km west via dirt road from Puerto Williams to Ushuaia, weather dependent. There is also a small air field with irregular, again, weather dependent, flights, at $125 USD per person one way, which is a little out of the backpacker budget. Many backpackers try to hitch rides with cruisers or charter boats going back and forth. This is okay but as a cruiser, you are responsible for this 'temporary crew member' so if you get to Ushuaia and they are not allowed into Argentina for some reason, you will need to turn around and take them back to Puerto Williams, 25 nautical miles away, independent of the weather.

Another colorful element of Puerto Williams is a small herd of horses that roam freely through town. They have a penchant for leaving road apples on the sidewalk instead of the dirt road, so you need to be alert. I am not sure who is responsible for them but they seem well cared for and do eat the weeds and such around town.

The Micalvi is a retired munitions carrier that was beached in a small cove to provide a place for smaller boats to tie to. The Micalvi provides fresh water, showers, sometimes hot, and 220v electricity, the later costing extra. Boats are rafted up, sometimes several deep on both sides but the inside is fairly shallow. There are sailboats here from France, Germany, The Netherlands, United States and sometimes elsewhere. On the Micalvi is a small bar that opens at 8 pm serving beer, wine, mixed drinks including pisco sours but no food that I know of. On the main floor the ceiling and walls are covered with flags and burgees from the world over. Rich and I posted our signed CYC burgee to add to the collection.

On Monday, there was a bit of drama as the sailboat, Berserk II with Jarle Andhoy departed, which meant that five boats had to either temporarily leave and go out into the main harbor or move aside until Berserk maneuvered its way out to the anchorage. When they departed on Tuesday, this new inexperienced crew included a cameraman and a rock star who wants to play for the penguins. They had spray painted 'Born Free' on one of the headsails and the cameraman was jumping from one boat to another to film the action. Jarle Andhoy is rather notorious for having gone multiple times to Antarctica, without permission and, in one case, three of his inexperienced crew members died, the sailboat was lost, while he and another person were attempting to drive to the South Pole on ATVs and had to be rescued. For more information, look him up on Google.

Frannie B and Limbo left for Ushuaia this past Friday. Frannie B was to leave today to head east in the Canal Beagle to wait for their weather window to go through Estrecho de Le Maire and head north to Mar del Plata, Argentina. We wish them well. Our friends on Joyant are to be here soon with Storm Bay of Hobart behind them.

If a weather window does not open soon we may go directly to Ushuaia. In the meantime we are chillin in Puerto Williams and there is snow in the lower hills.

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CYC burgee at Micalvi

Rich and I are members of the Corinthian Yacht Club of Seattle. We posted our burgee, signed and dated on the front of the bar at Club Naval de Yates Micalvi at Puerto Williams, Chile.

It is next to the burgee of Frannie B, signed by Ned, Carol and Rachel.

Cheers

Sunday, February 15, 2015

LMYC meeting

We held a short meeting in the bar. Here is a photo with our burgee in front of the Club Naval de Yates Micalvi, Puerto Williams, Chile.
Wish you were here to joint us

Elaine and Rich

Friday, February 13, 2015

Caleta Brecknock

While we were at Caleta Brecknock we had a brief break in the weather and we hiked up to the lake above the anchorage and took some photos. Here is Windarra with two French boats who were north bound. Rich standing by the lake which fed the waterfall where we got water to fill our tanks, 2 buckets at a time. A photo looking across the cove.

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Civilization

Leaving Caleta Letier we had our first glimpse of Ushuaia, a city of 55,000. Puerto Williams is more a town of around 2000. They are in the process of building a cruise ship dock and a small yacht harbor.

More Glaciers and Caleta Olla

Some of the glaciers are right on the canal with gushing waterfalls and striking blue ice. From our hike at Caleta Olla looking back at Windarra on the right and down the Beagle. See the cruise ship? At the end of the hike is Holande Glacier.

Glaciers in Brazo Noroeste del Canal Beagle

Here are some of the glaciers we passed on the way to Seno Pia and Caleta Beaulieu. You can see Windarra with the glacier Romanche in the background and the ice we saw in the morning

Martin Pescadore

This inquisitive Kingfisher perched on our lifelines at Caleta Playa Parda Chica long enough for a photo.

Dinner out at Puerto Williams

Last night we went out to dinner with our cruiser friends. From left to right: Rich, Rachel of Frannie B, Kym and Ray of Karma Waters, Carol and Ned of Frannie B and Don of Limbo.

Frannie B and Limbo just returned from going around the Horn.

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Puerto Montt to Puerto Williams - the numbers

For some of you who would like to know some of the numbers of the trip, here you go:

Puerto Montt to Puerto Williams
Dec 3, 2014 to Feb. 9, 2015 - 68 days
39 of 68 days we were moving from one anchorage to another
29 of 68 days we stayed put.

Distance traveled: 1432 nautical miles
Average miles traveled per day: 36.7 nautical miles
Longest distance traveled: 75 nautical miles - overnight passage around Golfo de Penas
Shortest distance traveled: 7.5 nautical miles from Bahia Virginia to Puerto Williams

If you were to travel to each anchorage as a crow flies, it would be only 1113 nautical miles but some tough mountains

Strongest sustained winds encountered: 35 knots
Strongest rachas encountered: 44 knots

At our current location, 54 56.121 S, 067 37.126 W, this is the farthest south and the farthest east that we have been since leaving Seattle in 2001 and 2010.

We sailed the Straits of Magellan and the Beagle Channel. Now we are at Puerto Williams, Chile, the southern most town in the world.

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Monday, February 9, 2015

Club Naval de Yates Micalvi, Puerto Williams

54 56.121 S, 067 37.126 W, Club Naval de Yates Micalvi, Puerto Williams

Yes we are here!

This morning we came in just behind SV Limbo who was returning from a trip to Cabo de Hornas. We grabbed a mooring buoy fore and aft and Rich rowed us into the yacht club. The club house is actually a ship, Transporte Contramaestre Micalvi, which was run aground, on purpose, at the entrance of a a small inlet to create a sheltered basin. We are moored alongside a Dutch boat, and Karma Waters is on our other side. Across from us is Limbo and Frannie B. It is great to see them again. They invited us for a tour of the town and to lunch at one of the few restaurants. First stop was the Armada, to check, next, the bank to get some cash then to lunch. Afterwards we did a tour, stopping at the small grocery stores to pick up a few essentials: fresh lettuce, tomatoes, butter, yogurt, cookies, rum! We found out about wifi, where to get diesel, laundry and trash.

It was great to catch up with Limbo and Frannie B and find out about going to the Horn. We had not seen them since Marina Jechica in December. We have been in HF Radio contact with Carol on Frannie B when we had reception, either in the mornings at 8:45 am before the Patagonia Net or at 5:00 pm. Chris of Storm Bay referred to us ladies on the radio as the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. Jeez!

We are glad to take a break for a bit and recoop. There is still plenty of things to do but we will be in one place for a bit, watching the weather but tied up!

The wifi is slow so it will take a bit for us to reconnect. Hopefully there will be bandwidth available to upload some of our photos.

We made it!

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Sunday, February 8, 2015

Almost there

54 55.929 S, 067 43.042 W, Bahia Viriginia

We are almost at Puerto Williams. We did not want to arrive on a Sunday so we picked an anchorage just before. Tomorrow we will go the 7.5 miles to the Milcavi yacht club.

Today was rather uneventful. We saw 737s landing at the airport in Ushuaia. There were many tour boats and sailboats and cruise ships big and small going up and down the Beagle Channel. More activity than we have seen in a long time.

Our friends on Frannie B and Limbo have rounded the Horn and we look forward to seeing them tomorrow and congratulating them.

Soon...

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Saturday, February 7, 2015

Caleta Letier

54 56.558 S, 068 26.679 W, Caleta Letier

We are now in the Beagle Channel anchored almost across from Ushuaia, the big city. That last time we saw something that big was Puerto Montt, over two months ago. Rich heard a jet and we have cell, albeit Argentinian but another sign of civilization.

Today it was overcast with some drizzle, not the beautiful sun we had yesterday and the day before. As we approached the anchorage we saw a humpback whale which as exciting.

The gribs show light winds for tomorrow and perhaps the day after so we decided to take advantage as you never know. Tomorrow we may go to Ensenada Villarino, just before Puerto Williams. We do not want to check in on a Sunday. We are looking forward to being at a town, tying up at the yacht club (a loose term here), getting fresh food and hot showers, maybe even some internet.

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Friday, February 6, 2015

Caleta Olla

54 56.399 S, 069 09.365 W, Caleta Olla

This morning we had planned on motoring by the glacier on our way out but since there was a line of ice, we decided to pass on that idea. The dolphins were out escorting us to the exit, jumping and swimming under the boat.

We continued up the canal, passing one glacier after another and one waterfall after another. Beautiful views.

Caleta Olla is by the Hollande glacier. I went on a hike with Kym and Ray of SV Karma Waters to see the lake at the bottom of the glacier while Rich stayed on board and relaxed. At the bottom of the hike, our friend from Frannie B had left a box of red wine for us. We added a gift for our next cruiser friend to find.

Cheers

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Thursday, February 5, 2015

Ice!

I forgot to write yesterday about the welcoming committee. A group of 5 or 6 dolphins came along the boat as we were entering the anchorage. We put the dingy down and I sat in it, tied alongside as we got closer. The dolphins were leaping, doing 'headstand' and wiggling their tails. They would come close to the dingy under water, turn and look at me, then swim under the boat. It was quite amazing. I could almost touch them they came so close. What interesting creatures and they looked like they were having fun checking us out.

There was a full moon last night. It was bright like a street light. Near it was a planet but we were not sure which one it was. Both were bright over the glacier.

This morning we looked outside and there were bergie bits floating by. Nothing dangerous but interesting. There were rachas from the east which were a little disconcerting as that puts us on a lee shore. We ran the engine slightly in forward against the wind. Eventually it stopped. Earlier the winds had stopped completely and as we started to get our gear on, the winds pipped up again. so we are staying put.

We will check the gribs as usual to see what we do tomorrow.

Cheers

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Wednesday, February 4, 2015

A glacier in our front yard

54 47.785 S, 069 37.770 W, Caleta Beaulieu, Seno Pia, Glacier Romanche

Cruisers are a creative bunch. At the last anchorage, Caleton Silva, someone had made a sailor scarecrow wearing foulies on shore. Nearby was a tree with all sorts of wooden plaques with names of boat on them. There is supposed to be one at our current anchorage too.

We left Caleton Silva and headed up Canal O'brien and into Brazo Noroeste of Canal Beagle. The winds started light but then we had rachas or williwas or chubascos, pick a name, they are strong winds that suddenly come across the water. They are fast, 0-30 knots in less than 3 seconds. When it is light winds you are tempted to use your sails only to be tossed onto your ears at any moment. The strongest winds we saw got up to 44 knots, on the side. We headed to the northern shore to reduce our exposure, with a bit of success. As we went farther east, they seems to lessen. Behind us in the distance we could see dark clouds heading our way so we were anxious to get into the anchorage and get settled.

We could see glaciers all along as we continued. After turning into the Seno we watched for ice and saw bits floating by and we gave them a wide berth. Now we are tucked into the anchorage with 4 shore lines and directly ahead of us is a view of the glacier. Wow! Big wow! This is one of the sights we have been looking forward to for a while. It is amazing. Sorry we can't share some photos right now but we have been taking plenty.

We might be staying here for a bit.

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Tuesday, February 3, 2015

The Great Breakout from Brecknock

54 56.901 S, 070 46.456 W, Caleton Silva

Finally we were able to get out of Caleta Brecknock and continue on our way.

We were up by 5:30 am and heading out behind SV Anna Caroline at 7:15 am. SV Karma Waters decided to stay an extra day. We had a reasonable passage. The winds were gusting 30-35 when we first entered Canal Brecknock but most of the day they were 10-20 knots pushing us along with the current and the staysail. We had a call from a Brazilian naval vessel as well as a Chilean navy boat. We also saw a sailboat west bound and tried to call them on the VHF but no answer and I think it had a Swedish flag.

We saw lots of seals and birds. As we were entering the anchorage a dolphin came along side and would jump in the air and do an axial spin before landing back in the water about 6 times. It was a great show but unfortunately no photos

The only troublesome part of the trip is that in some places both the Navionics and the CMap charts did not match the actual land masses and the GPS coordinates were off. It was weird but we had good visibility so we were able to navigate with no problem. I had built a course on the Ipad and then transferred it to the Furuno and according to the charter/plotter we were traveling overland. A good trick that!

Tomorrow we plan to enter Canal Beagle!

PS Thank you for the Super bowl highlights to everyone who sent them to us. We could not download on the HF Radio until Monday night so we were a day behind. Sounds like it was a good game even though the Seahawks did not win.

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Sunday, February 1, 2015

Company!

Yesterday, SV Anna Caroline, a Dutch boat, arrived and join us for drinks. Today, SV Karma Waters, an Aussie boat, arrived. We are all here in the rain and wind, rafted together with multiple shorelines, waiting for weather windows to go north or south.

Janika and Viktor have invited all of us over for onion soup this evening. We are bringing brownies. Our last three eggs from Puerto Eden had gone bad, but I was able to borrowed an egg from Janika.

It is great to meet some new folks, exchange information and conversation.

It continues to rain. The white caps that we could see just across the bay before are building and now circling around to our anchorage and causing the boats to pitch and pull against the shore lines and anchor chains. The wind gusts to 29 knots, whistling in the rigging and the boats roll side to side from the gusts. Last night there was hail pounding on the hatch above our bed. We are glad we decided to stay but hope the low will pass soon so we may continue toward Puerto Williams.

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